Few questions with school i am trying to figure out major and where to transfer..

I want to transfer to Cal Poly, UCSC, or SAC..?

I guess what i am wondering is.. What degree do you have, what do you do now, and how much do you make(about), like the work? How hard was it to get a job?

Just trying to get a little backround b4 i pick.. I was set on Cal Poly and Architecture untill I met with a few major architecture firms..

I am leaning towards: Computer Science
Graphics Design
Archi/Engineering
Computer Eng

I need to go talk to the transfer center, but i need to pick a major.. Just wondering what everyone is up to with there degree's and what the money is like..?

 

My opinion is to pick what you want to do for the rest of your life rather than the pay of the job. I tried doing nursing because it was a great paying job, but I was not interested in the content. Cal Poly if definetly a good school for Architecture, as I have a friend that graduate from there last year, he really likes his job and all but the company is in LA and he hates the city. Another good thing about Cal Poly is living in such a nice climate and near the beach.

And State school.

 

I love architecture and have been doing that since sophmore year in high-school.. I haven't based anything off money, but to an extent it is a factor..

State school is a huge bonus..

 

CRAP!, part of my post disappeared. What school is UCSC? santa cruz right? If so I think that school is more bio/geology oriented as well as sac. I could be wrong though.

 

It is but they have computer science/engineering..(UCSC=Santa Cruz)

If i go archi/engineering Cal Poly is a shoe in.

 

UCSC has pretty decent CS classes from what I hear.
But you need to pick a career that you will enjoy, not what is going to make you the most money.

 

I majored in bio, am in dental school right now making negative $100k/yr. Hopefully I'll pay it all back before I die.

More along your lines though, one of my better friends from college started out CS, hated it, got depressed, withdrew for a semester. Came back, changed his major to fine art (absolute worst program at Berkeley) and took some extra visual design classes at the architecture college. He started out doing web design (mostly flash and shockwave) out of college for around $40k, then moved onto 3D-motion graphics making around $60k. I think he worked for about 4 years in the industry, got to know enough people and decided to freelance, charging $600/day. Funny thing is that the company he originally quit from needed him to work, so they hired him for a couple months at his freelance rate. Basically more than doubled his salary by resigning.

His hours are pretty long, especially when there are deadlines to meet, average 60-70/hr weeks, but he basically gets to work when he wants. Like right now, he's on a 4 month vacation in Shanghai enrolled in a school to learn Mandarin. He brought his laptop with him, so when he needs beer money, he just works on a couple projects and sends them to the client. Most of his coworkers are design or architecture graduates, so he has a little bit of a leg up with the CS background. Oh, an he loves his job. Probably the only person I know that really does.

Here are a couple of companies he's done work for:
http://www.hellologan.com/site/index.php
http://www.buckla.com/

And his website with the reel he sends out to companies:
http://me-vs-you.com/

 

[QUOTE=crazy_sherm]Oh, an he loves his job. Probably the only person I know that really does.[QUOTE=crazy_sherm]

I hope I can say the same when I am done. I know I wont make millions with my degree but I sure will be happy (English major, I hope to write a book on my life and write for a car/Martial Arts/motorcycle or ESPN the magazine). I change majors 5 times though, luckily I was only at the community college level.

 

You mentioned CS but that's a BROAD spectrum. Like 40k from a basic coding job to 80K starting salary at a place like Microsoft or Google


Please elaborate on why you got discouraged. I met a guy once who slacked off all during college and majored in english because he was interested. (he spent his time playing in his rock band and being a campus radio DJ) But then senior year he got really interested in architecture. The problem was he was an english major. But after college he contacted firms and got a job as an hourly wage secretary kind of position. However every night he practiced drafting, and got a lot of resources from senior architects in the firm. Five years later he had assembled enough of a portfolio to get into UC berkeley's grad school for architecture. Now, he's an architect... from an english major!


What's I've heard and read about Cal poly SLO is that it's HARD. Great engineering program but HARD, with a lot of washouts.

With all forms of engineering (in fact with all forms of major) law school is still an option.

Don't forget the most important thing, which is more important than major, which is "how good are YOU?" Because on one hand we have Huck Gee, doing very well in graphics design, and on the other hand there are probably people who studied graphical design from UC bekeley who are struggling.

