[111027]

I was wondering how pleased are the students with what their university offers. I am mainly interested in the educational program (e.g. subjects being taught, way and depth of teaching etc), but also other aspects, such as lab equipment, professor's behavior and all that jazz.

I guess i'll have to start first :

Overall, i am very, very pleased with my college. The educational program is absolutely awesome, as after the first year we get to pick all of our subjects, and there's pretty much nothing that's not offered (personally, i am planning on taking up bioinformatics subjects). I just wish that instead of Professional Skills (essay and scientific publication writing in English) we had basic electronics. The professors are also generally very, very good at their respective subjects, and always willing to help out an interested student (one went as far as to connect me with a Croatian institute where they're doing compiler research, simply because i expressed interest), which is well worth the money we're paying (not that much, surprisingly).

The labs are decent, though the equipment varies from Pentium 3 machines all the way to AMD Opterons, and a variety of operating systems to work with. The coolest thing is we have a supercomputer in the school, which [bold] we students can get access to [/bold]!


What are your opinions on your school? I'd really like to hear them!

[tlhIn`toq]

I went to the university of US Army.

Best decision I've every made. Unlike most universities their goal is to make you a responsible, functioning adult - and not just a champion at beer pong. While at the same time making you part of a team.

Because they need you functional fast their aim is not to drag out your education for 4 years, and fill your day with meaningless courses. If you train to become a satellite communications specialist for example, you aren't forced to take courses in Italian art appreciation or 14th century French history.

And at the same time, they are paying you instead of you paying them.
They'll help you drop those 60 pounds of McDonald's weight.
And you'll get to see some of the world without buying a single airfare.

At DIC we get the question all the time:

What do employers think of recent graduates? Do they hire them?

Well you decide:
Candidate A: I went to the university of widget. It took me 4 years to get a BS in CIS101, but I haven't actually worked on any projects in the real world.
Candidate B: I was in the Army for 4 years. Trained in cyptography and computer science. Performed my duties with a government security clearance in 3 different countries.

Who would you hire?

This post has been edited by tlhIn`toq: 05 January 2012 - 08:10 AM

[no2pencil]

I went to a junk school & got a junk degree. It was full of garbage courses that included playing video games & constantly hand-holding idiots that can't keep up, simply because they are paying tuition. Worst part is, half of the students still couldn't graduate, simply because they lacked the initiative to actually show up.

Any of the day time instructors were simply technicians that couldn't cut it in the real world of technology, & the night instructors were (for the most part) working in the world, but couldn't financially make ends meet.

Despite the school taking on a new name, things do not seem to have improved any. Now that I run a business I have spoken with their recruiters about bringing on a part-time technician, & the other day I had a resume that was simply an outline of the school curriculum, & his phone number was one digit short.

[xclite]

Pretty pleased with the experience and quality of education. I could list several things that I wish they would be smarter about regarding the curriculum, but I'm glad I went. I do wish it had been cheaper, although the name really does sell. I've skipped a lot of round 1 interviews because I graduated from Virginia Tech with a good gpa.

[tlhIn`toq]

no2pencil, on 05 January 2012 - 09:16 AM, said:

Any of the day time instructors were simply technicians that couldn't cut it in the real world of technology, & the night instructors were (for the most part) working in the world, but couldn't financially make ends meet.

Sounds like that old adage: Those that can: Do. Those that can't: Teach.

[xclite]

Several of my professors are pretty well known in the technology world for things they've built, so I suppose you can find exceptions to the rule.

This post has been edited by xclite: 05 January 2012 - 09:52 AM

[111027]

tlhIn`toq, on 05 January 2012 - 09:38 AM, said:

no2pencil, on 05 January 2012 - 09:16 AM, said:

Any of the day time instructors were simply technicians that couldn't cut it in the real world of technology, & the night instructors were (for the most part) working in the world, but couldn't financially make ends meet.

Sounds like that old adage: Those that can: Do. Those that can't: Teach.

Disagree. My 'concepts of software development' (structured programming) has written an interesting mini-book on object recognition for AI driven systems they use at MIT. Also, it is my ambition to become a teaching assistant, or eventually even a professor - yet i don't see i 'can't' do information science like the people in the 'industry'.

