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Dang, my kid didn’t get into any public CA University with a 4.2 GPA that was applied to.

M

Muscles

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Jun 1, 2013
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PRCD said:
Basically, acquisitions is a matter of gold-plating the system in question to let enough pigs feed at the trough until the system doesn't work at enormous per-unit cost. Then, over decades, enough stuff may be thrown out or fixed until it finally does work somewhat. That's at least been my experience. Anyone else wanting to know more should read this:

Amazon.com: Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War: 8601421754750: Coram, Robert: Books

Amazon.com: Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War: 8601421754750: Coram, Robert: Books
www.amazon.com
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I could rant all day about acquisitions since I am a military Officer involved in it. I work(ed) at one of the major Navy SYSCOMs before I went to staff duty.

I won't fault the senior Officers too much since they usually get a sh!t sandwich dumped on their plate and told to fix it while there is constant political bickering over DoD budgets.
 
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npsp

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Dec 30, 2003
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Muscles said:
I'd also like to add that I think the entire obsession with the name of your college is a scam. Large state schools are fine. I went to University of Hawaii Manoa. Lots of parents in Hawaii couldn't stand the thought of sending their kids to UH because it wasn't some elite university.

I later went to a DoD funded graduate school program for military Officers. People from every "elite" college you could imagine were in the program. I did just fine and scored just as well as they did on the exams. The idea that some name on your diploma makes you more capable or smarter than the state U degree holders is a complete joke.

The only thing I don't have is access to the Alumni networks.
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My wife graduated from UCSD in the late 80s and went to work for a couple of years before going back to business school for her MBA. There were a number of her classmates that went to either ivy league or other "prestigious" private school in her program, she crushed them and graduated with high honors. She credits her success to the two years she spent working for a tough boss.

On an engineering note, some of the best ones I have worked with have come out of the Cal Polys and the Colorado School of Mines. At work, our two EEs and our ME are all from SDSU and are super talented with a great work ethic. They are fun to work with and bring a lot to the table. I think SDSU's engineering department is a bit underrated....
 
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bluemarlin04

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Aug 13, 2015
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PRCD said:
That's where they get their brains scrambled as if they weren't scrambled bad enough to make O-5 or in college/the Academies to become officers in the first place. The point of an Ivy is access to the elite professions I described above - to be somebody rather than do something useful. I don't even see how you can be a "top performer" as a command-level officer in today's military given its track record of losses. On the acquisitions side, things are worse and you can't send an O-6 to an Ivy an expect him to come out knowing how to manage a technology program because he won't know anything about it.


I work in high tech and this isn't true at all.
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most senior military officers are nothing more then mouthpieces for Congress
 
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rowjimmytour

Tom Curren status
Feb 7, 2009
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npsp said:
My wife graduated from UCSD in the late 80s and went to work for a couple of years before going back to business school for her MBA. There were a number of her classmates that went to either ivy league or other "prestigious" private school in her program, she crushed them and graduated with high honors. She credits her success to the two years she spent working for a tough boss.

On an engineering note, some of the best ones I have worked with have come out of the Cal Polys and the Colorado School of Mines. At work, our two EEs and our ME are all from SDSU and are super talented with a great work ethic. They are fun to work with and bring a lot to the table. I think SDSU's engineering department is a bit underrated....
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Ole man retired mechanical Space Engineer since late 60z worked for Delco/SBRC and saw many grads and always dismissed ucsb engineers preferred the ones out of Cal Poly etc...
 
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PRCD

PRCD

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Muscles said:
I could rant all day about acquisitions since I am a military Officer involved in it. I work(ed) at one of the major Navy SYSCOMs before I went to staff duty.

I won't fault the senior Officers too much since they usually get a sh!t sandwich dumped on their plate and told to fix it while there is constant political bickering over DoD budgets.
Click to expand...
Were we separated at birth?
 
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paunch23

paunch23

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Jun 27, 2011
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Rep. of Panama, La Barqueta, David, Chiriquí
good thread. wish I had read it when I was of college age.
my kid is basically deciding between university of Texas at Austin, and Texas a&m.
waitlisted at villanova and wake forest. he didn't get into any of the UC's.
We tried to get him interested in engineering, but he seems to wanna go the classic business route or intl.relations...
I would have liked him to go somewhere in the great california state, so you guys would get one more soul crowding your spots;)
 
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PRCD

PRCD

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bluemarlin04 said:
most senior military officers are nothing more then mouthpieces for Congress
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I worked on the acquisition side of a system that was way behind schedule. The civilian counterpart to the PMA called everyone into a room and basically threatened their job if they blew the whistle. I explained this to a friend with more experience and he said, "Don't worry, the pilots usually turn it off anyways. It's too much of a beacon." I then wondered why we were doing it and got resumes out. I also wondered if corruption was this common in industries regulated other government agencies such as the FDA and FAA.

I've given myself the "Be somebody or do something" talk many times and always conclude the same thing: do something. It's pretty hard to do something in defense now. The generals and congress are not interested in effective weapons at prices we can afford. See: the Bradley, the F22, Jerry's Special Fighter, V-22, B1, B2, LCS, etc. Pretty much all of them go into massive cost overruns and are far less effective than planned. Anyone wanting to develop weapons and TTPs at prices we can afford should read this:
It was written by the guys who brought us the F-16, F-18, A-10, energy-maneuverability theory, 4GW and maneuver warfare theory, and several other recommended reforms. What do they know, right?
 
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npsp

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rowjimmytour said:
Ole man retired mechanical Space Engineer since late 60z worked for Delco/SBRC and saw many grads and always dismissed ucsb engineers preferred the ones out of Cal Poly etc...
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The kids from the UC system are great at theory but in my experience lack practicality in their ideas/designs. The CSU/Cal Poly kids are taught how to make things that work vs things that should work.
 
