Education in the USA

[Harrison]

ohnoz army that makes me sad

also, re: high school being a joke to people of above-average intelligence+, that is lies. high school was fun and challenging for me, and i ain't stupid :P

You were lucky.

I was thoroughly bored with all my AP and honors classes. It was just more busy-work and not any different than previous classes besides more bullshit timesinks.(mmo reference+1)

My favorite part of it all was Football and running Track. I'm a massive nerd but I was also lucky to get the physical aspect too. I just wish I had better options for school.

[brinstar]

ALSO my former roommate krystal totally worked 40 hrs a week AND was involved in several groups AND a sorority. she kicked ass. sometimes i thought she was definitely on speed . . . but i think it was just 12 pots of coffee a day or something. she is now in med school doing the same kind of B.S. she's awesome.

yeah nevermind your brother that does the same thing :P

[brinstar]

I never finished the last class because I was frustrated with the boring bullshit MA forces you to go through to get a piece of paper. They wouldn't let me take all the tests in the same day either. Fucking retarded.

dude this is a fucking lame excuse

i know that having the piece of paper won't make you any smarter than NOT having the piece of paper, and i'm not defending the system, but seriously...ONE class kept you from finishing? and OH NO I CAN'T TAKE ALL THE TESTS ON THE SAME DAY, FUCK EVERYTHING? fucking weak man

don't do it for yourself, do it for all the bullshit it will save you from in the future

[Harrison]

*shrug* moot point anyways. I'm getting it and it wouldn't have changed a single thing if I already had it. Absolutely nothing, except maybe not receiving the paid "vacation" I'm about to get lol

[Arlos]

I had some damn good AP classes as well. At a public school. And, while I may be deluding myself, I like to think that I'm of at least average intelligence.

-Arlos

[Harrison]

My favorite class was physics. They kicked me out of it because the selectman's daughter complained that I didn't take the prerequisites first. Fucking snooty cuntbag could barely handle geometry. She was just pissed off I made her look foolish.

Seriously, having a brain these days just fucks you harder than it does to be brainless, addicted to drugs, and pumping out children like a fucking factory.

[Ganzo]

ALSO my former roommate krystal totally worked 40 hrs a week AND was involved in several groups AND a sorority. she kicked ass. sometimes i thought she was definitely on speed . . . but i think it was just 12 pots of coffee a day or something. she is now in med school doing the same kind of B.S. she's awesome.

yeah nevermind your brother that does the same thing :P

you in the sorority?

[Harrison]

ALSO my former roommate krystal totally worked 40 hrs a week AND was involved in several groups AND a sorority. she kicked ass. sometimes i thought she was definitely on speed . . . but i think it was just 12 pots of coffee a day or something. she is now in med school doing the same kind of B.S. she's awesome.

yeah nevermind your brother that does the same thing :P

you in the sorority?

Thank you for the smile lol

I needed that...

[Gaazy]

Hiring good people is like finding a godamn needle in a haystack. I hired a guy a couple months ago that was supposed to be some kind of accountant, had a degree and everything. He was rid of in like a week and a half. Completely worthless. And everyone wants free days off. Like damn Columbus day, or MLK day (rofl yeah, longshot on gettin THAT stupid day off here). Eeeeveryone wants paid to not work. Hilarious

[Trielelvan]

I'm aiming for communications, seeing as I have a built-in knack for it. I might transfer to active duty, though. So I can be stationed overseas... (hopefully Germany or somewhere interesting)

I'm leaving all of this open though. I will decide at a later date once I see wtf is going on. I get preference over those "holding out" for their specific MOS, which is a major plus. Uptight kids thinking they're there for school holding out for a specific job get the curb if I decide to snatch the position.

Well good luck and I hope you get the classes you want right off the bat. I also hope you get stationed overseas in a NOT war zone.
By the way, and please don't take this the wrong way, but whatever attitude you held with regards to discipline in highschool, do not take it with you during basic and expect some really ridiculous hoops you'll have to jump through. Stupid though they may seem, you will still be expected to adhere to them. I am still rather amazed by the number of people I've met over the years who have been kicked out of basic (or worse, made to repeat it 2 or 3 times because you pissed off your DI... that is a fate worse than hell in there).

also, re: high school being a joke to people of above-average intelligence+, that is lies. high school was fun and challenging for me, and i ain't stupid :P

I humbly disagree there, but specifically pertaining to where one went to school.

I understand wholeheartedly where Harrison is coming from with his view of highschool.
I fucking hated it. I never studied - ever, was bored to the teeth constantly, and still graduated with honors and made the honor roll. It was a complete joke and I could not wait until the day I finally was able to walk out of those doors for the last damned time.
If it says anything, I started with a freshman class of 298 and graduated with 161 seniors.
The exit-level TEAMS exams were laughable - I missed 2 questions on the whole 3-part exam, and that was only out of carelessness on my part. The scary part is as easy as the test was, at least 10 people in my testing room had failed miserably (the guy next to me, e.g., had missed all but 7 questions... I don't think I've ever seen a test sheet that covered in red dashes before.... he graduated with us btw).
AP classes were no different than the bullshit I dealt with in TAG during elementary = same curriculum, same texts, same stupid assignments, but 10 times the homework load omfg ><.... hah, actually, that's pretty good prep for college now that I think of it LOL)

I think it is very dependent on which school it was you attended, and for some of us, we didn't have much choice as to where we went.

Fortunately, going into college was awesome and a truly wonderful experience that I personally think everyone should have at least once.

[Harrison]

Big difference being I'm doing this voluntarily, not being forced into it unwillingly wasting my fucking time.

