College is....Easy.

[DoTheFandango]

So applying to college sucks balls. Thank god for the Common App though. srsly.

I'm so boned when it comes to class rank, so I can't even fathom getting anywhere good. I'm in the top 42% of my class, if that tells you how poorly I did.

My top reach right now is Boston University. My goal school, my top choice where I would love to go, is UCONN. Of course, UCONN doesn't take the Common App. Fucking assssssss.

And don't forget the essay.

[Epinephrine]

English major here, but in a Finnish university. I love to study it and I find it challenging enough to make it really interesting. It would be fun to sometimes compare our universities and our "vocational universities" (for the lack of a corresponding term) in Finland to the American and British ones, for example.

'Vocational universities' are called community colleges here. That's where you learn to do stuff like be a nurse, be a technician, do technical IT stuff like Kolar, be a plumber, be an electrician, etc etc.

[Squeezer]

So applying to college sucks balls. Thank god for the Common App though. srsly.

I'm so boned when it comes to class rank, so I can't even fathom getting anywhere good. I'm in the top 42% of my class, if that tells you how poorly I did.

My top reach right now is Boston University. My goal school, my top choice where I would love to go, is UCONN. Of course, UCONN doesn't take the Common App. Fucking assssssss.

And don't forget the essay.

I was totally overwhelmed and panicking about all that shit too, and I got into every single school I applied to, as well as got a few scholarships (including one full ride.). I'm not gonna lie, it does suck, and after all is said and done, it feels like it was a lot of work for nothing, but it's still nothing to be too worried about.

[Troll King]

How did that interview go?

[DoTheFandango]

How did that interview go?

Who were you talking to there?

Whoever it was, I did not interview anywhere, because neither BU, UMass or UCONN offers interviews.

[Galleleo]

Well, for me, college was just like high school, only you only had to go to class half as long. That 2 hours of homework for every 1 hour in class is bullshit unless you are an engineer.

I am not an engineer, but the reading what I have to do alone takes up alot of time. And thats just the reading, add to that the actual doing of the assignments, the studying for tests.. I do alot more for uni then I ever did for high school. In fact, in 1 year of uni I have prob done as much as I did in 6 years of High school

[Troll King]

Who were you talking to there?

Whoever it was, I did not interview anywhere, because neither BU, UMass or UCONN offers interviews.

Squeezer mentioned he had an interview a short while ago and I gave him some advice for it.

[Squeezer]

How did that interview go?

I didn't get the asst. to the editor, but because I'm a film minor they gave me work as an assistant to a photographer, which could be a blessing in disguise, because I'll learn the technicalities and science behind film development.

[Kolar]

'Vocational universities' are called community colleges here. That's where you learn to do stuff like be a nurse, be a technician, do technical IT stuff like Kolar, be a plumber, be an electrician, etc etc.

It really depends on which program it is and which college. For telecom and systems analysis, from what I hear about my college we're almost competing with universities. And because some of these programs offer cooperative education if you decide to take it you can come out of school with 1 year's worth of expereince if not more.


I would like to goto university after college. I'm not really sure what I would take, probably still IT related. I would like the opportunity to take some classes outside of programming, business and math. Maybe physics or biology.

A lot of what we do is extremely limited by the Ontario Govnerment. I can't compare it to any university but basicly we have to have a general elective every semester, just one, and it can't in anyways relate to our program work. You can't for example pick and choose which classes you want to take and when, you can't drop one or two and get the money back from it if you get a crappy teacher. If you have one class you need you still are going to pay something like 1,300 no matter what. A lot of people I know can't go out on Coop this January because they dropped their elective to take another one in the first week.

[Blood]

People graduate mostly as engineers from the Finnish vocational universities, it's the next step basically from the Finnish vocational high school. At least for the moment high school and the university have more prestige in the minds of people than the vocational schools. A degree in a vocational university takes usually about 3 years to complete, whereas a university degree takes about 5 years, depending on your field and simply how fast you want to complete it, but I believe 5 years is the average. Oh, and going to either school is free of charge.

[Kolar]

There are some more vocational schools here then just community colleges. It really depends on what the school's focus is. Mine (Sheridan) is on arts and technology. George Brown I think is on travel & tourism and some other trades. In Ontario, I'm not sure about all of Canada, we do have a shortage of people for these trade jobs.

Which highschool you went to does not seem to be important at all. They're all pretty much the same. They've become more of a place to be (out of the way) then a place to prepare for the post secondary environment.

Your senior grades are reviewed when applying to either University or College. Most look for specific credits in math, science and english. 2 year college programs are Diplomas, 3 years Advanced Diplomas, 4 years colllege degrees. All of this only applies to Ontario as far as I know, education and health care are both under the provincial Government for each province.

The province pays roughly for half of your tuition. My tuition (4,500, the half I have to pay) doesn't look like a lot but they're all going up despite these damn provincial liberals promising to input more money into the college and university system. The college faculty strike wasn't handled very well either. Mcguinty is now speaking favorably about private health care, I've never bothered following provincial politics but it seems to being going to shit. The NDP failed, the conservatives tacked on more illegal debt on top of what the NDP left us with, now the liberals are not looking so red.

[Miku19]

People graduate mostly as engineers from the Finnish vocational universities, it's the next step basically from the Finnish vocational high school. At least for the moment high school and the university have more prestige in the minds of people than the vocational schools. A degree in a vocational university takes usually about 3 years to complete, whereas a university degree takes about 5 years, depending on your field and simply how fast you want to complete it, but I believe 5 years is the average. Oh, and going to either school is free of charge.

I believe the average is between six and seven years (at least at HUT), but the recommended time is five years. If you do everything like you're supposed to do you get out in like 4,5 years though.

I'm studying technical physics and math as my major, and to be honest it suck bollocks, and it's a shitload of work in the first two years because your week pretty much consists of only math and physics. (someone might call me crazy for picking my major like that, though :P)