An Introduction to College

Amongst the tech community, especially those in High School, the big question is: “Is College Worth It?” While I can’t say if college is worth it, I can share my experiences from my first year as a Computer Science Student at San Diego State, a large public state university. From why I chose San Diego State, to the horrors that are graduation requirements, to the awesome opportunity I had to travel to Finland, and study at the University of Jyväskylä this past summer. College is both just like I thought it would be, but also very different.

Transcript

1. An Introduction to College My First Year as a Comp. Sci. Student at SDSU
2. https://tompaulus.com @tompaulus The Two Questions I Get Asked Most Frequently Why did you choose to go to SDSU? What do you want to do after you graduate?
3. https://tompaulus.com @tompaulus https://tompaulus.com @tompaulus Photo: SDSU Marcomm Part 1 The Journey (Fall 2014 - Spring 2015)
4. https://tompaulus.com @tompaulus Who was I? ➤ Rigorous Student ➤ Overall GPA: 4.28 ➤ 15th out of 393 ➤ AP Student ➤ During High School, I took 9 AP courses. And because of that, I started as a Sophomore (44 units) ➤ Slightly Above Average Student ➤ SAT: 1850 (CR 560; Math 710; Write 580 [7]) ➤ ACT: 30 (Eng 28; Math 34; Read 24; Sci. 34) Photo: Wolf Paulus
5. https://tompaulus.com @tompaulus I applied to 10 different Universities ➤ UC Davis ➤ UC Santa Cruz ➤ Cal Poly SLO ➤ Cal Poly Pomona ➤ UC Irvine ➤ UC Riverside ➤ USC ➤ Cal State Fullerton ➤ San Diego State ➤ UC San Diego
6. https://tompaulus.com @tompaulus I was accepted at 6 of them. ➤ UC Santa Cruz ➤ Cal Poly Pomona ➤ UC Irvine ➤ UC Riverside ➤ Cal State Fullerton ➤ San Diego State ➤ UC San Diego
7. https://tompaulus.com @tompaulus SDSU ➤ Enrollment: ➤ 29,000 Undergrads ➤ Student-Faculty Ratio: ➤ 28:1 (Avg. Class Size ~ 30) ➤ Program Size: ➤ ~250 Undergrads ➤ Honors College! UCI ➤ Enrollment: ➤ 25,000 Undergrads ➤ Student-Faculty Ratio: ➤ 19:1 (Avg. Class Size < 20) ➤ Program Size: ➤ 2,000+ Undergrads
8. https://tompaulus.com @tompaulus Enrollment Services Online Payments Thank you for your payment. Your credit card has been charged. Please do not enter your credit card information again or your credit card will be charged multiple times. Receipt Number: 1591958 Click­2­Pay Current Date: 04/17/2015 Description Amount $400.00 Intent to Enroll Fee $400.00 Total $400.00 Payments Received Amount Web ACH Payments Savings Account XXXXX5905 Routing # 031176110 CAPITAL ONE N.A., ST. CLOUD, MN $400.00 Total $400.00 Thank you for the payment.
9. https://tompaulus.com @tompaulus https://tompaulus.com @tompaulus Photo: SDSU Marcomm Part 2 The SDSU Experience
 (Fall 2015 - Spring 2016)
10. https://tompaulus.com @tompaulus Fall 2015 RWS 200 ECON 101 MATH 245 CS 107 HONOR 113
11. https://tompaulus.com @tompaulus Fall 2015 RWS 200 ECON 101 MATH 245 CS 107 HONOR 113 Spring 2016 COMM 103 GEOG 102 MATH 254 CS 108 CS 237
12. https://tompaulus.com @tompaulus
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15. https://tompaulus.com @tompaulus https://tompaulus.com @tompaulus Photo: Jeff Ernst via SDSU Marcomm Part 3 Beyond Freshman Year
 (Summer 2016 - Present)
16. https://tompaulus.com @tompaulus On one of the many piers on Lake Lake Jyväsjärvi in Jyväskylä.
17. https://tompaulus.com @tompaulus The Iconic Bridge by the University of Jyväskylä.
18. https://tompaulus.com @tompaulus Taking a weekend vacation from Finland. Walking along the beach in Tallinn, Estonia.
19. https://tompaulus.com @tompaulus
20. https://tompaulus.com @tompaulus The Questions I Wished People Asked Do you like it? Are you happy? What is it like? What did you wish you knew before starting? What advice would you give to someone about to leave to college for the first time? What do you do in your free time? Do you even have free time?
21. https://tompaulus.com @tompaulus Photo: SDSU Marcomm Questions? https://tompaulus.com @tompaulus
22. Thank You! Slides and other materials from this talk can be found on my website at https://tompaulus.com/talks Photo: Paul Lang via SDSU Marcomm