Posted on 12/29/2016 9:02:04 PM PST by Tai_Chung
My daughter is a senior in high school.
She wants to major in Computer Science and minor in French
She has mostly looked at small (<5,000 students) liberal arts schools.
Can anyone recommend some conservative schools?
ACT = 26
3.26 regular GPA
3.64 weighted GPA
She is also interested in playing the cello in the orchestra.
I am going to be very controversial. :)
Tech school still for the computer and summers in Quebec for french immersion.
The only way to learn a language is to live it. I can see Europe having a rough few years so I would not recommend sending her to france but Quebec should be fairly safe.
I work for a French company and have traveled to Europe so many times that I have a million miles with American Airlines. I can hold a very rudimentary conversation in French, but it just isn’t necessary. English is the universal language for technologists.
No, talk her out of computer science and talk her into French. Have her learn the wisdom of Molière, Jean Bodin, Bastiat, etc. in the original language.
https://www.gcu.edu/
Yes, several of their faculty attend and teach at my Church.
A couple of the single women at my church might be interested in sharing an apartment. :)
The primary rational reasons to attend college are to purchase an alumni network (i.e., go for the best ROI school possible) or to check the box for a career that absolutely requires a degree. Otherwise, it is not worth the investment and the dangers of contending with Marxist faculty and other assorted crybullies.
That said, Missouri S&T/Rolla is the best public STEM university in your area and is highly regarded in industry. The student body leans conservative by virtue of being primarily engineering students who have neither the time or inclination to fool around with liberal indoctrination courses.
Be aware that Computer Science is not the same thing as simply writing code. It is significantly more Math intensive and prepares those who are interested in developing algorithms and systems. If she wants to be a programmer, she may be better off pursuing coding and professional certifications on her own or through technical college.
Though Trump will (hopefully) improve things, computer science majors and programmers have been especially hard hit by the H1B visa program. Should those visas be restricted, it is likely many of the large companies will just send the work offshore to places like India. French won’t be of much help.
Had four kids and only regret none went to Hillsdale-—What a place!!!!
I have the same regret.
Amen to that. If she does very well at a community college, there is the prospect of getting a scholarship for her next two years at a four year university.
Have her learn the Hadoop Ecosystem.
These are where future careers will be -- get her exposed to these areas early and see if any capture her interest.
Assuming you’re Asian, then DO NOT mention the Cello on her applications, at least for the vast majority of schools.
The jerks running the admissions processes are looking for NON-TYPICAL kids, and they consider string instruments (and piano) to be “typical” for Asian applicants - so it actually works against her.
...and didn’t just make this up, I read exactly the above in an article about people that make a living coaching college applicants. Needless to say, once she’s accepted, then, by all means, have her join the orchestra, if she wants to.
...and I’d still be suspicious even regarding our conservative schools - since virtually all of their administrators likely got educated at left-wing colleges also.
Working with French people in a French company, I will tell you that the French don’t believe that the people of Quebec speak French!
I also disagree strongly with employing technical institutes. They are geared towards teaching technology. Where you really need to pick up more of an engineering capability.
I do agree with those who suggest junior college, as long as it is a good one. My first year was at Glendale Junior College in California. At the time, students who spent two years in the better California junior colleges did better than those who went directly to UCLA. It is a fact that the better instructors at larger universities short change the undergrads. A lot of classes will be taught by graduate students.
Mag Mile to shop.
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When I saw this comment, I had a feeling I would look down and see “nopardons” ;)
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are doing well :)
First two years at community college to save money and get as good or better education.
Then pick four year school.
Bucktown and Wicker Park, followed by Lincoln Park and Wrigleyville
I work for a big data firm and we can't hire enough of these people. Our clients hire our people for really tough projects at unbelievable rates.
This is precisely the wrong way to go if she intends to have a long career. "Big Data" is a passing fad. Analytics, yes, but because software engineers need it for assessing their systems.
Hadoop won't exist in 10 years! So then what is she supposed to do?
“I went to Stanford. I have a niece who is 12. She will be prepped well enough to get in, but I concur with your assessment. You want the best for them, but anymore that might be the road to true unhappiness.”
Paradoxically it may be better to send a kid to a huge place rather than a small university. In the giant state universities you are a number and can avoid some of the evilness or just keep your head down in that class of 600 other freshmen. It isn’t important to believe the evil as long as you know the answer that is expected. You can’t hide in a class of 15.
But for computer science the girl will be almost as good off going to ITT Tech or the University of Phoenix. Computer Science is a trade degree and employers don’t care where the degree comes from so long as you can type the code.
Thanks for this. Amazing info. And Heidelberg is a cool college town, love it.
You keep current and retool like all successful people. If you are not adaptable and not committed to lifelong learning and skill development, you die. That is true in computers moreso than most any other field. That’s why I stopped being a true engineer in mid-career. It is brutal keeping up with new graduates.
I see what most of what the F1000 companies are doing w big data and analytics — this is not a fad. It is as fundamentally transformational as computers, networking, and the Internet were in the last big waves.
We had a lovely Christmas and I hope that you and yours did too.
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