Laying it down
Jan. 4th, 2003 09:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cherryUniversity-type blatherings to follow. I really think I'm starting to get things worked out, but somehow, setting things to paper (or, in this case, in the unstable fabric of cyberspace) always helps make them clearer in my mind. Especially because talking to my parents about it doesn't exactly provide the desired reaction.
There are three probably options of where I'll be next year.
1) University of Toronto; Industrial/Systems Engineering
2) Queen's University (Kingston, Ontario); Engineering Physics/Honours English (six years, two degrees)
3) University of Saskatchewan; Engineering Physics
Now, these each have their own distinct sets of pros and cons. 1 and 2 both involve my A) getting in despite Ontario's double cohort; and B) coming into some sort of scholarship. Some *large* sort of scholarship. 3 involves continued close proximity to my family. Make of that what you will.
Toronto would be my first choice, simply for the industrial/systems engineering program. I haven't found its equivalent offered elsewhere. I've been thinking long and hard about it, and it just seems to fit with my interests and aptitudes. It's basically setting up systems so that they *work* with humans, and vice versa. There is a design element, so you get to be creative. You design, streamline, and modify things as varied as hospitals and banks, the consoles of vehicles and airline cockpits. You will most often (and this is all what sites have told me) be working on and at the heads of teams involving people from various disciplines. After graduation, the career opportunities are just so broad. You can work pretty much anywhere you want to - information technology, healthcare, aerospace, power generation, finance and business consulting, banks, hospitals, government, factories, universities, warehouses and airports. I mean, talk about unlimited possibilities.
Queen's is supposed to have the greatest spirit of almost any university in Canada. It's engineering program is supposed to be wonderfully broad, and hard as hell to get into. It has the bonus of a common first year, to assist its students in making a choice of discipline. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the Industrial program. What it *does* have is a well-established dual degree program with their entire arts and sciences department. You can do engineering plus a B.A/B.S. in five years, with honours in six. It also has location going for it. Kingston is a nice size. Clean air, low crime rate, smaller population, lots of parks, and the university is right on the lakes.
Saskatchewan is less expensive. I know I'll be able to get into the University of Saskatchewan. I don't know about the others. It also has a common first year, and it's a pretty campus. Their labs, the ones I've been in, are nice and clean. There's also a common first year before you split off into different disciplines, and the class sizes are smaller. Fewer girls in them, though. The university also has the Synchratron, which would pretty much kick ass if I decided to do engineering physics.
I say engineering physics right now if I can't get the industrial, but that is really a placeholder of a sort. Both Saskatchewan and Queen's have a common first year, so I'd have the space to maneuver. Mechanical engineering might bring me closer to the industrial goal, but engineering physics is, again, just so broad.
Plus, ever since I was little, I've just wanted to know how everything works. No kidding. *Everything.*
I just want to know it all, you know? And the knowledge that I never will just makes me want to learn that much more.
I just wonder if I'll get into engineering, only to discover that I only ever wanted to do it because it's 'prestigious' and it's not the thing that girls flock to. I worry that my English teacher is right (and I adore the man, really. How can you not adore someone who consistently says nice things about your writing? And he's just one of those kick ass teachers) and that if I go into engineering, I'll make some money, and I never will quite get around to writing anything.
But. No angst. Just trying to figure this out. I'm not going to have any of my final grade 12 marks by Toronto's application deadline. I'll only have my first term marks for Queen's and Saskatchewan, and I take four of my engineering prereqs next term - Physics, Chemestry, Calculus, and English B30. I'm just hoping they'll look at the four math credits I have so far and see that they're consistently 91-93. My chem and physics last year were both 91s, and my four english/media credits are mid-nineties. I've got four marks in the eighties over three years and twenty-four credits, but the rest are nineties or hundreds. I'm decently consistent, so I'm hoping this will help for grade projections of courses I won't have marks for when they're considering my application.
