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That sounds like my dream hacker college. As a drop-out myself, I am thinking of going back to school sometime in the future, and wondering if SLC might be righ

That sounds like my dream hacker college. As a drop-out myself, I am thinking of going back to school sometime in the future, and wondering if SLC might be right place for me. If you don't mind me asking, why did you drop out? Were there anything wrong with the school/system that made you move to SF without finishing your degree, or was it only for personal reasons? Would really appreciate if you could share your overall experience at SLC.

fourk 15y ago
There were a number of factors involved in my decision to drop out. At the root were family/financial issues, although these were not dire enough that I was forced, per se, to drop out. At the end of the day it came down to the school's limitations on how much CS I could learn. The school is very small (1300 undergrads), with very few of the students interested in pursuing CS in any real depth. I have only great things to say about the two professors in the department, but due to lack of student interest in the programs, there are few advanced classes available. Looking at the 2010-2011 Course Catalog (http://www.slc.edu/undergraduate/study/science-mathematics/computer-science/courses.html http://www.slc.edu/undergraduate/study/science-mathematics/c...), there are only two CS courses available (one for each semester) which require the student to have some prerequisite experience/knowledge (Databases and Robotics). The other limitation you're faced with are the credit caps. SLC is a liberal arts school where, regardless of what you study, you can only receive a Bachelor of Arts degree. They cap you at 80 credits in Science/Mathematics, with a maximum of 50 of those coming from Computer Science courses. At the time I dropped out, I had 40 CS credits and 50 Science/Math Credits. Presuming I had stayed on for the additional year and a half to get a degree, I would have been limited to taking only 10 of my remaining 45 credits in what I genuinely wanted to be learning. Given the cost of the school (the most expensive school in the US), I felt that I would be better off 1.5 years down the line by getting paid to learn what I wanted to be learning, rather than paying to learn things that I didn't, simply for the sake of a degree. It's actually been 1.5 years since I made this decision, I would have graduated next month, and I have absolutely no regrets about having made the decision I did. I'd like to make a blog post sometime about everything that's happened in the past year and a half. I've been considering finishing my degree at some point because there are a few fundamentals courses that I missed (Algorithms, Compilers, to name a few). I'm sort of torn at this point between making the decision to do it continuing to work 9-5 for the next 2+ years while taking courses online to get a degree, or whether I'm better off making the plunge back into an 70 hour a week startup lifestyle which leaves no room for online edu. I'm unsure of which leaves me in a better position 2 years from now. Have any of you finished an education online while working? Were you happy you did so?

fourk 15y ago

There were a number of factors involved in my decision to drop out. At the root were family/financial issues, although these were not dire enough that I was forced, per se, to drop out. At the end of the day it came down to the school's limitations on how much CS I could learn. The school is very small (1300 undergrads), with very few of the students interested in pursuing CS in any real depth. I have only great things to say about the two professors in the department, but due to lack of student interest in the programs, there are few advanced classes available. Looking at the 2010-2011 Course Catalog (http://www.slc.edu/undergraduate/study/science-mathematics/computer-science/courses.html http://www.slc.edu/undergraduate/study/science-mathematics/c...), there are only two CS courses available (one for each semester) which require the student to have some prerequisite experience/knowledge (Databases and Robotics). The other limitation you're faced with are the credit caps. SLC is a liberal arts school where, regardless of what you study, you can only receive a Bachelor of Arts degree. They cap you at 80 credits in Science/Mathematics, with a maximum of 50 of those coming from Computer Science courses. At the time I dropped out, I had 40 CS credits and 50 Science/Math Credits. Presuming I had stayed on for the additional year and a half to get a degree, I would have been limited to taking only 10 of my remaining 45 credits in what I genuinely wanted to be learning. Given the cost of the school (the most expensive school in the US), I felt that I would be better off 1.5 years down the line by getting paid to learn what I wanted to be learning, rather than paying to learn things that I didn't, simply for the sake of a degree. It's actually been 1.5 years since I made this decision, I would have graduated next month, and I have absolutely no regrets about having made the decision I did. I'd like to make a blog post sometime about everything that's happened in the past year and a half. I've been considering finishing my degree at some point because there are a few fundamentals courses that I missed (Algorithms, Compilers, to name a few). I'm sort of torn at this point between making the decision to do it continuing to work 9-5 for the next 2+ years while taking courses online to get a degree, or whether I'm better off making the plunge back into an 70 hour a week startup lifestyle which leaves no room for online edu. I'm unsure of which leaves me in a better position 2 years from now. Have any of you finished an education online while working? Were you happy you did so?