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[neon]

i'm going to high school at a community college.  this way, after the normal 4 years of high school, i have an associate's of arts degree.  this allows me to get a master's degree in just 4 years, opposed to 6. 
...
i have school 3 days of the week

Wtf? 

let me rephrase that a little bit more realistically.

i have school from 1pm - 7pm 3 days of the week.  i have full college courseloads, meaning that i double the classtime outside of class and devote that to studying.  luckily, i can get things done a bit faster than that, so not all my time is taken up. 

Are you kidding? That's still a shitton better than 7 1/2 hours five days per week. I could've gotten shit done a lot faster and easier in a situation like yours without incompetent teachers trying to "guide" me 1/3 of my life.

academically, yes.  but it's a whole different ballgame socially.  read what i wrote to xion.  all your friendships WILL die out and fall apart, cause you're not seeing people 5 days of the week. 

You can't take the classes in the morning?

you can, but i chose not to.  the biggest problem with friendships is all the time spent studying. 

[Skofo]

i'm going to high school at a community college.  this way, after the normal 4 years of high school, i have an associate's of arts degree.  this allows me to get a master's degree in just 4 years, opposed to 6. 
...
i have school 3 days of the week

Wtf? 

let me rephrase that a little bit more realistically.

i have school from 1pm - 7pm 3 days of the week.  i have full college courseloads, meaning that i double the classtime outside of class and devote that to studying.  luckily, i can get things done a bit faster than that, so not all my time is taken up. 

Are you kidding? That's still a shitton better than 7 1/2 hours five days per week. I could've gotten shit done a lot faster and easier in a situation like yours without incompetent teachers trying to "guide" me 1/3 of my life.

academically, yes.  but it's a whole different ballgame socially.  read what i wrote to xion.  all your friendships WILL die out and fall apart, cause you're not seeing people 5 days of the week. 

You can't take the classes in the morning?

you can, but i chose not to.  the biggest problem with friendships is all the time spent studying. 

Ahhh, righto. Well, good luck with it! Kinda too late for me to take that path as well, anyway. 

AND WE'LL ALWAYS BE YOUR FRIENDS!! 

[Tobasco Panda]

I know in California what Neon is referring to is called the Step to College program. I'm not sure if it is national or if different states have their own version but from everyone I've talked to who went through it, it is totally a good way to go.

[neon]

hmm, there's no name for it in oregon, as far as i know.  i just kinda decided to do it.  i knew a couple of people who had done it.

[team_q]

If I could've done it, I would have, but I'm 10 years too late.

[GregWS]

If I could've done it, I would have, but I'm 10 years too late.

Aren't you a Canadian too, like me?  I'm pretty sure we don't have anything like that here (in any of the provinces).

[team_q]

Yeah I suppose we don't, our options are pretty much public and catholic.

[GregWS]

Yup, public and Catholic.  Funny story actually; after knowing a friend at my public highschool for over a year, I found out that she had an identical twin sister who went to the Catholic highschool down the road.  Completely tripped me out, finding out my friend was an identical twin and all.

[Powergloved Andy]

Yup, public and Catholic.  Funny story actually; after knowing a friend at my public highschool for over a year, I found out that she had an identical twin sister who went to the Catholic highschool down the road.  Completely tripped me out, finding out my friend was an identical twin and all.

uhhhh, why did they go to different highschools...? That seems really... really... odd! XD

[team_q]

Grandfathered in, back in the day when religeon played a bigger role, and most of the populations in Canada were white, the Catholics went to Catholic school where they received Catholic centric learnin'. Whereas the Protestant majority went to Public(as in not Catholic, as they were the majority) school. It was also an easy way to get rid of the pesky French and Irish from your Public Schools, as they are usually Roman Catholic. Wikipedia has some info if you are so inclined.

[GregWS]

pesky French

I agree, but shhhh!  Fish might hear!  :D

[The-Imp]

Tch! I'm still in middle school!
 :D

I could never picture myself in college!
 

[george]

thought I'd put this here:

http://grandtextauto.org/2008/11/21/a-new-scholarship-for-making-games/

As reported earlier this fall by the San Jose Mercury News and others, UC Santa Cruz recently received more than $450,000 from Sony Computer Entertainment America (as part of a class-action settlement) to fund undergraduate scholarships.

I’m happy to announce that application information is now online. The first scholarships will be available to students applying this year — each will provide $10,000 to students entering the B.S. Computer Science: Computer Game Design degree.

[mrfredman]

Seriously?... weak, I sure wish they had this when I applied to UCSC, I would have been all over that.

[Inane]

I can't imagine a game design degree being very useful

[nihilocrat]

I double-majored in German and CS. I had decided in high school that coding games was just too hard (I probably should have just spent more time learning and less time playing them), and managed to get interested in 'boring' stuff like Linux and web programming before I went to college. I also took a "detour" with the German major; it involved two non-consecutive semesters abroad which, honestly, completely changed my worldview and goals in life, but did nothing to help me out in terms of my technical skills.

Now, almost two years after graduation, I am trying to catch up my game programming skills since I got my foot in the door in the industry. I still want to eventually move overseas.

My double major in 'soft' and 'hard' fields gives me the magical ability of getting to be smug towards technical AND non-technical people.

Ultimately, though, as advice, I'd have to say that you shouldn't worry too much about your major, and you should worry about making the most of the experience. Maybe it was different in the last generation, but if you just get good grades and pass your classes, you are going to end up behind your peers, who were busy doing personal projects, internships, nontrivial college jobs, etc. while simultaneously getting good grades. Also, the people who you interact with define your college experience, so seek out peers and professors who are involved in interesting work.

If you are like me, you will feel very, very old a few months after graduation, when everyone is going back to school and you're not joining them. While I can't participate in it yet, perhaps we should make an "Old Fogeys" thread for people 25+ years old (ha) to complain about mortages and back pain and stuff.