I'm thinking I'll be able to get into Saskatchewan without a problem. I've got a load of extracurriculars, sports and arts, and leadership experience, so I'll probably pick up some sort of scholarship, but Saskatchewan is kind of notorious for low funding to their scholarship programs. I think I've got a chance at getting into Toronto and Queen's, but I have no idea of my chances of picking up a scholarship, which, unfortunately, I'm going to need in a bad way.
::Head on desk:: Can I stay in high school, please? Just for a few more years?
And thus ends this particular whine.
There are three probably options of where I'll be next year.
1) University of Toronto; Industrial/Systems Engineering
2) Queen's University (Kingston, Ontario); Engineering Physics/Honours English (six years, two degrees)
3) University of Saskatchewan; Engineering Physics
Now, these each have their own distinct sets of pros and cons. 1 and 2 both involve my A) getting in despite Ontario's double cohort; and B) coming into some sort of scholarship. Some *large* sort of scholarship. 3 involves continued close proximity to my family. Make of that what you will.
Toronto would be my first choice, simply for the industrial/systems engineering program. I haven't found its equivalent offered elsewhere. I've been thinking long and hard about it, and it just seems to fit with my interests and aptitudes. It's basically setting up systems so that they *work* with humans, and vice versa. There is a design element, so you get to be creative. You design, streamline, and modify things as varied as hospitals and banks, the consoles of vehicles and airline cockpits. You will most often (and this is all what sites have told me) be working on and at the heads of teams involving people from various disciplines. After graduation, the career opportunities are just so broad. You can work pretty much anywhere you want to - information technology, healthcare, aerospace, power generation, finance and business consulting, banks, hospitals, government, factories, universities, warehouses and airports. I mean, talk about unlimited possibilities.
Queen's is supposed to have the greatest spirit of almost any university in Canada. It's engineering program is supposed to be wonderfully broad, and hard as hell to get into. It has the bonus of a common first year, to assist its students in making a choice of discipline. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the Industrial program. What it *does* have is a well-established dual degree program with their entire arts and sciences department. You can do engineering plus a B.A/B.S. in five years, with honours in six. It also has location going for it. Kingston is a nice size. Clean air, low crime rate, smaller population, lots of parks, and the university is right on the lakes.
Saskatchewan is less expensive. I know I'll be able to get into the University of Saskatchewan. I don't know about the others. It also has a common first year, and it's a pretty campus. Their labs, the ones I've been in, are nice and clean. There's also a common first year before you split off into different disciplines, and the class sizes are smaller. Fewer girls in them, though. The university also has the Synchratron, which would pretty much kick ass if I decided to do engineering physics.
I say engineering physics right now if I can't get the industrial, but that is really a placeholder of a sort. Both Saskatchewan and Queen's have a common first year, so I'd have the space to maneuver. Mechanical engineering might bring me closer to the industrial goal, but engineering physics is, again, just so broad.
Plus, ever since I was little, I've just wanted to know how everything works. No kidding. *Everything.*
I just want to know it all, you know? And the knowledge that I never will just makes me want to learn that much more.
I just wonder if I'll get into engineering, only to discover that I only ever wanted to do it because it's 'prestigious' and it's not the thing that girls flock to. I worry that my English teacher is right (and I adore the man, really. How can you not adore someone who consistently says nice things about your writing? And he's just one of those kick ass teachers) and that if I go into engineering, I'll make some money, and I never will quite get around to writing anything.
But. No angst. Just trying to figure this out. I'm not going to have any of my final grade 12 marks by Toronto's application deadline. I'll only have my first term marks for Queen's and Saskatchewan, and I take four of my engineering prereqs next term - Physics, Chemestry, Calculus, and English B30. I'm just hoping they'll look at the four math credits I have so far and see that they're consistently 91-93. My chem and physics last year were both 91s, and my four english/media credits are mid-nineties. I've got four marks in the eighties over three years and twenty-four credits, but the rest are nineties or hundreds. I'm decently consistent, so I'm hoping this will help for grade projections of courses I won't have marks for when they're considering my application.