The thing with the US Army school... that seems interesting. Glad for you, man.

[tlhIn`toq]

111027, on 05 January 2012 - 11:08 AM, said:

Disagree. My 'concepts of software development' (structured programming) has written an interesting mini-book on object recognition for AI driven systems they use at MIT.

Do you mean?
Disagree. My 'concepts of software development' (structured programming) teacher has written an interesting mini-book on object recognition for AI driven systems they use at MIT.

Because otherwise that sentence doesn't make sense.

[jimblumberg]

Quote

Because otherwise that sentence doesn't make sense.

What do you expect from someone who thinks the following is unnecessary.

Quote

I just wish that instead of Professional Skills (essay and scientific publication writing in English)

Jim

This post has been edited by jimblumberg: 05 January 2012 - 02:11 PM

[no2pencil]

tlhIn`toq, on 05 January 2012 - 11:38 AM, said:

no2pencil, on 05 January 2012 - 09:16 AM, said:

Any of the day time instructors were simply technicians that couldn't cut it in the real world of technology, & the night instructors were (for the most part) working in the world, but couldn't financially make ends meet.

Sounds like that old adage: Those that can: Do. Those that can't: Teach.

The last time I posted that on here I got negative feedback. So I figured I'd be more thorough & exact.

[111027]

jimblumberg, on 05 January 2012 - 02:11 PM, said:

Quote

Because otherwise that sentence doesn't make sense.

What do you expect from someone who thinks the following is unnecessary.

Quote

I just wish that instead of Professional Skills (essay and scientific publication writing in English)

Jim

Apparently making a mistake in writing is well worth the death sentence.

I do believe that Professional Skills is a good subject to be taught. I do, however, believe that a basic understanding of electronics is far more important, while PS could just as well be an optional subject.

[no2pencil]

111027, on 05 January 2012 - 04:48 PM, said:

jimblumberg, on 05 January 2012 - 02:11 PM, said:

Quote

Because otherwise that sentence doesn't make sense.

What do you expect from someone who thinks the following is unnecessary.

Quote

I just wish that instead of Professional Skills (essay and scientific publication writing in English)

Jim

Apparently making a mistake in writing is well worth the death sentence.

I do believe that Professional Skills is a good subject to be taught. I do, however, believe that a basic understanding of electronics is far more important, while PS could just as well be an optional subject.

I believe that a basic understanding of electronics is highschool level education, not college.

[tlhIn`toq]

no2pencil, on 05 January 2012 - 04:05 PM, said:

I believe that a basic understanding of electronics is highschool level education, not college.

Funny that I've never given that any thought. I grew up with my father being a ham radio operator, retired Navy, housing contractor as a civilian. I had my Advanced ham license at age 12, which required testing at the FCC office in Chicago for basic electronics, radio theory and 18 words per minute in morse code.

Heathkit electronic kits were my standard birthday gifts. Wiring up power supplies, microphones, climbing antenna towers, adding extra circuits to the basement, repairing A/V equipment in high school...

I sometimes forget that some people don't grow up learning things as basic as what electricity is and how to work with it - or how to replace a car water pump - or how to remodel your house. Mine was a very hands-on up bringing.

[111027]

Depends on your study program. I was enrolled in a mathematics school, and we did pretty much hardcore maths. There is a separate type of high school program here specifically designed to teach one electronics, basics of automation and elementary computer programming.

[tarmizi_adam2005]

111027, on 05 January 2012 - 03:24 PM, said:

Depends on your study program. I was enrolled in a mathematics school, and we did pretty much hardcore maths. There is a separate type of high school program here specifically designed to teach one electronics, basics of automation and elementary computer programming.

Because of your mathematics background maybe you should consider learning electronics by yourself. Trust me, if you have a maths background you can pretty much learn any other mathematically related subjects which puts electronics in the list. I've learned electronics (microelectronics to be specific) in my college days and what i can say, college (or University if you want) electronics may be regarded as a highly mathematical subject and maybe should be no problem for you considering your maths background.

Unfortunately for me, my college emphasizes on strong theoretical background which means that i can pretty much understand the maths behind those electronic stuffs. But, if you ask me to build a system by doing hands on things, i might end up scratching my head and go blank