College program

[KatieDuck22]

Recently my hopes of joining the careerstart program are dwindling due to rumors of it being cut. My plan was to do that for 9 months and then stay with a room mate or over an aunts house for three months until i could get a florida citizenship apply for college down there then continue to work in disney for the rest of my life. Disney's my life goal. to work to live to make the magic. Can someone please help me reconstruct a plan using the College Program instead? HELP

[Joannelet]

Hi! I see you are from nj. Why not go to a school here that has the disney college program as credits? I chose my college based on the Disney cp. Montclair State also had recreation and leisure studies - still does. You don't have to have that type of major but seriously if your goal is Disney-then chose a major that has to do with what you want to focus on there. With the cp program they place you on the face to face interview. So you won't have a choice as to what you do there or where you work but you are still taking classes with the company. Those classes are what is important. You learn a lot. A lot about what you want to do etc. If you are serious about Disney go to an orientation first to get info. I would suggest not going to the cp program during your freshman year. You want to gain college experience first. Start learning those ropes first. I don't know how old you are by your post. I wanted to do it my freshman year but my teacher told me that I will get so much more out of it later. So I waited and I'm happy that I did. I applied my junior year and was accepted for fall. I took summer classes so that I wouldn't be behind in graduating. I graduated the summer after with another internship. A lot of my friends were also seniors. Some stayed on and others went back to work there after graduation. Some did the college program again and stayed. They are managers etc there now.

[KatieDuck22]

I like that idea. I was also thinking of transfering to a school in Florida after the CP and working directly there. Does that sound like a good idea?

[princessgirls]

Hi Katie~

Welcome to the Boards!!!

Montclair sounds like a good start!!! Close to home, and you can start your education, and still earn credits while working. I don't think they have cut the college program. I think they need the help!!!
Let me know how you make out.
Julie

[KatieDuck22]

Thanks Julie! I'm not sure about montclair because I'm planning on transfering and it's not only more money then community but also more of a drive. There's rumor of them cutting the careerstart program which is my plan A

[Joannelet]

I like that idea. I was also thinking of transfering to a school in Florida after the CP and working directly there. Does that sound like a good idea?

It is as long as you are okay with keeping up with your classes and working as well. Don't forget commute times etc. and remember you will get no more than minimum wage so all of that has to be taken into acct.
Many of my friends did not become managers right away. It takes a while.
But if you have all that planned out....if you can survive on that income while going to school full time etc....then it's up to you.
I'm not sure if my friends transferred schools once they were there. I can ask them for you to see if they ended up finishing school while worrking. I know many of them got an apt and continued working in the World Some even became characters
The CP program gives you great opportunities...it is all what you do with it!!!

[murphy1]

It might be best to stay where you are and do CP program. If you went to a college in Florida, they are all spread out, and unless you were at UCF in Central Florida, which is closer but still a drive, it would be at least 1-2 hours each way to get to WDW(from UF in Gainesville or USF in Tampa-that's where I grad from) and that is mostly no traffic. The Florida schools did not seem to push the college program at Disney that much (this might have changed in recent years), it seems more like an out of state thing, but like someone else told you, the CP is what you make of it. My aunt is with Disney and I interviewed with them years ago and if they like you, they will work with you.

Shari

[princessgirls]

Hi Katie,

I will give you a success story... a family I babysat for moved to the Orlando area when their kids were small, their son Jim got a part time job through his College in Florida with Disney. He loves it there...and was just promoted to a full-time manager after working there for 7 years. I didn't know this, but full-time is VERY HARD to come by. He works in the studios. I met up with him last June. He does a lot of different things, Rock n Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror and he works Fantasmic.
I hope you can work it all out, so you can follow your dream.
I agree with you, your commute to Montclair would be brutal. You would need to live there, I think to make it worth while. Route 80...not fun! Community would work, and so many students are starting at community colleges and transferring after they completed their first year. It's a good way to go.
Julie

[KatieDuck22]

alright! yeah just alot to take into consideration. Hopefully transfering in florida would be realistic!

[AnnetteFan]

I did online courses through my local community college while I was on the CP. That way I wasn't paying out of state tuition. I'd suggest just taking one or two classes and picking fairly easy ones as you won't have a lot of spare time.

Florida colleges have a great program where if you get a two year degree from any Florida community college you're automatically accepted into any major Florida university. Something worth looking into in your situation.

[KatieDuck22]

thank you! ill definately look into all of this

[joanna71985]

Hi Katie,

I will give you a success story... a family I babysat for moved to the Orlando area when their kids were small, their son Jim got a part time job through his College in Florida with Disney. He loves it there...and was just promoted to a full-time manager after working there for 7 years. I didn't know this, but full-time is VERY HARD to come by. He works in the studios. I met up with him last June. He does a lot of different things, Rock n Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror and he works Fantasmic.
I hope you can work it all out, so you can follow your dream.
I agree with you, your commute to Montclair would be brutal. You would need to live there, I think to make it worth while. Route 80...not fun! Community would work, and so many students are starting at community colleges and transferring after they completed their first year. It's a good way to go.
Julie

Actually, it's really not that hard to get fulltime. I know lots of people who have gotten it (myself included).