A big problem and time is running out!! please help

[vladtess]

Hey guys!

I am 17 years old and will be 18 in February of 2008. I'm currently a senior and it is time for me to pick a school to go to. While I will apply to all the ones I want, I'll have to pick the one I want to go to in late February.

But here is the problem:

I don't know where to go to. Few things are for sure though: I love computers - I love to create random projects here at home and show them off to my friends. I also love reading books about real estate. New York, where I live, has vast amounts of opportunities for real estate.

But I can't decide what I want to do between the two.

If I major at Computer Engineering (one of the things I want), I plan to start some type of business. On the other hand I can major at real estate and make some money too.

The thing is that I don't know which one I will be more successful at. I love to work with a computers but I also don't want to end up a failure in my business later on and work for a company. On the other hand I don't know if I'll like Real estate so much.

I don't want to make a mistake which may cause me my money and four year of life.

If you have anything to say or suggest, I would really appreciate all of your comments.

Thank you so much in advance,

Vladimir Tess

[OnionJack]

Originally writing this I thought you were living outside the USA. Until I reread it and saw you say you were living in New York. My perspective is American. From your writing style you don't sound like you're originally from USA. So if I'm completely wrong I apologize.

Here you can easily change your major. At first just worry about getting the core curriculum out of the way. IE Math, basic science, English. Also Real Estate you haven't defined. Are you looking to be an Agent/Broker. In which case you usually don't have to attend a 4-year college to get licensed.

2nd. Life always seems to be flying by, but you have plenty of time to make your decision. You may go to school for one thing and still decide you hate it/that is isn't right for you. Hey that's life. You live, and learn as they say.

Either way. It'll be a learning experience. Don't think of the time/money as a waste. It's an investment. It may go sour, you won't know unless you try.

Best of luck to you.

-OJ

[vladtess]

Well I am not American. I did come from Ukraine (Eastern Europe) so I may have a different style of writing as you say.

Either way, thanks a lot for a response. I really believe that you are right and that is what I think I'll do -- take core classes and see what I'll like most.

Thanks a again,

Vlad

[Zukin]

Hi vladtess, here are some steps you can take:
1. Write down everything you want out of life
2. Write down the aspects you want in a college which you think will help you reach your goals
3. Give a weighting to each aspect depending on how valuable it is to you (for example, you can use a scale of one to ten and rate "quality of teaching" as a nine and "recreation facilities" as a five)
4. Go to a bookstore and look at books like these:
Amazon.com: Fiske Guide to Colleges 2008 (Fiske Guide to Colleges): Books: Edward Fiske
Amazon.com: The Best 361 Colleges, 2007 Edition (College Admissions Guides): Books: Princeton Review
Amazon.com: The College Board College Handbook 2008 (College Handbook): Books: The College Board
5. (this step is the most important) - Talk to alumni from that school on Facebook or LinkedIn who are currently working in the career that you like and ask them things about their school experience - what they liked, what they would improve on, any tips for you, etc.

If you do these things you'll be more prepared for college than I was, and more prepared than 95% (or more) of all students.

[jurig]

I don't think you have to decide right now. Well, of course you have to decide where and what to study. But afterwards you could even combine your two areas of interest. Write a software for real estate brokers. Or be a real estate broker specialized to the requirements of software engineering companies (office space, data processing centers). There are so many options...

[Love]

Hi Vladtess!

My advice would be to pick a school that has everything you want. That way early on you can dabble in different courses and see what best grabs your fancy. People do often change majors. Like it was said before, get the basics in. And on the side, do your dabbling.

Good luck!

[Ree]

Or you can opt to do a double major and a minor, a major and a double minor, etcetera. There are many options so don't close any doors just yet! And the best of luck to you!!

[pumpkin]

Originally Posted by vladtess

Well I am not American. I did come from Ukraine (Eastern Europe) so I may have a different style of writing as you say.

Hey! I'm also originally from Ukraine =)