What Should I Do At Uni?

Hey, I would like some advice.
This is my last year at school and I'm not that sure what I should do at university.
At school at the moment, I am doing fairly well at top level math (imaginary numbers and things), physics (2nd in my class). I am doing alright at Chemistry. And I am failing english (but it's a silly subject, I am never going to be an author or anything like that).
I am also very fond of computer programming and building computers, but I couldn't take any computer courses at my school because it is a rural school.
I'm thinking about an engineering course (aerospace, computer, electrical, mechatronic or software) or a science course (computer science or mathematical physics, maybe a proper math course or proper physics even.)
Any suggestions are welcome, and advice.
Also any questions will be answered as well.
Thankyou.

Hi rhys.baker. Asking the question at this point is a really good idea.

Follow your heart, but keep your education broad. You never know what other stuff besides math and science may turn out to be important to you in the future. Thinking outside the box may often be irrelevant but sometimes pays off well.

At your age I never could have imagined what I have done since.

English ain't silly. Get a tutor if you have to. Whatever we do also requires good communication, and learn how to do it well. Writing and speaking are basic.

Best wishes

spo

This post has been edited by sporacle on Apr 26 2009, 05:15 AM

What to do @ Uni'?

Suggestion

And oh yeah, it's a good idea to ignore the guys in school who get their jollies by jacking around, and stick with the books. More fun in the long run.

This post has been edited by sporacle on Apr 26 2009, 08:14 AM

So scientists get paid crap, but would a science, computer engineering double degree, get good money from say a developmental sciences company? Or even just a high tech company? Maybe developing weaponry or something.

I've been having a thorough look through the courses provided and I've decided to pick on of these;
Bachelor of Software Engineering,
Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Systems (or equivalent at different universities),
or Bachelor of Computer Science

They all seem pretty similar. Any advice?

If it's a choice of those 3 then I'd definitely go for computer science. It's a far more widely recognised degree than the other 2.

Whomever said scientists don't get well paid meant that the pay for actually doing science is not that good. Scientists that go on to work in other areas like finance or industry are extremely well paid.

If you are interested in going on to do a higher degree like a PhD after you've finished your first degree, I'd consider very carefully what it is that you want to do in the end. For example, if you want to do a PhD in theoretical physics, I'd strongly recommend doing a degree in applied maths rather than physics. I have no experience of computer science but I'd have thought that people that do physics are well equipped to do CS as a postgrad.

The CS degree is 4 years, most of which is math and some physics.
That sounds like a really good idea thankyou.

I switched from Aerospace to Computer Science, and while I miss not being able to work on planes and helicopters (or rockets and satellites), I still have plenty of fun and interesting things to work on, while being paid quite well to do so.

Computer Science is definitely a good road to go down.

Yeah. Computer science is now interrelated with most everything else, and it is a safe bet useful for making a living. But don't forget to explore other stuff and pick up as much info as you can about anything else that grabs you, because it's the best bet for eventually getting into whatever you personally will love to do.

And like I suggested, learn English composition well; a language is a standard, shared set of grammar and words used to retrieve, model, explore and communicate information. Computer process includes now standard languages and using these to model and explore interrelationships of entities and use and communicate these effectively.

Bunch of fun ahead of you, Dude.

spo

This post has been edited by sporacle on Apr 27 2009, 02:57 AM

Well, as I would love to be earning heaps of money, I would rather do something I enjoy than something i dislike that earns me heaps, I mean if i just wanted to earn a heap of money, I could do civil engineering at uni (fees totally paid for by the mine) and then go to work for the mine on $90000 aud pa straight up. But I could seriously think of nothing worse to do.

You got it! A lot of guys go through our local class A science, IT and engineering school and go the money route and then get bored and burn out.

Forget the money. During your education explore a range of fields and get into what you love to do. Even if it pays diddly, you will accomplish way more real stuff and have way more fun in the long run.

spo

I think you should go for engineering.