I have a friend who did IR (international relations, the seemingly most useless major in the book) and is going to work for McKinsey (the company that produces the most fortune 500 CEOs per capita!) and on the other hand know CS majors, engineering majors who couldn't find jobs.

In the end, if you can meet enough people and make a good enough impression to do consulting/contract work, it's always the best deal. But likely you won't have steady income and you won't have health care and other benefits. Heck, one of the guys I met at work over the summer used to be a truck driver and he says he made 500k/year. I wouldn't believe him but then he pulled up in an S500. But remember what I said above about it mattering how good YOU are more than what you studied in college?


I'm still a college senior. My offers so far on jobs have been 56k-66k (although the 56k was for Motorola in IL, which has far less living cost than the bay area so in all fairness it's probably the same). However I'm doing electronics, which is different from what you want it looks like.


The bottom line is that the most important factor is YOU. YOUR motivation, YOUR desire to succeed, right? Otherwise we would not have billionaires who started off as sidewalk merchants...

Notice throughou this post I kept putting into caps the word YOU.

 

Do you actually have a background in those fields?

I started out at Cal Poly as a compsci major, but got fubared by how freakin difficult that school was and the fact I found out I can't program worth ****

However, if you have sufficient background in compsci, you should be fine, but Cal Poly is massivly impacted. Its also a boring area to live at unless you surf, thats why all the students there drink 6 days a week off campus...It is easier to find good jobs out of Cal Poly though. And yes, they do have a good architectural school, I saw one or two drafting classes there that looked pretty good.

I dont know much about CSUS's compsci program, but they do have a good Graphics Design program. I think CSUS has even more computer labs than Cal Poly does (at least from what I've seen) along with internet connections all around campus if you plan to live on campus. The teachers are not any worse than Cal Poly in terms of subject matter comprehension (IE I learned as much there as I did at Cal Polly), its just that they don't grade as hard (It seemed to me that Cal Poly was trying to kick as many people out of its impacted programs as soon as possible, thats not the case at CSUS)

One thing about Cal Poly I do need to mention is that it is VERY difficult to change majors there, and you cant go undeclared... That is definatly not the case at CSUS.

 

That sounds like me! well I hope if I decide to change my mind (although I am sure I will never be an architect) it will still work out.

 

Cal Poly is one of the best, in fact it had been in the Top 10 in america listing for public schools for the last 15 years.

I went to Cal Poly in the Business Department. The architecture dept and the comsci is awesome.

I currently make about $90k, as a transit manager, and am 27.

 

I have just like... learned stuff since I graduated high school when I was 16. Some how I have been doing tech support and side sysadmin jobs and have made between $45K when I first started out at 19, up in to the $70s.

Now at 24, I want to go to school and study communications and CS/CIS.

 

I have a strong portfolio in architecture.. I have won multiple awards and crap from houses I designed and drafted by hand in HS. I have attened 1.5yrs of architecture at Diablo Valley College and thats where i got lost.. I have pulled a 2.89 at DVC, not that great.. But i do hope that i will be able to write a good letter and explain my decent but not so great grades.. Still have a year cuss i fawked up my first semester..(This semester added will bring it up to a 3.___.)

Reason is: I have worked 34+ hours a week while attending DVC and its not a ****ty job. I do drawings(autocad,solidworx) for a few multi-million dollar companies including John Muir Hospital. My portfolio is competive with those out of school, and i have been offered 56k a year but would have to drop school which i won't do..

I looked into Transfer credits to Cal Poly.. i just wonder unless i get a 3.5/4.0 is it unrealistic to even transfer? I mean i guess i am a little discouraged as far as school goes..

As far as graphics design.. I can hold my own, I dabble in it now but artisticly i do alright.. Probably not true but i see graphics design being a easier degree than architecture (THIS IS MY OPINION ONLY)

I already know: WebDesign Coding (CSS,JS,HTML)
SolidWorx
AutoCAD
DreamWeaver
3d Studio Max
PhotoShop 7.0
(and the basic crap supporting all this)
Oh yah i am not a slacker when it comes to crap i am not and not a lifer at DVC..

 

3.5/4.0 GPA out of DVC will get you into a lot of universities, including the U.C. system, as well as State universities.

You're doing great, from what it seems. My advice to you is to simply speak with some counselors about where you really want to go to school, and for what major. Remember, you can always change your major in school, as well. Might take you a wee bit longer to graduate if you do that, but it's worth it if you're happy.

Good luck