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hammies

hammies

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npsp said:
The kids from the UC system are great at theory but in my experience lack practicality in their ideas/designs. The CSU/Cal Poly kids are taught how to make things that work vs things that should work.
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When I was an engineer our company often paid new Cal Poly ME and EE grads prob 5% more than an equivalent UCSB engineering grad. We didn't hire THAT many but I was in the know. Reasoning was that all new grad hires are a cost to the company, but the CP guys will make a profit for you faster than the UCSB guys. Defense/cost-plus contracting.
 
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R

ringer

Tom Curren status
Aug 2, 2002
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paunch23 said:
good thread. wish I had read it when I was of college age.
my kid is basically deciding between university of Texas at Austin, and Texas a&m.
waitlisted at villanova and wake forest. he didn't get into any of the UC's.
We tried to get him interested in engineering, but he seems to wanna go the classic business route or intl.relations...
I would have liked him to go somewhere in the great california state, so you guys would get one more soul crowding your spots;)
Click to expand...
UT at Austin. Very nice school and town.
 
Subway

Subway

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My eldest nephew just basically melted down as soon as he got to UT Austin…

super smart kid, fairly normal, could have gotten into much better schools but wanted to save his parents a bundle and stay in the UT system (they live outside Dallas). Smart, mature kid, we all thought (and he is, don’t get me wrong) but the poor guy got there and just shut down. Couldn’t go to class, hardly left his dorm all fall, and finally came clean to my sister and brother in law Just as my mom had her stroke a few weeks ago. Good timing kid

They took him home, got him a therapist and he was allowed to withdraw from school and come back next spring with no penalty, if he chooses. Everyone is pretty screwed up about it over at my sisters place right now. Angry, worried about him, all the things. Like, suicide watch almost, with the kid all ashamed and embarrassed about everything. I know this kid, he is a mess right now

The parents are both angry and sad and confused and im sure they’re wondering what they did “wrong”. Usually the first born is independent, but, I think nephew #1 grew up middle of “peak” helicopter-parenting era or at least that’s part of it…He went from his little suburban bubble into the Maw of UT Austin and his poor little brain said nope nope nope nope nope and literally shut him down.

not really all that uncommon I don’t think. Though more often, when you hear of a freshman year collapse, drugs and booze and vice in general are involved. But not this kid. He’s so well behaved and disinterested in “partying” it’s almost weird in its own right.

It’s something else. Maybe even along the lines of agoraphobia or some other clinical thing. Sorry TLDR but is been weighing on me, and it’s kind of on topic. I was exchanging texts with him just days before he “came clean” so to speak, and he definitely told me he was having a hard time adjusting to college life and I told him I struggled too, and I him some encouraging words, but talk about too little too late. He was home less that a week later with two baffled and distraught parents

keeping it erBB related, Uncle @PPK96754 met my eldest nephew back in 2017. My nephew had a GREAT time at that dinner, loved uncles stories. He’s a good kid but he just went blank at school.
 
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bluemarlin04

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Some people find themselves in new situations which is what they thought they wanted but once they get there it isn’t at all what they expected and often times the situation is so life changing it’s difficult or often impossible to go back to how it was or what you wanted.

take a situation like being in college and you’re entire life becomes consumed with something you don’t want anymore. Causes depression and anxiety.

you see it a lot with people joining the military and regretting it
 
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Autoprax

Autoprax

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Jan 24, 2011
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Subway said:
My eldest nephew just basically melted down as soon as he got to UT Austin…

super smart kid, fairly normal, could have gotten into much better schools but wanted to save his parents a bundle and stay in the UT system (they live outside Dallas). Smart, mature kid, we all thought (and he is, don’t get me wrong) but the poor guy got there and just shut down. Couldn’t go to class, hardly left his dorm all fall, and finally came clean to my sister and brother in law Just as my mom had her stroke a few weeks ago. Good timing kid

They took him home, got him a therapist and he was allowed to withdraw from school and come back next spring with no penalty, if he chooses. Everyone is pretty screwed up about it over at my sisters place right now. Angry, worried about him, all the things. Like, suicide watch almost, with the kid all ashamed and embarrassed about everything. I know this kid, he is a mess right now

The parents are both angry and sad and confused and im sure they’re wondering what they did “wrong”. Usually the first born is independent, but, I think nephew #1 grew up middle of “peak” helicopter-parenting era or at least that’s part of it…He went from his little suburban bubble into the Maw of UT Austin and his poor little brain said nope nope nope nope nope and literally shut him down.

not really all that uncommon I don’t think. Though more often, when you hear of a freshman year collapse, drugs and booze and vice in general are involved. But not this kid. He’s so well behaved and disinterested in “partying” it’s almost weird in its own right.

It’s something else. Maybe even along the lines of agoraphobia or some other clinical thing. Sorry TLDR but is been weighing on me, and it’s kind of on topic. I was exchanging texts with him just days before he “came clean” so to speak, and he definitely told me he was having a hard time adjusting to college life and I told him I struggled too, and I him some encouraging words, but talk about too little too late. He was home less that a week later with two baffled and distraught parents

keeping it erBB related, Uncle @PPK96754 met my eldest nephew back in 2017. My nephew had a GREAT time at that dinner, loved uncles stories. He’s a good kid but he just went blank at school.
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He just needs to live at home an go to a nearby CC.
 
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hammies

hammies

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Going off to college is really stressful, a lot of kids struggle, some more than others. Feel bad for your nephew Subway, but it's not an uncommon story.

Thankfully, most who do drop out get it together after a couple of years at CC and go on to re-enroll somewhere else and do quite well.
 
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