FOT Forum
FOT Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: kenkwan on February 20, 2008, 08:54:58 PM
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Inspired by the proud moments thread in the Wire threads, I thought I'd start a thread for other proud moments. I just got home from taking my first Final in Ten years, and I knocked that sucker out of the park!
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Good job! now quit school again. not worth the money after all.
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Good job! now quit school again. not worth the money after all.
How dare you.
Good job kenkwan.
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To clarify: Kenkwan = good job, US university system = bad job.
I too have been going back to school after about 10 years, and made the dean's list. Fine. I'm wondering though if it's worth it. Thousands of dollars in tuition, textbooks with outrageous, scandalous prices which are superficially changed from semester to semester so as to require new students to but new editions each year which they can't sell back. I understand you have to spend money to make money, but this is like a protection racket. We're in a credit crisis as a nation, yet we train our young people to get used to being neck deep in debt right off the bat. There have been a couple wonderful professors which have almost made up for it though, to be sure.
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you can buy your textbooks from Abebooks.com sometimes they're super cheap like under a dollar.
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If my experience is any indicator, I had to go to grad school and fork out the cash solely so I could get the recommendation that got me my job now. Otherwise, almost entirely useless vanity project.
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To clarify: Kenkwan = good job, US university system = bad job.
I too have been going back to school after about 10 years, and made the dean's list. Fine. I'm wondering though if it's worth it. Thousands of dollars in tuition, textbooks with outrageous, scandalous prices which are superficially changed from semester to semester so as to require new students to but new editions each year which they can't sell back. I understand you have to spend money to make money, but this is like a protection racket. We're in a credit crisis as a nation, yet we train our young people to get used to being neck deep in debt right off the bat. There have been a couple wonderful professors which have almost made up for it though, to be sure.
i agree- i enjoy celebrating a graduation as much as anyone else, but sometimes...what a waste. granted, we need doctors, lawyers, etc. but truly, ive read a number of articles on this subject that mention that you dont earn the money you put into your degree until a couple decades after the fact.
personally...PERSONALLY, i cant talk myself into dishing out the cash (loans or otherwise) for an education i have no problem getting on my own for free, or a much cheaper price. but again, thats not to belittle the hard work that anyone else has put into their own secondary education.
but for now+tests+proud moments=cheers, kenkwan!
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I don't know, but it seems like you guys are all going out of your way to totally shit on kenkwan's decision to go back to school, and then giving him a big thumbs up. It's a hard decision, you think he didn't think about it? Gee Willickers.
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I'm all for Kenkwan, but now that Sallie Mae is after me I have to concur that the system is totally fucked. I guess some of my classmates who moved out to LA are doing OK, but I went into 6 figures of debt in order to get a $38k per year teaching job? Motherfuckers. And I should note that, with a college degree, I had been working as a temp or waiter for years. Something's seriously wrong with our economy.
Which is not to say that grad school is bad - for all I know Kenkwan is pursuing something more lucrative than Dramatic Writing, or going to a public university, which is what I should have done. But the Tisch School of the Arts is in my hate pit in a big way.
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Somehow when I went back to school I thought it would be a good idea to attend one that is horrendously expensive. When I saw the estimate the other day of how much my loans will be I nearly died. It's going to be fun paying them off on a teachers salary.
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Yeah yeah yeah I get it. I'm a little defensive because I'm only in my second year (out of like 30) of paying at least $350 a month in student loan bills. Plus the $200 a month for my "artist's studio". But duh, you go get an art degree you know you're effing yourself for life. It's no secret. You wanna make a real investment with practical gains, you join the church of Scientology! (that was a joke)
My dad always used to say "Lucky for us there's no debtor's prison in this country."
...but let the man have his moment!! Before grad school I wanted to sandblast my face off. At least now I'm doing something I'm INTERESTED in, even if I'm not making a lot of money. And anyway, we'll all have our moment in the sun. Or maybe the whole country will fall apart in a few years and EVERYONE will be broke, including the people that never pursued the things they wanted cause they thought it would cost too much, and they'll be double-F'd, unlike folks who at least maede a commitment to do the impractical things they wanted to do with their life. The only reason I went to a grad school that was so expensive is because it's the only place that ACCEPTED me, so I'm not gonna whine about it.
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but I went into 6 figures of debt in order to get a $38k per year teaching job?
I had a fellowship to a top grad school program back when I had just graduated college. On the 3-day drive out there, I had a lot of time to think about what it meant to be a grad student and then a social science professor. When I got to the program office I told em, "Thanks, but this is not what I want to do with my life." Never regretted it for a single second.
Now, I'm not saying you can't have a fulfilling life as a grad student and then whatever you do after - but I've met a lot more people who ended up broke, in debt, having to scramble for jobs in places they really didn't want to live in, or selling their souls to work in places they kind of did. And that's a really sad fact, but a fact nonetheless.
And, in a complete reversal of field, Congra"d"ulations, Kenkwan! And well done John Junk - don't let the naysayers get you down. My thoughts are more for people who are unsure about what they should do.
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I know that when I was 18, going to school would've been a mistake. I'd coasted through high school, and was too lazy for the increased workload of college. I also had no idea what I wanted to do. I think too many people go to school because it's what you do out of high school, which would've been the case with me. I've also decided to go the junior college route. I can transfer later, and save an s hit of money.
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Very smart, Kenkwan. And yeah, JJ, I hear ya. I wanted to sandblast my face off before grad school too - my point was, jeezis, I had to get an MFA just to be lower-middle class?
And I have to spend hours on the phone just to get Sallie Mae to let me pay $500 a month (they want me to pay $750), but that's because they're crooks, and until recently were way in with congressional Republicans.
I'm mostly mad because my program hasn't done s hit to help me, and because of that I think they really misrepresented themselves. Seriously, I had a well-publicized reading there last month and no one from the department bothered to take the elevator down a few floors and attend. When meanwhile most of my friends went to Brown where they got paid, and their careers have taken off because the head of that program (who just took over Yale and actually made them make it free) really hustles on their behalf. If I knew then what I know now. I'd actually like to drag NYU's name through the mud a little, except that if I ever became well-known enough for it to have any impact they might hire me to teach.
I frequently have that same thought about how double-f'd the people who made the conservative choice will be once this all comes down, though I don't think that's gonna be great for guys like us either. But you're right that I chose this life, and I like it, except for the money stuff.
I might still become a Scientologist, though.
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PS-Kenkwan, sorry about the thread drift. