So I'm Pretty Excited About College Now..

[NOS2006]

Well, I more or less have my college picked out. I sent in an application a couple months back and was accepted within the next few weeks. Then a few weeks ago they sent me a $7500 scholarship per year for 4 years. Not bad considering it costs about $14,600 yearly.. so I more or less cut that in half. Anyway, it's called Kettering University, but is formerly known as GMI (General Motors Institute) Engineering and Management Institute. It's supposed to be a really good engineering school. My counselor got all wide-eyed when I told her I was accepted.. let alone getting a scholarship. She said that they're highly selective, but whatever. Anyways, here's why I'm pumped. Their program (I'm going to botch this, I'm sure) consists of going to school in three month increments. Between each increment, students work in a co-op job for both credit and cash (and these co-op programs are at good places... GM, Ford, DCX, Honda, Goodyear, OnStar, Harley-Davidson, etc). This sets them up perfectly for their job, already putting them into a job and giving them tasks that the "pros" handle everyday. I read somewhere that, by the end of the four years, one may make up to $70,000 annually RIGHT OUT OF COLLEGE, DOING WHAT THEY LOVE from this place. So I'm excited as hell. I cannot wait. I'm following the footsteps of many great GM engineers and hopefully I'll be able to do the same, heading a company or modelling some wicked automobiles.

[Chris_Doane]

Well, I more or less have my college picked out. I sent in an application a couple months back and was accepted within the next few weeks. Then a few weeks ago they sent me a $7500 scholarship per year for 4 years. Not bad considering it costs about $14,600 yearly.. so I more or less cut that in half.

Anyway, it's called Kettering University, but is formerly known as GMI (General Motors Institute) Engineering and Management Institute. It's supposed to be a really good engineering school. My counselor got all wide-eyed when I told her I was accepted.. let alone getting a scholarship. She said that they're highly selective, but whatever.

Anyways, here's why I'm pumped. Their program (I'm going to botch this, I'm sure) consists of going to school in three month increments. Between each increment, students work in a co-op job for both credit and cash (and these co-op programs are at good places... GM, Ford, DCX, Honda, Goodyear, OnStar, Harley-Davidson, etc). This sets them up perfectly for their job, already putting them into a job and giving them tasks that the "pros" handle everyday. I read somewhere that, by the end of the four years, one may make up to $70,000 annually RIGHT OUT OF COLLEGE, DOING WHAT THEY LOVE from this place.

So I'm excited as hell. I cannot wait. I'm following the footsteps of many great GM engineers and hopefully I'll be able to do the same, heading a company or modelling some wicked automobiles.

[post="38836"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Heh the only bad thing is....IT'S IN FLINT!

(Buy Kevlar and a Glock 23) Edited November 5, 2005 by CD/BP

[NOS2006]

Yeah, unfortunately, it is in Flint... And what's Kevlar? EDIT: haha nevermind Edited November 5, 2005 by NOS2006

[Chris_Doane]

Yeah, unfortunately, it is in Flint...

And what's Kevlar?

[post="38840"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

It's the main ingedient in body armor.

http://www.fortliberty.org/military-library/body-armor.shtml Edited November 5, 2005 by CD/BP

[Variance]

What's so bad about Flint (for us non-Michigan residents)?

[NOS2006]

It's just a bad area. I've heard it described as "like Detroit" but I doubt it's THAT bad. Maybe, but I don't know. From current students there that I've messaged, though, they say that the campus and area around the campus in which they own is very safe.

[Chris_Doane]

What's so bad about Flint (for us non-Michigan residents)?

[post="38844"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Well...long story short. GM left the town, lots of violent crime, corrupt local gov't, always makes the worst national top ten lists for crimes. It has REAL hardcore ghettos....you know the ones rappers rap about. Edited November 5, 2005 by CD/BP

[NOS2006]

'Cuz I'm from New Yawwkk.. I mean.. Flinttownnn Sorry. Had to subscribe to a session of "gangsta," dawgs.

[Chris_Doane]

It's just a bad area. I've heard it described as "like Detroit" but I doubt it's THAT bad. Maybe, but I don't know.

From current students there that I've messaged, though, they say that the campus and area around the campus in which they own is very safe.

[post="38846"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Oh yea don't get me wrong, there are areas of Flint that are fine. However, yes some of Flint is as bad as Detroit.

[Chris_Doane]

Maybe you could live in Fenton...that's a pretty nice, developing area. Plus they have a Panera Bread. :D Also don't forget Flint is just 40 mins from Auburn Hills/Milford...prototype hotbed. Edited November 5, 2005 by CD/BP

[NOS2006]

I think I'm closer to Auburn Hills where I am now.. 23 and Gratiot.

[Nick]

Sounds like USC...a nice school in a crappy area... Good luck with everything though, sounds like you've got a lot to look forward to...just hope it doesn't involve you waking up one day and finding your camaro on cinder blocks with pretty much everything stripped and all that's left is the 3800 :P

[staceface]

CONGRATS NOS!!!!!!!!!!!!! You're going to love college and everything about it. It's a great adventure. I know you're going to do well and make us all proud!

[91z4me]

NOS peice of advise fill out all your applications, like FASFA as early as you can. It will pay off for you if you are sure it is all done early. I learned that from experience.

[the_yellow_dart]

Good going NOS! I can't believe how much more school costs in the US. The gov't subsidizes it here (as long as you're a Canadian resident) and it ends up being $6k/yr for engineering. If you are a foreign student like a friend of mine who came to school here from Japan, you pay like $15k/yr, like you were saying. On a side note, what's with the mangled French words around Detroit? detruit = destroyed :lol: gratuit = free

[CSpec]

Sounds like USC...a nice school in a crappy area...

