Ok, this is a recent problem, and its a really tough decision for me.

At my high school, we offer good honors classes and all, and i have a lot of friends there, but today, as a sophmore class, we visited a technical high school in our town. It has some really, really good classes. I want to become a game designer, and they have an Advanced Computer class that teaches you how to do it. Its a 2 year class (junior and senior year) and provides a lot of instruction for free.  If i were to do this, I would go to North High (my high school) at 8:45 (when classes start) and leave for 9 on the bus to Tech High. We then come back to North at 3 (school ends at 3:30), that is so we can still participate in after school programs, sports, etc. The problem is, I dont want to give up my home high school for two years and lose connections to friends. The good part is, this is a great opportunity to get a jump on training and get a good place in a college. I really dont know what to do.

Dont be an asshole.

Ok.......



Tony... is interesting.


First thing you need to do is map out a plan for your educational future. Talk to advisers at this tech school... make perfectly clear that these credits transfer.

As for losing touch with high school friends.


Everyone does. Your future wins over old friends with people who will grow apart with you regardless.

Keep your options open. Stick with your current school. You'll have plenty of time to study game design when you go to college.

Bail.


Nothing is free.

lot of people i know fucked up their college chances by taking "college transfererable classes" College have a set curriculum that you MUST take for them to even look at ur application. For instance alot require 3years of science and 4 is recommended.  This would be physical sciences such as chem, physics, bio. YOu also will need english, history, foreign language, you get the picture. What you would be taking would probably go down as an elective and take away from your "core" classes needed.

 

Now i know one thing, the high school system is shit, especially the public schoo system. I was lucky to go to a private school where they handed me all the college information. You MUST go see a college advisor about this because it sounds fishy.

Or you could take the classes and then proceed to a community college for two years and transfer to a university. That saves money and you stil get the same degree. personally i say set your plans and college, then follow ur dream in design and look for a job.

 

 

what did I say? Our high school system SUCKS......College entrance  requirements are much harder than high school ones.

Anything that you can take in high school that has credits that can transfer (advanced placement for example) wont cost you to take the class, but to finish the classes, (take the AP tests) are going to cost. Just an example, AP stat, AP calc, AP English, AP world history and AP econ each can get you an above 4.0, but to finish the classes to have the credits transfer require taking and passing the exit test for each, which costs $70 here in California (past 3/5.)

Now tech schools are a bit different, some will have seed schools, or ROP programs, programs that get your feet wet in the industry so you can be placed directly into a low level job just out of the courses (Hospital and Community Health Services ROP in my area for example) are free while in high school, and government sponsored. It lets you learn from the industry leaders and gives you school credits (3x normal in my case) and since your actually working (apprenticeship) in that field, when the job opening comes up, after you finish the course, the person hiring knows how you act on job. It also gives you an easy-in as it were.

Some schools will have those credits from the ROP class transfer over as filler classes (crap you have to take to get your credit goal to grad college) some wont. You need to figure out if the school transfers to a college or to its own tech school. Also if its a real training with a future or if its feet wet and easy placement in a low level job.

well, tony basically touched the basics of what I wanted to say...most colleges (not necessarily community colleges) want you to take alot of core classes and whatnot.

Bloodhands also touched base with the idea of a low-paying job and whatnot. sure, the program and job title look great but where will it get you in the big scheme of things? remember that alot of colleges (and tech schools around my area) sugar-coat their programs and all to make it look good and will make you want to go for it.

Ive ran into that when looking at college courses. For example, I was looking at some biotech programs, and it said you can be a "Clinical Laboratory Assistant" (or of some sort). Sure the job title sounds real good, but it only makes around $30,000 a year ... which in the big scheme of things isnt a whole lot. Sure when in high school and college, you have to start from near the bottom rung of the ladder, but you want to make sure that the program you are going into doesnt have any dead ends and leave you with, say 2 years of wasted education time towards a job that pays barely above poverty standards.

My opinion is to stay in your current high school, take honors classes and even AP classes. in taking AP classes (if you pass the test with certain scores) you can get out of some college classes, leaving you with room to take classes that you want (such as game design).

The bottom line is just to make sure your program of choice doesnt lead to a dead end, leaving you nowhere to go.