I'm thinking I'll be able to get into Saskatchewan without a problem. I've got a load of extracurriculars, sports and arts, and leadership experience, so I'll probably pick up some sort of scholarship, but Saskatchewan is kind of notorious for low funding to their scholarship programs. I think I've got a chance at getting into Toronto and Queen's, but I have no idea of my chances of picking up a scholarship, which, unfortunately, I'm going to need in a bad way.
::Head on desk:: Can I stay in high school, please? Just for a few more years?
And thus ends this particular whine.
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form lindy
Date: 2003-01-04 09:35 pm (UTC)we are both going to go to college. we are both going to kick ass. and then?
we rule the world!!! *evil laugh* :D
Re: form lindy
Date: 2003-01-05 12:28 pm (UTC)Of course, maybe we should 'bungle' a few countries. Just for kicks. I mean, what's world domination without a few full scale hostile take overs?
Mwhahahah
(And we so need to do the thing after our first year of university. I'm not even joking. The thing must be done.)
(no subject)
Date: 2003-01-04 09:47 pm (UTC)Anyways, good luck in whatever you go for. I do suggest moving away from the family if at all possible... I wish I had. ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2003-01-05 12:46 pm (UTC)I was under the impression that this year was the last of the grade 13 class. Last year had an increased intake due to people accelerating through the program to avoid the actual double cohort.
And, yes, the idea of large classes is a bit odd to me, so knowing there are good profs is a nice thing. I mean... I've never been in a class of more than twenty-five people. Which I obviously will not be able to continue with anywhere. And if it does, I might be eying the credentials of the 'university.'
Anyways, good luck in whatever you go for. I do suggest moving away from the family if at all possible.
See, my thing is that I'm just hoping some space will help. I'm honestly unable to stay mad at anyone for any length of time, so maybe just clearing things out completely for a while would help.
Oh yes, and thank you. ::G::
Just my opinion, obviously
Date: 2003-01-06 09:26 am (UTC)And that double program thing at Queens (and Queens, damn, I'd go there for the name value alone, talk about prestige ;) is awesome sounding (though God, I bet that's hard work). At my school the gears take their own special first year English for Dummies where they teach them how to spell and that's it.
Exciting stuff. Best of luck!
Queens
Date: 2003-01-05 09:36 am (UTC)There's a website on Ontario Scholarships which are not school specific, and individual ones for each university. I'd suggest jumping on that and applying for all the ones you can. A couple of friends of mine made a very comfortable dent in their tuitions with multiple grants. Do a google search, and you should find it.
As for the rest, let me know where you get in, and I'll see what I can dig up for housing and such
Re: Queens
Date: 2003-01-05 01:26 pm (UTC)Of course, I'm kind of used to quiet. ::G:: The general form of entertainment around here, outside of sports etc., is hanging around at people's houses and drinking. And putting out the fires accidently started in burning barrels before they take out the town. Which isn't to say that I wouldn't like more to do, just that I somehow doubt it would be much of a downward adjustment.
There's a website on Ontario Scholarships which are not school specific, and individual ones for each university. I'd suggest jumping on that and applying for all the ones you can. A couple of friends of mine made a very comfortable dent in their tuitions with multiple grants. Do a google search, and you should find it.
I've been looking, but the major problem with the stuff I've been able to find requires you to be a resident of Ontario, which I am not, barring considerable creative editing of my documents of identification and transcripts. I've been looking for transferable Saskatchewan scholarships, but apart from the fact that this isn't a high priority for the province, the government is in the middle of a major drive to keep students from leaving the province. I mean, I don't even know if I'm going to be eligible for a Saskatchewan Student Loan if I go out of province, the way they've got they system set up.
As for the rest, let me know where you get in, and I'll see what I can dig up for housing and such
::Nod:: Thank you. I really do appreciate the advice (etc) you've given me.