what would you do about this pressing problem
well i can relate to uh when i decided to choose a college
uh it really had very little to do with academics
uh i i stayed at a i went to a local uh university that was close to home it's about sixty miles away went to the University of Wisconsin
oh
and uh besides it being uh close and being a uh major university in the big ten a prestigious conference i joined the marching band
and uh that really was uh a good deal of the motivation for going to that uh college
so with the band
yeah something to do extracurricular activity
what do you play
i play the trumpet
my uh
my husband played music he was involved in music all of his life and went to Notre Dame where he decided he was going to have a good time
and never and then never went into the scholastic bands he went into uh
okay
bands on campus and he played music but i i just can't believe that he didn't can play in a Notre Dame band when he was good enough to do it
uh-huh
he went the other route i think uh i think the advise i'd give to parents would be to start when they're like four years old today
at least start saving
yeah at least start saving and and start routing them to where at least they'll have a chance to get ahead
well i think most people when they are in high school are very undecided about what course of study they want to take
and they really don't have the foggiest idea of what kind of career they want to get into at least until at least until they've been in college for a couple of years
yeah that's
it's um
i wish i had known more when i was uh
choosing a college i i kind of did or i'd i went off to i grew up in California and i went off to
the University of Utah and didn't find the atmosphere there what i quite expected so i came back and went to Cal State and so i kind of do what you did only by route of another school and
uh-huh
i wish i had known more about what a school meant
yeah well i i started uh studying mathematics basically because i was really good at that in high school
and uh by the time i was a sophomore i decided that mathematics was really not the thing to be into to find a good job they weren't hiring mathematicians at the time
oh
so i started taking computer science courses and uh that become my major course of study uh i finished a major in mathematics also i had a double major but uh computer science is what got me a job
right
and it was very uh very much in demand for a career
well it still is
uh still is that's true it's uh very good choice
i was just looking at a job sheet that's about all that's in there
um-hum
so but i know many people who have changed majors several times in uh college uh in fact very few people finish in four years now
do you think it do you think it's well worth going to uh uh bigger school or more well-known school
uh i really don't think it makes that much difference what size of the school college or university one chooses as long as they have a decent program and they're uh
uh
well known throughout the country
right right the reputation that they have a good reputation
uh-huh
um some of these i didn't the college i went to was a big school but i was an English major and it the English major is very small so i had the
benefit of being able to talk to my professors and hangout with them you know and i really appreciated that
yeah
well that does make a difference uh
Wisconsin had a very good reputation in uh computer science and engineering departments and i'm sure that helped uh helped me get job offers
uh if you choose a school that's not well known or it does not have a very good curriculum in uh in the in those areas uh it could be difficult to uh make a career out of it
right
i think that's what i would tell parents
kind of like uh going to SMU they have a reputation as being a party school
and uh
i just
i have to question how worthwhile it is to go to a school that uh really isn't uh that well known for their academics
hey i'm headed there
i took a couple of semesters of graduate school there myself
well they have the master of liberal arts there and so i thought i would go and do that
right
okay
it's the closest thing to a humanities degree that they let you do at night
uh-huh
it's not the i i'm not into the Bohemian thing you know were i waitress during at night and go to school during the day
yeah i was just making making a point that some schools develop certain reputations and
no i i agree but but it's like oh you offer this degree okay i'll go
uh-huh
i've always wanted a masters degree but to get one in in English or anything other than an MBA it's really difficult to do at night
yeah that that's true uh
i i took uh like i said i took uh couple of semesters at SMU and it at SMU in uh engineering courses
but uh it really did conflict too much with uh with my work it's very difficult uh to maintain a full-time job and try to take uh courses uh in off hours
yeah
right
it's true
so i quit doing that several years ago
and and just lived the easy life
well yeah somewhat i wouldn't mind going back to school again if i thought it i wasn't going to get in trouble again with the with the work it just takes too much time
that's true
going back full-time i think is is the way to go
oh it it would be wonderful
yeah if one can afford to do that that's back to the reason why why i joined the band that was my entertainment while i was in school
i know the little dreams
right
going to all the football games and hockey and basketball games
uh because when you're a poor starving student you don't have the uh cash flow to uh entertain yourself you have to find whatever means you can
right
that's true yeah
those events were always free
i i uh i picked up sweats for the track team i was the track track team manager we got i got to ride the bus all over the state i got to see everything
that sounds exciting
so it was fun it was little i did that for a long time it was a lot of fun so i understand that
uh-huh
i'd recommend that if if someone was trying to choose a college that they they get uh as much information on the schools as they can as far as what curriculums they offer and uh how reputable they are and what kind of reputation they have in the country
and uh go from there
the rest of it's just personal preference whether you like the mascot or not or whether it's close by
yeah
yeah that's true
i mean uh Wisconsin was only up uh sixty mile bus ride away from my parents house so it only took an hour to get back on uh oh a couple weekends a semester
it was very convenient
not to mention being a public university it was the tuition was uh much less expensive
yeah that was a good thing to look out for
i looked into going to Marquette also and had a chance to get a scholarship there but it would have only covered uh about a quarter of the cost of the first uh year which uh wasn't enough of a motivation to uh to go there to commit to to four years
well we're still writing checks for the loans for Notre Dame
um-hum yeah i'm sure that that's uh it's not uh cheap either
but he's really happy he went there
well that's good
i i got uh by with the minimal amount of financial aid and was able to pay it all off within two years of graduation
wow
so i was very pleased with that of course i lived like a pauper too during that time
right
i know a lot of people that did most couldn't afford to to go to a movie
yeah
it was uh really living on a budget
forced you to learn a few things that's true
yeah
but we had fun
tried to have fun being in the band was about the only entertainment i had
uh i really i miss college i had a good time
that was fun uh lived on Tombstone pizzas and Coca-Cola
yeah
it was fun
well i'll just wrap this up
okay
now that we've done our conversation for tonight
well wonder if if this advice was uh worth following for uh choosing a school
hopefully i i guess i don't know what they're doing with the conversations
they're being recorded and uh oh put in uh i guess in Washington DC somewhere for reference for speech projects
aren't aren't they like put taking the words and and listening to the dialect and yeah
yeah that is true based on where where you come from and all
that's funny
where you're educated in the first uh ten years i guess
that would be interesting well it was good talking to you
okay i appreciate it enjoyed it all right bye
okay thanks a lot bye-bye
