I'm looking into what to do for school next year. I need some advise.

Well if you think you can stand about 4 more years of school, I would reccomend taking basic classes at the community college then transfering to a university to get a BS in Computer Science. First before making any class selections, make sure they will transfer to a nearby state school.

If you really cant handle the general education requirements, then a tech school/community college might be for you, but may not land you as great of a job without experience. The biggest thing you would want to talk about to the school is job placement rates in that profession and what kind of companies hire their graduates. Some schools can be great at getting their grads hired and others aren't.

I wish you would not give up on a transfer degree because even tech schools/community colleges have general education requirements. Perhaps you could ask to take a mix of computer related courses and general ed requirements. The truth is is almost any program you will have to take classes that are not directly related such as writing and history or political science because of state regulations.

When it comes to the choice of community college vs technology school is more of a matter of the school and program than the broad classification. Look more at the classes required and make a choice based on ability of graduates in that program to land related jobs.

I think the biggest thing is to look at what kind of job you want and what kind of degree needed or helpful. Perhaps you could tell me your interests or goals too if you do not mind.

Thanks for the reply, Shea. I really don't think I can stand 4 more years of schooling. I'd like to, but I don't want my parents putting all that money into the school and then having me lose all interest in the prerequisits(sp?) and other required classes that I start falling behind and end up not gettting credit for the classes.

I understand I will probably have to take history and writing classes at a technical college, but I'm hoping I don't have to take random classes I have no interest in because I need more credits for Humanitys or Math (as examples).

I odn't have any real big goals for my future right now. I was looking at LWTC (Link)and Computer Security/Network Tech(Link) interests me the most. I was actually hoping to see myself working a network security job sme time in the future. Not really a life long goal or dream, just something I could see myself enjoying.

Anyone else have any suggestions, recomendations or perosnal experiences with this kind of education?

Oh, and my ring finger on my right hand is broken. There my be misspellings because I amd typing with 3 fingers on my right hand.

I'm currently working on a CS BS at UVA, and have to take all those nasty pre-req courses. Humanities, Chemistry, Physics, etc. Hell, I didn't even take a CS course last semester because I couldn't fit it in. And I do hate that I have to take everything else, but you know, it is a well-rounded education. Its amazing how broad the sciences are, how much from Chemistry and Physics is applicable in an IT environment.

I dunno. As much as I would love taking a pure-CS program which would have hands-on stuff which I find interesting, I think that'd burn me out. I have a love/hate relationship with all the crap classes. I wish I didn't have to take them, but guess I enjoy them on some level anyway.

Oh well. Yay jibberish. I hope you find something that fits you too :P

Well the one good think with general education is it gives you some experience in a broad range of disiplines. While one may ask, why is this important in CS?

Well sometimes you might not get a job for a computer company but another company wanting you to develop programs for a disipline, such as a specific heat calculator or a friction coeffiecient calculator, etc. Studying those topics, even not in depth, helps you better understand the principles of these processes helping to program better.

Well what about having to take say English? Well it improves your communitcation skills. Communication skills gets people through life. Interviews, Meetings, Team Coordination, all places where people with communication skills triumph over those lacking them.

No matter what, expect to have to take some math classes as math is heavly used in computing.

In the end, the point of general education is to give graduates a good all-around education. College is about learning more than what you want for a job be it from living away from your family for the first time to having to take some non-major related classes.

Remember, people who major in the humanities also have to take science and math classes.

As for looking at that CC, HOLY CRAP! Their associates program is 120 Credit hours. That is as much as a BS or BA O_O I mean wow, do they expect you to take 20 hours a semester which I think is crazy. That would ammount to 20 hours a week + 40 hours of homework per week. Plus I imagine they expect you to go during the summer. That is crazy! Perhaps you should look into Academic Core then transfering, but I am not sure I understand its requirements. Do they make you take all of those classes or just some of them to satisify the goals of the program?

Unless they use some odd method for measureing Credits.