I was born and raised in California and I'm 20 years old.
My plan is a little complicated but basically I want to obtain both an Engineering degree and a Political Science degree from a prestigious school such as MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Columbia.
As of now I only have my G.E.D and a Culinary Arts certificate so obviously I won't be able to afford a prestigious school but I was thinking that first I should obtain a Bachelors at a low cost university so I can get a well paying job then try to get Masters degrees later on at top universities.
I think I need a job that allows me to work in my dorm(so I don't have to commute to work which leaves me more time for studying) and a job that I can work at night(so I can study throughout the day), it seems that these are the only jobs that fit my needs:
Computer Programmer
Computer Support Specialist
Customer Service Representative
I think if I get a Computer Science degree I can obtain one of these jobs.
I was researching all the low cost universities in the
California Public University System and calculated the Tuition, Fees, Room and Board in each one of the schools and came up with this chart, most Universities make it mandatory to buy the board with your housing but some don't which is why some of them are so cheap.
$11892 Bakersfield
$12213 Monterey bay
$12236 Dominguez hills
$12749 San Bernardino
$13182 Humboldt
$14331 Stanislaus
$14743 San Luis Obispo
$14764 Sonoma
$15039 San Marcos
$16174 Chico
$16902 Fresno
$17200 Fullerton
$17479 Northridge
$18292 Maritime Academy
$18332 long beach
$18629 san Diego
$18810 East Bay
$18852 Channel Islands
$19178 Los Angeles
$19232 San Francisco
$19724 Pomana
$20085 San Jose
$22913 Sacramento
I was going to try to get into Bakersfield University because it was the cheapest one but I recently discovered that prestigious schools often do not except people who went to universities that is not very well known so I am not sure which one I should go to.
Does anyone have any advice?
CLIFFS:
1. Be a perfect student and get into your dream graduate program.
2. Undergrad do your best to keep it costless while attending a good, not decent, good CS Uni.
3. Get PhD make them dollas!
4. I dont know anyone with a masters in CS or Engineering. Wait...thats a lie two of my bros but they stayed with their same firms. Also one went to Northwestern University and one went to University of Chicago.
Skip Poly Sci it wont do you any good and you will only be distracted.
Go CC, keep grades super high for two years. Work with CS Profs that are publishing. Do any shit work you can. I mean sweep floors do whatever. This is just for a letter of rec, and some phone calls to peers, colleagues in the field. Maybe its good for some pick up work and nothing more. Get recognized though, glad hand, always be nice, super nice to everyone, EVERYONE!
Apply to six uni's for your last three years. I don't know your SAT or your HSGPA but Id say if you look good on paper, and you want to stay in Cali go 2, 2, 2 for CIT, Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, USC; two mid tier schools that have decent CS profs Irvine, San Diego; two lower tiered schools Davis, Santa Barbara.
During your two years at CC you should be visiting departments, glad handing, offering to learn for free, showing up to open lectures and just making it known you want to be involved. Especially at SU, CIT and Berko. Again this isnt for shit else except brand recognition. Get your name out there. Once you get in, work for Profs who are publishing, publish with them in any and all journals. If you can get two, even if they are in press youll be good to go.
Once you are done, work for three years. While you work stay in touch with the profs who gave you opportunities to help them in their labs. Continue to help them, continue to publish and help them publish. Ask if they know people at the top ten CS schools in the world not just the US. Can we possibly do a project with XYZ Professor at ABC University. Your second year working you should be looking at taking your GRE and applying to grad school. Things are removed a year, ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT. You apply in AUG, for entry next AUG. Also remember the GRE is easy to crack, just sit your ass down and study. Take the GRE, and the math subject or physics or maybe both. Check with the departments you want to apply to.
Get all your ducks in a row, good CV which youll have because you have put in time working, and publishing somewhat, or at least posters and research, youll have good recs, one from your CC person who you have been close to at this point for five years. One from your professor who helped you finish your undergrad and let you publish. one from that grad student who loved your help, especially now that they are probably an ASST prof at some uni, and one from your boss who you have been working for the last two years.
After ducks are gathered, apply to the top ten programs. Wait for the offers to roll in, CHOOSE THE ONE THAT GIVES YOU THE MOST MONEY TO ATTEND. Dont forget to play them against each other and ask about travel funds and summer funding, get it all in writing. Then work hard, work hard, PLAY HARDER, work hard, work hard, PLAY HARDER for 5-7 years. Graduate get job at Uni fight for Tenure the rest of your life. Actually if you are smart and in grad school some big tech will offer you well into the six figures right after ABD. Also the expectation from your field, in terms of the PhD is that you go private, most do not go public, Engineers put in all that time, they dont like to struggle financially after the degrees.
You can go the masters route too, I don't know anyone with a MSCS/ENG though I only know BSCS/ENG or PhD students/ candidates.