[post="38872"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

And Yale, U of Chicago, etc. Old urban schools tend to be in that situation.

[Satty]

Congrats NOS, I was turned down by Kettering a few years ago because I hadn't taken a chemistry class and didn't have a 3.0 GPA (at the time it was like 2.93). And yes, they are very selective and expensive.

[Cory Wolfe]

Congrats, NOS! :D Anyways, I hope Art/Design schools focus more on ability for art than GPAs and crap like that. Otherwise, I'm royally f**ked...

[Satty]

Any competative school is going to look at GPA. My ACT score would have gotten me into any school I wanted if it weren't for that barely sub-3.00. My GPA also cost me a scholarship or two. So yeah, GPA usually matters. You may want to actually look into that while you still have a little time left in high school.

[ocnblu]

Yup, congratulations, Nos. Good going, sir!

[Cory Wolfe]

Any competative school is going to look at GPA. My ACT score would have gotten me into any school I wanted if it weren't for that barely sub-3.00. My GPA also cost me a scholarship or two. So yeah, GPA usually matters. You may want to actually look into that while you still have a little time left in high school.

I figured it would... I mean, I try but my grades just keep going down and down. Being in this, what seems neverending, depression and skipping almost two weeks worth of school when I basically hit rock-bottom ...You guys just never gave me what I wanted. You told me not to do this or that or whatever when I wanted advice, not where to go for advice since I'm been more personal with you guys than anyone else. You all probably know me better than my own Parents. Anyways, getting off topic... but all that hasn't helped at all. With me or my grades. I'm currently recovering and I feel better and am really trying to get my grades up. I just fear that I never will get them back up and I won't be able to get into any colleges and end up following in the path of my parents and always being poor...

[Northstar]

You'll be able to get into some college, BV. There's someone at my school who has less than a 1.5 GPA and he found like 7 colleges that would accept him. Another alternative would be to go to a community college for two years and do well there.

[sciguy_0504]

Good job, NOS, and congrats. I'm going to Drexel University and it offers co-op, too. I go to school for 6 months and then work (aka. gain experience) for the following 6. To have that experience on your resume is amazing. I'm a freshman and I don't have co-op this year but I can't wait for it. Being a business major, I can get a job in any industry and I plan on shopping around during co-op. GM is definately on my list.

[Satty]

Another alternative would be to go to a community college for two years and do well there.

[post="38954"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Thats where I am now after going into college unprepared for what was ahead of me, so my grades weren't where they should have been. The straw the broke the camels back, so to speak, was when I failed Ethics, it dropped my GPA just enough to be put on academic probation, things spiraled downwards from there. Now that I'm older, wiser, I'm having no problem with handling the school I am at, and will be far more capable when I get back into a 4-year school. I really think the community college route is good because it provides a transition between the high school world and the college world.

[NOS2006]

Well I checked it out today and damn is it great. I'll make a write-up later. But it's a hell of a lot more expensive than I had expected... $29,000/year for 4.5-5 years.

[Croc]

Wait didn't you say you had a scholarship? Colleges are expensive. USC is ridiculous, and even with my half tuition scholarship my college fund is still very much drained. Look this is what I tell everyone: if you want it badly enough you will find a way to make it happen.

[sciguy_0504]

A college degree is a great investment, though.

[NOS2006]

Yeah, I have a $7,500/year scholarship from them. Plus I may be eligible for a few others that I don't really know about at this time lol.

[Satty]

Ketterings campus is nothing great to look at, Michigan's campus is far nicer, although nothing compared to Washington University or Mizzou, the two nicest ones here in MO. But Kettering is very worth going to, even though it is in the ghetto.

[cmattson]

Congrats man -- college is a fun time. Don't let it get to be too fun! Before I share some advice, let me put in a disclaimer: I'M NOT THAT DAMN OLD. I'M THIRTY-FREAKING-FIVE. Okay, now that that's out of the way, here's my story: High School was easy for me. Finished 6th in my class. Got accepted at the Univ. Of Minnesota's Institute of Technology (top 2% of the college). UofM's IT is well-known for it's computer science and it's electrical engineering courses. I was a CSCI major -- so this was going to look damn good on my resume. About 6 months into my first quarter, I overslept my alarm and found out when I arrived in the middle of the class that this wasn't like high school. Nobody cared, nobody took attendence. You were a number. You were expected to do homework, but it was never turned it & never graded. You took tests and you looked up your grades by your student number. Well, with that much freedom, I slipped into full party mode -- sleeping in, skipping classes & expecting that college would be as easy as high school -- that I'd be able to study or cram at the last minute & skate by. The result? I was expelled at the end of the first year with a 1.11 grade point average (that's NOT a typo). I was devastated. I enrolled at a community college (which I'd recommend for everyone leaving high school). The classes were smaller & the courses were cheaper to boot. I actually had some very good instructors there. Anyways, at the end of the first quarter at the community college, I had the same crappy grades & the light bulb finally went on: "it wasn't the school that needed to change". With that revelation, I rededicated myself to my school work. I can't say I showed up everyday, but I made a much better effort. I did my homework and I studied more for my tests. After 2 1/2 years, I transfered over to the University of St. Thomas (a private college). I finished my last two years at UST & graduated with a 3.00 (technically a 2.9997). It was difficult and it taught me a lesson. Looking back, I wouldn't change a thing. Best of luck!