Well, it's exam time. The end of my junior year of high school, so I need to start thinking a lot about my future. I'm stuck between two possible paths though.
I can either go to university in my home town, where my costs will be $6,000 per year for tuition, plus another $6,000 yearly for books, food, and residence (the residence and food is free for me though). If I do this, then after I graduate from university, I am given back 50% of all tuition fees that I've paid.
Now, that doesn't seem extremely do-able considering my college fund has $26,000 in it, and I need to split that with my sister. I'd rather not go into a lot of debt.
I was considering joining a military college, where they pay you around $2,000 a month, and you get free food, education, and residence. You don't need to pay for anything. The only downside is it's 4 years of college, then you need to work for the Canadian military for 5 years (you need to have a contract), but after that can do whatever you want, either stay or do something else.
When I'm older, I want to be a police officer. Going to a military school, I could be a "military police officer" or "military security", and then after those 5 years, easily be able to get a job. And if I like the military enough, I can stay there and have a guaranteed job. And for those 5 years, I'll be making more than the average Canadian makes (according to the information I received).
The other good thing about military college is that my parents will give me my half of the college funds to do whatever I want with (minus the taxes), which I'd probably use on a car and a laptop for school.
Which option would you choose? Obviously the military one has a lot of benefits, I'm just not sure if I'm cut out to follow orders and be bossed around.
I think I'll be going with the military one, as it's a much better deal, and I don't want to be in debt. I just don't think I'd be extremely happy there, other than the debt-free, and guaranteed job aspects of it.
Getting into a military college is near impossible. my friend who has been in the milita and cadets since he could, was turned down. His mark was averaged at 89%, that was too low, and he only had 10 military references. Its very hard and competitive. I've been told joining the foot combat and then applying for university after your contract leads to higher success rates.
Also, your military contact must be done in the field you worked in. For example if you did your MD, you would work as a doctor, you won't get to be an MP.
Since your in Canada you can get OSAP and a shaton of scholarships. I got myself about 1300 and i only applied to three.
Do you need a university degree to be a police officer? Here you just need full time work experience and a minimal level of tertiary education, such as a certificate in justice from a technical college to prove that you are dedicated and reasonable intelligent.
(2011-06-09, 03:17 AM)Tim B. Wrote: [ -> ]Do you need a university degree to be a police officer? Here you just need full time work experience and a minimal level of tertiary education, such as a certificate in justice from a technical college to prove that you are dedicated and reasonable intelligent.
Usually yes, it used to be you just needed police foundations, a college course, but really they don't take it anymore. I know some people with lots of work expierence are able to get in, but not teens.
How do trades work in Canada? Here to become a tradesman you undertake an apprenticeship with a qualified tradesperson and you get paid while you do your apprenticeship. Maybe something like that would be an option, you would get paid the whole time, you learn a marketable skill and when you're a bit older and have some life experience under your belt you could probably join the police force.
Personally I feel a lot of people have tunnel vision for a university education when at the end of the day it won't really help them achieve their true goals. There are a number of very successful people in my family and none of them have university degrees, some of them didn't even finish high school, but they worked hard to develop the practical skills they needed. Having said that, I attend university myself, but that's because I'm more academically inclined and my interests lie in a field where a university education is beneficial.
This is mostly the fault of public perception, a university education seems to be the standard expectation when it's not really necessary and has the effect of devaluing the skills of those with university degrees, while at the same time creating a shortage in other fields that those unnecessarily forced through degrees against their personal interests might have otherwise excelled.
/rant to avoid studying
(2011-06-09, 02:52 AM)Aristotle Wrote: [ -> ]Getting into a military college is near impossible. my friend who has been in the milita and cadets since he could, was turned down. His mark was averaged at 89%, that was too low, and he only had 10 military references. Its very hard and competitive. I've been told joining the foot combat and then applying for university after your contract leads to higher success rates.
Also, your military contact must be done in the field you worked in. For example if you did your MD, you would work as a doctor, you won't get to be an MP.
Since your in Canada you can get OSAP and a shaton of scholarships. I got myself about 1300 and i only applied to three.
My GPA this year is 92%. I understand it's hard to get into. Honestly I'll probably apply for both of these universities either way, and some more as well. I just wanted to hear peoples suggestions.
Keep them coming.
(2011-06-09, 10:23 AM)Dialatic Wrote: [ -> ] (2011-06-09, 02:52 AM)Aristotle Wrote: [ -> ]Getting into a military college is near impossible. my friend who has been in the milita and cadets since he could, was turned down. His mark was averaged at 89%, that was too low, and he only had 10 military references. Its very hard and competitive. I've been told joining the foot combat and then applying for university after your contract leads to higher success rates.
Also, your military contact must be done in the field you worked in. For example if you did your MD, you would work as a doctor, you won't get to be an MP.
Since your in Canada you can get OSAP and a shaton of scholarships. I got myself about 1300 and i only applied to three.
My GPA this year is 92%. I understand it's hard to get into. Honestly I'll probably apply for both of these universities either way, and some more as well. I just wanted to hear peoples suggestions.
Keep them coming.
If your GPA is that high then really you should be able to get into it, how are your community references? Are you in a stream of cadets or anything military? I just found out one other friend was accepted, into her program.
(2011-06-09, 07:42 PM)Aristotle Wrote: [ -> ] (2011-06-09, 10:23 AM)Dialatic Wrote: [ -> ] (2011-06-09, 02:52 AM)Aristotle Wrote: [ -> ]Getting into a military college is near impossible. my friend who has been in the milita and cadets since he could, was turned down. His mark was averaged at 89%, that was too low, and he only had 10 military references. Its very hard and competitive. I've been told joining the foot combat and then applying for university after your contract leads to higher success rates.
Also, your military contact must be done in the field you worked in. For example if you did your MD, you would work as a doctor, you won't get to be an MP.
Since your in Canada you can get OSAP and a shaton of scholarships. I got myself about 1300 and i only applied to three.
My GPA this year is 92%. I understand it's hard to get into. Honestly I'll probably apply for both of these universities either way, and some more as well. I just wanted to hear peoples suggestions.
Keep them coming.
If your GPA is that high then really you should be able to get into it, how are your community references? Are you in a stream of cadets or anything military? I just found out one other friend was accepted, into her program.
I'm not in anything military related. The only thing that connects me to the military is my dad's in it.
You've got a solid 1-2 years to make a decision, whatever you choose you should take all the time you can too choose it.