my soapbox
I don't mean to get off on a rant here, but.....
What ever happened to advisors actually giving freaking advice like their title would imply?
So it's like this.... when I was in high school, I took some honors/ap level math and physics and almost majored in physics in college to begin with, but wasn't sure what one would do with a degree in physics. So I figured I would ask the guidance counselor at the career center on campus. Who better to ask, right? Famous last words as it turns out. The guy sat me down arbitrarily in front of a dictionary of engineering disciplines and told me to pick one. He never bothered to ask about my personal or professional interests. Now, there's certainly nothing wrong with engineering, but it's a very specific sort of work environment and career style; some people dig it, most don't (including me). The problem is, physics and mechanical engineering (my choice) are essentially the same curriculum through the first two years. So it wasn't until the end of my sophomore and beginning of my junior level classes when the two subjects diverged and I was able to see that I didn't personally care to be an engineer. Long story short... it was March of my third year when I was finally able to change majors and get back on track with physics. The main problem with this timing is that due to when physics courses are offered on my campus, I had to wait until my fourth year to start my sophomore physics courses! Then since I've been working 2 jobs to afford school and fraternity and life (and the occasional date with my gf), I've ended up spending 7 years for my freakin bachelors degree. Granted, cal state schools tend to require more like 5 years than 4 since you can't always get your classes (a separate rant altogether, but anyway...), so I could have been two years into a PhD program with my masters already in hand by now.
And another thing!
My advisor at college never bothered to offer any advice about careers with a degree in physics - only what courses to be sure to take to spend the least amount of time possible getting the bachelors. Any information I've gotten about careers with my kind of degree is stuff I've had to personally research. If only I had gotten some real advice from anyone I could have had an entirely different career path than the one I'm currently looking at. Sheeesh!
It's apparently all about getting as many people through as possible in the shortest amount of time possible - what ever happened to a proper customer service attitude in education?
....
I think I'll get off my soapbox now.
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