Interview

I feel that the interview ended up going pretty well. I have had a few in the past, mostly done through highschool, but one done for my internship this past summer. I felt a little unprepared for some of the questions. They were not difficult but i just paused a little to long it seemed like. I am not sure if that can really be changed though, just nervousness. In a real interview i feel like i should know more about the company. I did a little research for this one if a question happened to come up, but i would like to have more questions for the interviewer. At my internship interview it was more or less an introduction to the company and its employees. I was walked around by the person that was to be my "supervisor" and was shown past projects and everything else. I really enjoyed that aspect of the interview cause it enabled me to realize if i would like the place or not. Another thing i realized with this mock interview is that i need to buy a tie.

Chicago

This last week i went with my architecture class to Chicago. Like i expected it was a lot of fun. The biggest thing that shocked me was the temperature. Even though i loved it, i was not thinking that it was going to get that cold. Being from the North i miss all those cool autumn days with jeans and a sweater. The air smells crisp and clean and it feels that much better when you finally take your shoes off inside. This was my first time in Chicago and ended up loving it. My first impression was a little different. We came in on the subway from O'Hare and it was not the best of journeys. It was pretty cold, while i was wearing shorts and a shirt, and the hotel had a strike, a small one, going on at the front. On the first day we went on a nice walking tour with our two teachers of the loop and we discussed all our buildings we had to research, mostly ones with historical presence. I enjoyed myself there, eating chicago style pizza, twice, amazing steaks at Morton's, also the most expensive meal i have ever eaten, and everything in between. I went out a couple nights but one night that was the most fun was when we went to the area around Wrigly field. It was mostly a younger crowd and it ended up being a blast. I enjoyed my last saturday there being a free day. I got to check out a museum, walk around the city more, and watch the columbus day parade. All in all Chicago turned out to be a really fun time, as well as educational.

School

When first thinking about applying to college none of the questions or answers have been formed yet. I had no clue what i wanted to do until senior year in high school, and i was still not right. The college education system is wrong in having such specific courses and degrees. Of course there are those 50 or so percent that go undecided until they end up with a useless degree where they really learned nothing towards any type of career. For those that know they want to do something more, or that they may want to follow in a number of careers that take up 4 years of college study alone, it is a lot more difficult.
I have been wasting the last 4 years doing architecture. Not wasting because i am not interested in it at all, but recently I decided that i want to do more than just architecture. Also for engineering it is extremely difficult for someone in their fourth year to drop because anything else would just take so much longer. Being an out of state student that also means a lot more expensive. I think that the system could and should change. I want to do engineering now, that is how i think and i realized i would probably be able to do that a lot better than architecture. My problem is that i am not going to do engineering. I have spent so much time doing architecture, and a switch to engineering would put me right back to a first year student having 4 more years ahead of me.
I think that is where the problem lies. The inability to switch majors. This is not the problem for everyone. Not saying that it is easy, but the majority of business type majors have a similar class schedule and can make that leap from Finance to Accounting. With things like architecture and engineering, there is no way that you could because they have specific courses to take each semester. I think the change would happen there, even if making them 5 year programs. The first two years of study should be a better overall general education and minor study. There can be schools, such as languages, arts, math and sciences, but going one route should not hinder your possibility of switching later on. Then i think that third year is experimental, maybe the first semester you try engineering, a good overview of the major, simple generic studies that get you interested or turn you off. The fourth and fifth years should then get you into a deep study of the major itself. By this time i feel that the majority of people would have a good idea of what to do.
This may seem like it would affect those that know for sure what they want to do, but it is the opposite. The people who are hell bent on doing one thing the rest of their life, GREAT! This idea would help them out. The first three years can be electives related to their study, a minor that compliments their major, and anything else that can be taken to get them ready for even an internship over the summer in their desired field of study. They might even realize that it is not what they want to do, and still have the chance to jump right in to something else. I just think that trying to have your mind made up in high school, so that you are on the "normal" 4 year graduation path of college, is a little much.