University or College?

[Akolyte]

So, before I start I also want to know where you would go if you were me or where you plan on going in your own careers.  But I also want some opinions because I'm torn between two options. 

 

So, I am currently 16 years of age, in high school (New Zealand) doing both L3 and L2 computer science (don't worry about L2 L3.) Which essentially means it's like a course provided by the local university to help me and other students understand computer science.  I've always been a networking guy, I've always enjoyed routing and switching and even have my CCNA Routing and Switching certification.   The problem is that I was originally planning on going to college which isn't as much theory but more practical (Cisco Certifications, Vmware, Apache, SQL etc.).  But, while doing this computer science studies in my cs classes I'm finding I also enjoy the theory.  

 

We've been doing things like FSMs, representing data using binary, formal languages, complexity, algorithms etc. I always though math was very boring, but I've started enjoying it ever since this year.  So I'm wondering what would be the best bet for my career and my enjoyment?  Doing practical stuff and get my certifications, or do theory and science at University. 

I'm torn between the two because one person says that networking is dead, while the other says it's alive, and one person says I might never like networking and the other says that computer science leaves my options open etc etc. 

 

So, I've come to this forum to ask what you believe the best bet for me is. I'm probably going to head into the network security area or maybe down the system analyst route. Not sure yet, but I like both of them and am wondering which would be the best for me.  Another thing to consider is that I've never actually worked in a real networking environment, meaning I've never physically wired buildings and installed new routers.  Although I have used GNS3 and Cisco Packet Tracer.  

 

Thanks guys, I really hope you can give me some input because in the next year or so I may end up going to Uni or College and don't want to get in a mess.  

[byalexandr]

If you have the money, go to a university. If not, start out at a college, get your core classes done, then transfer those credits to a university and go for your major. Colleges have cheaper classes, but don't offer majors. Universities offer both at a price.

 

I was going to go to a junior college to get all my classes done, and then transfer to Texas A&M to major in chemical or mechanical engineering, but once I found out I had high enough SAT scores and a decent enough GPA to be automatically accepted, I decided to go to A&M from the get go (which I will be doing). That and my parents will pay for my tuition so long that I keep my grades up.

 

Just so many things to consider, sit down with your parents and talk about it.

[Donut417]

Depends on how things in New Zealand work. I mean here in the US community college is much cheaper. The smart people like me who have to pay their way with Federal Student loans went to community college before university. Paying a few hundred dollars per class, instead of the $1200 per class at University saved me money.  Thats on top of books, other fees, and my University charges $100 a semester to use their parking lot (Parking Pass) on top of the fact you are not guaranteed a spot.