[leah]

ALSO my former roommate krystal totally worked 40 hrs a week AND was involved in several groups AND a sorority. she kicked ass. sometimes i thought she was definitely on speed . . . but i think it was just 12 pots of coffee a day or something. she is now in med school doing the same kind of B.S. she's awesome.

yeah nevermind your brother that does the same thing :P

well i figured you would chime in anyway, but krystal won't so i mentioned her

[brinstar]

good enough

also, nice ganzo haha

[ClakarEQ]

Not to bump this but I was listening to NPR this morning and there was a high school junior on looking forward to college, well until her mom lost her job, but even if she hadn't lost the job, she labeled off a few colleges and I don't know why I keep forgetting this, and perhaps you guys that have gone can post your experiences, but she was saying that it would cost roughly 200k in tuition and fees for 4 years.

That seemed high to me, now she did mention some ivy league schools but not really in the same breath as 200k either.


Begads, with two boys whom I hope will got to college, 200-400k+ is going to kill me

[10sun]

Not to bump this but I was listening to NPR this morning and there was a high school junior on looking forward to college, well until her mom lost her job, but even if she hadn't lost the job, she labeled off a few colleges and I don't know why I keep forgetting this, and perhaps you guys that have gone can post your experiences, but she was saying that it would cost roughly 200k in tuition and fees for 4 years.

That seemed high to me, now she did mention some ivy league schools but not really in the same breath as 200k either.


Begads, with two boys whom I hope will got to college, 200-400k+ is going to kill me

Currently:
tuition + insurance = roughly $4k a quarter for me as an in-state student at The Ohio State University.
I go all four quarters a year, so tuition + insurance = $16,000 a year.
Rent: $400 a month = $4,800 a year.
Electric: $50 a month = $600 a year.
Cable/Internet: $50 a month = $600 a year.
Cell: $30 a month = $360 a year.
Car insurance: $25 a month = 300 a year (I'm 27 years old with a clean driving record paying liability only, chances are most people are paying closer to $150 a month = $1,800 for their insurance though)
Car payment: $0 a month, I own mine free and clear, but lets assume $200 a month = $2,400 a year.
Gas: $80 a month = $960 a year (I drive very little, maybe 600 miles a month)
Books: $250 a quarter = $1,000 a year.
Food: $250 a month = $3,000 a year.
Entertainment: $200 a month = $2,400 a year.
Clothing: $100 a month = $1,200 a year.

That is about $35,000 a year. Take into account inflation @ 5% yearly and you'll easily reach $50,000 a year.

[Arlos]

And some schools, like Yale, Stanford, etc. have TUITIONS of 50k a year, not even counting the rest of the expenses.

Hell, some of the colleges I looked at back in '88 already had tuition costs of 25k+ a year.

-Arlos

[Drem]

Assuming you take the smart route and make your kids get financial aid, scholarships, and grants, as well as making them work and fund themselves while they go to school, and live in the dorms their first year, with some minor help from you, you'll be looking at about $300 a month to help them out with rent or something /shrug

My parents don't pay for anything I do except a small portion of my rent to give me some breathing room ($250/m). And I'm gonna finish eight years of school with a six figure debt like everyone else that does what I'm doing.

I think you're crazy if you pay for everything. The kid doesn't take it seriously that way. Trust me, I'm one of those kids. I fucked off my first two years because it was just handed to me. It was like an extension of grade school and I didn't take it seriously at all and I wish my parents would've pushed me to get loans and scholarships in the beginning

[Evermore]

I also recommend nailing as many girls as possible

FIXT!

[ClakarEQ]

it wasn't so much that "I will pay for everything" I agree that is a lesson NOT learned, but I was more sticker shocked by the over all cost being 100-200k per kid, where the money comes from is one thing (they're only 7 and 10 right now so I got some time ), just the total money output is a bit daunting, I mean fuck me sideways

[Drem]

theoretically if you send them to college for worthwhile degrees they'll make up for any debt in a lesser amount of time than it took to acrue

but yes, overall the figures loom pretty high above, don't they? my girlfriend is entering into the graduate program here at UO and it costs something like $400 per credit for an international student, as well as being forced to go thru all sorts of special procedures that cost extra money and having to take the TOEFL/IELTS. just class tuition, not counting department fees or books, is about 21~25grand a year. which is pretty outrageous for a public university imo. i think it cost something like 50grand a year for tuition alone for my who went off the UChicago.... private school + out of state = fuck that

edits: whoops my figures were off a little after i asked her

[araby]

One of my coworkers at the grill will finish law school in May. She works 60 hours a week. They told her she shouldn't have a job. She said, "I have to pay for my rent and my car payment." They told her, "You shouldn't have a car."

[brinstar]

i go to NU, my tuition is about 4k per semester (including books), and i work fulltime to afford living expenses. tuition + books are covered by loans.

not too bad really

edit: except i'm fucking exhausted almost all the time

[leah]

10sun's figures were about right for me, but luckily i had parental assistance--my mom helped me with rent and books (grocery stores don't pay for shit in small towns hehe but at least rent is cheap, too--rent was never more than $200/person).

tuition at hastings college was about $18k to $19k per year when i was in school, and i was in school four years. of that, two years were covered by scholarships (with my grades and ACT scores, i probably could've gotten better scholarships but i applied way too late because until the middle of my senior year, i wanted to go somewhere else). one year was covered by my mom's PLUS loans. the final year was covered by student loans in my name.

so, when i graduated, my mom and i both owed $18,500, which is not bad, all things considered.

[Harrison]

I get to go to college for free

[ClakarEQ]

I get to go to college for free

O no you don't, you're paying a price, you just don't know the costs yet