Your first day of college?

Yeah the instructor I'm talking about was leaving at the end of the year so I think he just didn't care anymore

In the US, "college" and "university" are usually used interchangeably, and usually mean the same thing (a 2-year degree school or a 4-year degree school, where you focus on your major). You don't have to go to one first, and then the other. I graduated high school, and went straight to a university 3 months later.

Many people go straight from High School to College/University. Other people decide to get jobs and enjoy some time outside of school for a few years, and then they decide to go to college/university. College/University isn't a requirement. Most people in the US finish High School, but you don't have to; it isn't illegal. However, in order to go to college/university, you have to have a high school degree. Many people go to some kind of college, university, or trade school (like... how to be a certified car mechanic) after high school to learn something. But many other people just work for the rest of their lives and learn things while on the job from experience.

Concerning classes, when you first go to college/university, you have several required classes you have to take in order to advance to taking more specialized classes. These are usually English, Math, Science, another language, and a physical education/wellness/health credit. After you take those lower level required courses, you can just focus on requirements to be an Electrical Engineering major or whatever you want to study.

Also, in the US, we have junior colleges. They are basically less expensive options that are usually not entirely like big colleges (you can't/don't live there, and not many poeople there are full-time students). Most small cities have a junior college. They are useful because they allow you to start fulfilling credits toward a regular college/university at a lower cost, and close to where you live. They also tend to have early morning and night classes so people who work full-time can go to classes before or after work. Unless I'm wrong, I don't think you can actually get a degree in anything from a junior college. I think they only prepare you to hopefully only have to spend a a couple of years and a lot more money at a regular college/university. So... if you go to a junior college for a year or two... instead of having to spend 4 years getting your bachelor's degree at a university, you might only have to spend 2 or 3 years at a university.

Some fields of study you might be able to get your entire degree at a junior college, but I'm not sure. Nursing is the specific degree I'm not sure about. I think you can get your associates degree at junior colleges...? Which is a 2-year degree.

Most people who want "professional" types of careers at least finish their bachelor's degree. Some get their master's degree or doctorate degree.

Gohan needs to try to figure out what he wants to do with the next 40 years of his life and pick a major that will help him succeed in that. It's hard to pick your major, especially when your guidance counselor doesn't ask you hard questions. I was an art major at first, but it wasn't until my second year that one of my teachers actually took me aside and explained that getting a degree in art pretty much only qualifies me to be an art teacher and not much else. After he told me that, I immediately changed to being an advertising major (because graphic design wasn't available at my school and I didn't want to go somewhere else) and so I finished school as an advertising major in the creative track of advertising -- the design and other creative tasks associated with advertising. That led me into learning graphic design on my own time and I've really enjoyed it for the most part, though I must admit, I was not prepared by my school for the type of things I am doing now. I should have double majored in Business (specifically entrepreneurship) and Advertising-Creative instead of just the one.

So I guess what I'm saying is Gohan should spend this year getting the basic requirements done, and hopefully by the end of two semesters he'll know wtf he wants to do for the next 40 years, and his guidance counselor can help him select the proper major.

Just because I liked to draw, sculpt, and paint didn't mean there was a job out there for me to do so. I'm too intelligent to just be an artist (I'd be so underutilized if I worked in a sign shop), so being self-employed, running my own business, doing my own design work, and especially my own web programming for html, css, and now jquery and javascript programming (I'm learning right now) is a really good use of all of my talents.

*continues to ramble on* So Gohan---figure out what you're good at & what you're interested in this year, and then next year, get on a website like Career Builder or Monster and see if there are any jobs you think you'd be interested in doing in 3 years, and find out from your professors and guidance counselors what you need to major in to be a _______.

^ Typical Branjita behavior: I posted, went back and read it, and edited a whole bunch more in.

I might be the only person here who will spend 30 minutes typing something, 5 reading it again, and then another 20 adding more stuff to it . I don't even remember what I was doing when I started typing that!

I think an HBO degree is necessary to be able to read and understand what you just explained! It's almost 8pm here and I've been working all day so I got lost.

We have these:

Pre-school = optional, go play with somebody else's toys while your mommy and daddy work
Kindergarten = required, learn to be away from mommy/daddy
1st grade = required, 5 or 6 year old kids learning all subjects
.
. (at some point in here, I think you are not legally responsible (your parents aren't) to keep you in school. I think it's after 6th grade...?? ??)
.
12th grade = required (or at least maybe 90% of people finish), 17 or 18 year old kids learning all subjects, people who dropped out usually get their GED (basically they have to study to pass high school on their own).

Then you have different paths:

Nothing = default, you get a job as a waiter or something and just work until you get a promotion or decide to work somewhere else
Trade school = optional, you're taught how to do something, and get a certificate/license. So you can be a plumber or car mechanic or something else.
Junior College = optional, take well-rounded classes (some specialized possibly) to either get you an Associates Degree (2-year degree) or start your path to getting a Bachelor's Degree (4-year degree)
College/University = really common but not mandatory, start out well-rounded, then specialize, then graduate with usually a Bachelors Degree
Master's Degree = more College/University for another 2 years or more (most people aren't full-time students when they get this degree, but those who have rich parents are)
Doctorate Degree = PhD, several years more of college/university, depending on what you're doing

I think that's a good guide to American school systems.

dont forget that in US and Canada usually College is more hands on and University is mostly book work and reports

and in canada it is illegal to quite school until you are 18 unless you are a genius and graduate highschool early

we also dont have Jr High school in canada, Gr 1-8 grade school 9-12 high school

Same here. Guess it's kinda applicable to call our HBO college. Our difference between HBO (college) and University is just quite strict here. Different type of attendees, different mood altogether. No proffesors on colleges for example. Oddly enough its the university crowd here that parties, the college/hbo crowd is kindof already focussing on preparing for having a job. Yet on middle school the people prepping for college are quite distinctly less mature than thr university preppers, so it's a weird switch after middle school. I know some college attendees who're jealous of university people over this disillusioning college experience.