So after some thoughtful consideration and discussion with many people about their university life experiences, opinions of friends, opinions of parents and multiple emails to prospective undergrad officers (who are probably sick of me by now), I have narrowed down my choices.
I don’t think I’m going to consider Waterloo anymore. Which sucks, because I always wanted to go there. However, I made a stupid choice by not applying into their engineering department, which IMO, I had a very good chance of getting into. After some self-reflecting, I don’t think I could go into something like math or physics and do research in it. I like to be able to solve problems with my knowledge in math and physics, not theorize and research. That’s why I always do those math contests that some people (*ahem* Andre) gag about and like problem solving and such. I also love computer science, which was my other Waterloo choice, and I’m still a little hesitant to give it up, but let’s face it: computer science is a very competitive field. There are a lot a good people in it, and I’m not really one of them. At best, I’m mediocre at coding and algorithms and other such things.
So what does that leave me with? Engineering and Science. My plan is to wait for scholarship decisions to roll in. I’m going to continue to keep Waterloo as an option in case I change my mind. I’m also keeping Carleton, and letting the Western offer expire. If I happen to get a scholarship to Carleton (which I highly doubt), I’ll go. If not, I’m going to stay at U of M and either do an engineering or science (leading to some other field like medicine or optometry) degree.
I’ve come to realize that what my parents have been trying to tell me was right. The grass always looks greener somewhere else. If I went to Carleton, I would accumulate a considerable debt for a degree that’s not a world of difference than one I would get from U of M. And in the end, it doesn’t really matter where you get an undergrad degree from. For example, say you get a mechanical engineering degree from say, U of Toronto, and someone else gets one from U of Manitoba. Now let’s suppose that both of you get a job at Bristol Aerospace. You’re going to get paid the same amount of money regardless of what university you went to.
I have also realized that if I really want that brand-name university education, there’s always grad school. They (or some external source) grant funding to grad students, so there isn’t the same money problem.
Ah well. that’s the way it goes I guess. We’ll see what happens in the end.
