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Forgive me for such a long post, I tried to make it as short as possible by removing any unnecessary details, and leaving only the things needed. It would really mean so much to me if you would be able to read all of it to better understand my position.
Ok, here's the thing. After graduating from high school a couple of years ago, I never knew what I wanted to do in my life, so I worked a couple of jobs here and there, but nothing ever really interested me in building my career on that. I was living paycheck after paycheck without any purpose or goal. Well, a couple of years later I think I have finally found what I wanted to do in my life.
During my teens, I always loved doing some tweaking and modifications on video games whether through mods, trainers, cheat engine, etc... This got me interested in learning a couple of programming languages and creating some small applications, and this is something that I really liked to do. It was something that got me started into learning more about computer science. Unfortunately, programming was just a hobby of mine at that time, so I never bothered to go too deep into that, like create a complex app or project. It was just some small video games and chat applications that I and my friends used.
Fast forward to today, I'm preparing myself for the college entrance exam (which starts July 1st), but I'm having an anxiety problem that makes me kinda worried if I should even try this year.
The college I would like to go to (College A) is about software engineering, and according to many students, it has the best program for Computer Science out of all universities in the city I live in. The entrance exam for that college is only 10 math-based questions from a random selection of topics listed here([url]https://pastebin.com/jqT2Lebt[/url]).
Unfortunately, during school, I never paid much attention to math so my memory of it is really, really weak. Since a lot of years have passed after I graduated high school, all the remaining knowledge aside from the basics has basically vanished.
Because of my poor math skills, I do not believe that the time I have left (around 3.5-4 months) would be enough for me to study all of those topics to score enough points on the test and get accepted. So my next choice is to take the entrance exam for another college (College B) that has a similar program, although many people say that it is a weaker version of the previous one I mentioned.
The entrance exam for College B is a math-based one as well, but it is a lot easier compared to the first one, and I believe I would be able to pass it to get accepted. But here's where my problem lies.
I have two choices, I can either go to the college that has a weaker software engineering program, or I could pause one more year, study math really well so that I would be able to go to the College A, the one I was initially planning to enter.
Both choices have their ups and downs, on the one hand I would love to enter the college I want to go to, but on the other hand, I'm not really sure if I sacrificing yet another year, just for studying math and a slightly better program would be worth it.
Unfortunately, my anxiety kicks in whenever I make any of these two choices. If I decide to pause this year, I have this feeling of worry/unease that I'm making a really bad decision, and that the waiting yet another year to enter college would not be worth it, that sacrificing yet another year just for math and for College A are not that worth it, and that I should simply go with College B. But if I decide to study for this year, then I get the same feelings that make think that it would be better to wait just one more year because math is quite helpful in Computer Science field, that my portfolio would look better if my employer sees that I graduated from College A, etc...
So this is why I'm asking for your help because unfortunately, I can't seem to make up my mind on my own.
One more thing that I would like to add is, I'm 23 years old. If I pass the exam, I would start my first year at 24 (or 25 if I pause this year). Is this too old? Should I even bother trying, despite knowing that the majority of students are 5-6 years younger than me, or should I go back to working full-time?
Thanks in forward, and I apologize for my bad English. I was really tired when I wrote this.
I applied to a very quant heavy MBA program almost 20 years after taking my last undergrad math class. My quant score on the GMAT was critical to getting in so I had to teach myself a lot of the math I had never taken or forgotten. I spent months getting ready. Lots of time in test books and on Khan Academy. Khan is an amazing, free resource if you’re not familiar with it.
Here’s my advice:
The prep work I did for the exam was the best thing I could have ever done to prepare myself for the rigor of the actual program. If you can’t invest the time to prepare for a difficult test, you’re not likely to succeed once you get to school.
As to the age thing, if this is the path that will open more doors for you, go for it. You’re still not very old by professional standards.
Do any of the two colleges have a transfer agreement with a local community college? Go the the CC and get your math skills up to where they need to be, and then transfer to the university.
Do any of the two colleges have a transfer agreement with a local community college? Go the the CC and get your math skills up to where they need to be, and then transfer to the university.
I get the impression that the OP is in a country where they have specific entrance exams for each university and you have to pick the school for the entrance exam. My only familiarity with that is in Japan, and I know that there, people can retake the next year if they do not make it in the school of choice their first attempt. The issue for the OP is whether it will really make much of a difference in his employment outcomes. If people in school 2 are doing well finding jobs, then I would say just go to school 2. If they struggle, it might be best just to try this year and retry next year if he does not make it. If that is not allowed, then perhaps waiting would be the best.
FWIW, I know people who went to lesser computer engineering programs and they have done absolutely fine and have excellent careers right now. My sister went to a top school for computer science and is at a highly desired employer now, but she did not go there right after college.
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