I just turned in my first college assignment!

[Scott Dolan]

OK, OK...

So, it was just a 500 word biography about myself, but still!

Man, it feels good to have finally gotten off my lazy ass and get to fucking learnin!!


Man, and to think I damn near hold my own with you highly educated lemonheads already. You motherfuckers are in for some rough times once I gets me some education under my belt.


BTW, I can't recall if I ever updated you on the whole financing thingy. Remember how I couldn't get a federal loan because of the Selective Service deal? Well, it ended up being the best thing that could have happened. Come to find out, University of Phoenix has a 60 day deferred payment plan for anyone getting full tuition reimbursement from their employer. And the courses all last 63 days, so I'm going to pay for it all and get full reimbursement before the first credit card bill comes in!

How fucking beautiful is that?! No interest, baby!!

[GoodSpeak]

Nice.



Go get 'em, Scott



I'm proud of you.

[bruce massey]

Surely you aren't talking about me!

High school educated and proud!

[Scott Dolan]

Hey, I'm working with an 8th grade education at this point.

And I still have you beat!

[Tom Storer]

Knock 'em dead! What are you studying?

[walto]

I think you'll do very well, Scott. (And as a former college prof. -- two years only, but still-- my opinion counts!

[Vince Kargatis]

Take some probability and statistics while there, Scott. Nearly everyone is too weak in that for the public good.

[Gordon B]

Originally Posted by Vince Kargatis

Take some probability and statistics while there, Scott. Nearly everyone is too weak in that for the public good.

Read this article first. Not just Scott.

Go get em!

[jesus marion joseph]

Originally Posted by Vince Kargatis

Take some probability and statistics while there, Scott. Nearly everyone is too weak in that for the public good.

Vince is correct. I count myself as one of the woefully deficient. I hated math as a kid, so I only did enough to barely scrape by and, many years on I am haunted by that whole "you'll need to know this someday" thingy.


Congrats on being motivated to get your degree, Scott. I've mentioned this before, but I went to college twice. The first time I majored in squandering scholarship money, beer drinking and bong technology. The second go-round was completely on me and, frankly, meant more to me because of it.

Law school was a grind that I never would have done had I known ahead of time what I was in for, but again it means more to me because of the extra effort (at least that's what I say when I make those fucking student loan payments every month).

[Tom Storer]

I'm pretty good at arithmetic. Does that count?

[Vince Kargatis]

Originally Posted by jesus marion joseph

I count myself as one of the woefully deficient.

As Gordon's cited article notes, everyone is inherently so. My advice to Scott depended on his potential access to a class - much easier to learn when you're forced to practice the calculations than to self-teach such nonintuitive material.

[Gentle Giant]

"We can do anything we want. We're college students!"


Kick some collegiate ass, Scott.

[walto]

I agree with Vince. I think everybody in college should have to take a year of statistics, a year of micro-economics, and intro to logic.

[Vince Kargatis]

Scott has 63 days. You might have to rank those, walto.

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by Scott Dolan

OK, OK...

So, it was just a 500 word biography about myself, but still!

Now that you're in college you're allowed to call it an autobiography

Good luck, Scott. You'll probably appreciate it more and get more out of it than most kids straight out of H.S.

[Gary Sisco]

Cool, Scott. Pete's right. Adults tend to well because they're there for their own reasons. It's not something they're "supposed to do" because they graduated from high school. There were a lot of adult students during my time because of the (old) GI Bill and others who just decided to go or go back to school. Most did very well.

[Uli]

Originally Posted by Scott Dolan

So, it was just a 500 word biography about myself, but still!)

As a future collegue I hope to be able to read this self-conceptualization in order to juxtapose it with the Dolan we used to know from his pre-accademic cotnritbutions.

[Chris D]

No hitting on co-eds, though.

[Vince Kargatis]

Originally Posted by Chris D

No hitting on co-eds, though.

Shit, he might as well do distance-learning at home then.

[Gary Sisco]

Really.

[Scott Dolan]

Originally Posted by Pete C

Now that you're in college you're allowed to call it an autobiography

Crap!!

But, that's what I meant to say.

Thanks for the well wishes, folks!


TStor, I'm getting my AA in business and then my BS in business administration after that. If I buckle down, I should be able to pull it off in a hair under 4 years.

[Scott Dolan]

Oh, and I fully intend on taking statistics along with micro and macro econ.

[Scott Dolan]

Originally Posted by Chris D

No hitting on co-eds, though.

Does that include teachers? One of mine is named Varietta. She sounds pretty hot.

[Douglas]

I'll throw another good luck onto the pile, Scott.

My first university decided (justifiably) to throw me out after 2 years. A couple years later, I went back (different university) more motivated and did quite well, mainly because I was far more disciplined but also because I began to enjoy studying.

Doing statistics is a good idea. Perhaps Walto will give us all an online intro to logic.

[Scott Dolan]

walto?

Logic?

Hmmm...

[Gary Sisco]

It's one way to make an A (or not).

Scott, Don't forget to take academic courses in other fields. I had a job once tutoring college seniors -- business majors, many of them -- who couldn't pass the state's grad requirement short essay writing test.

I see some of them, still, on the street from time to time. One kid, when I asked, in the context of writing skills, what he intended to do* on graduation told me he would be looking for mgt work at IBM (a large plant, here -- larger then than now). I asked him if he expected his bosses to place someone who couldn't write a simple short essay in charge of millions of dollars a year. It wasn't until then that I say the lightbulb go on in his head, too late. He ended up being a successful restauranteur, so all ended well. (He did pass the test after the tutoring.)

Algebra is a good intro to basic logic, btw, which answers the eternal question "What will I need this for?"

* I'm not one who views education in these terms but most of the students in my classes did, so I used it as an example. My own take is that the traditional liberal arts education prepares anyone for any kind of job that requires critical thinking ("problem solving"). It's the education and training of the mind that's important (and has no reason but death to end). Anyone who learns how to think can be trained to fill any job.

[Uli]

I see a lot of potential for development in political and social sciences.

[Gary Sisco]

and history, literature, all of that. There'd still be room for the business major courses, no problem, and they'd be enhanced by the others.

[Tom Storer]

Originally Posted by walto

I agree with Vince. I think everybody in college should have to take a year of statistics, a year of micro-economics, and intro to logic.

What, and flunk right out? Thanks a lot!

I was a mediocre college student because unmotivated. I went because my father was paying for it and it was just expected--after high school, college. I didn't have any particular plans for my future and spent my college years more worried about girlfriend stuff than grades. In retrospect, I think I would have greatly benefited by spending a few years working between high school and college. But hindsight is easy. I ended up having a future anyway. Just lucky, I guess.

[Tom Storer]

Scott, what's an AA?