Reflections on a first year
So, now that I'm officially done with my first year of college, I figured I'd write up some reflections on it...
Firstly, U of A was not my ideal school, I don't deny this. But it is making the best of a bad situation. It's certainly a very good school, without a doubt. Like any school, it's got its strengths and weaknesses, and subtle oddities. But it still gets the job done no less.
Secondly, my major. At the moment, I am going to stick with Aerospace Engineering. I certainly like the principles behind it. However, I have had a bit of a thought process going on recently about potentially changing my major. To the oddest of all things (and to the chagrin of some reading this), I was thinking of changing to Meteorology. This comes with a few thoughts. First of all, I'm concerned about the future of Aerospace, since we are just about out of oil (Some estimates put terminal decline around 2012). This means more expensive flights, meaning less people flying, meaning less need for airplanes... you can see the trend. Some will tell me this is not the case, and it may very well not be, it's just my thoughts. Secondly, research. I have a strong interest into going into a research career. Granted, there is research in both fields, but researching something _new_ is FAR more prevalent in Meteorology. We know a surprisingly little amount about the natural world surrounding us.
Of course, I'm sure some of you have thought during that last paragraph "Wait a minute Kevin, you're in Arizona. Arizona doesn't have any weather." And to that, you'd be right. None of the 3 state colleges in AZ offer Meteorology. U of A USED to, but for whatever reason, have completely removed their Meteorology program, and the undergraduate portion of their Atmospheric Sciences (Basically the same thing as Meteorology. Tomato tomahto) major. We do, however, have a NWS office on campus, which provides interesting potential internships. Anywho, in order to switch to this major, that'd involve transferring schools. There are only 16 in the nation with a meteorology program, and 3 I have my eye on. 1 is the University of St. Paul, in St. Paul, MN. The second is the State College of NY, which is in 3 places in NY, and the third is Oklahoma University, in Norman, Oklahoma. For those who don't know, this is an attractive option because OU is located next to the National Severe Storms Laboratory. Severe Weather would be my study of interest in a research career.
So, no idea if I will/can do that. Money is an issue, but based on some emails I've exchanged with OU, my GPA and Honors College standing may make them fairly generous with financial aid. I'm certainly also keeping NY in mind. We'll see how all that turns out. Researching some of this stuff is on my plans for this summer.
So, speaking of summer, I've STILL got no idea what I'm doing. Turns out that the job market isn't only crap on the career level, but on the minimum wage level as well. I'm trying to avoid getting a job flipping burgers, but that appears to be becoming a more and more likely outcome.
Anywho, I'll add more later if I feel like it. Mid-day is here, and it's blasted hot in here.
-Kevin
Firstly, U of A was not my ideal school, I don't deny this. But it is making the best of a bad situation. It's certainly a very good school, without a doubt. Like any school, it's got its strengths and weaknesses, and subtle oddities. But it still gets the job done no less.
Secondly, my major. At the moment, I am going to stick with Aerospace Engineering. I certainly like the principles behind it. However, I have had a bit of a thought process going on recently about potentially changing my major. To the oddest of all things (and to the chagrin of some reading this), I was thinking of changing to Meteorology. This comes with a few thoughts. First of all, I'm concerned about the future of Aerospace, since we are just about out of oil (Some estimates put terminal decline around 2012). This means more expensive flights, meaning less people flying, meaning less need for airplanes... you can see the trend. Some will tell me this is not the case, and it may very well not be, it's just my thoughts. Secondly, research. I have a strong interest into going into a research career. Granted, there is research in both fields, but researching something _new_ is FAR more prevalent in Meteorology. We know a surprisingly little amount about the natural world surrounding us.
Of course, I'm sure some of you have thought during that last paragraph "Wait a minute Kevin, you're in Arizona. Arizona doesn't have any weather." And to that, you'd be right. None of the 3 state colleges in AZ offer Meteorology. U of A USED to, but for whatever reason, have completely removed their Meteorology program, and the undergraduate portion of their Atmospheric Sciences (Basically the same thing as Meteorology. Tomato tomahto) major. We do, however, have a NWS office on campus, which provides interesting potential internships. Anywho, in order to switch to this major, that'd involve transferring schools. There are only 16 in the nation with a meteorology program, and 3 I have my eye on. 1 is the University of St. Paul, in St. Paul, MN. The second is the State College of NY, which is in 3 places in NY, and the third is Oklahoma University, in Norman, Oklahoma. For those who don't know, this is an attractive option because OU is located next to the National Severe Storms Laboratory. Severe Weather would be my study of interest in a research career.
So, no idea if I will/can do that. Money is an issue, but based on some emails I've exchanged with OU, my GPA and Honors College standing may make them fairly generous with financial aid. I'm certainly also keeping NY in mind. We'll see how all that turns out. Researching some of this stuff is on my plans for this summer.
So, speaking of summer, I've STILL got no idea what I'm doing. Turns out that the job market isn't only crap on the career level, but on the minimum wage level as well. I'm trying to avoid getting a job flipping burgers, but that appears to be becoming a more and more likely outcome.
Anywho, I'll add more later if I feel like it. Mid-day is here, and it's blasted hot in here.
-Kevin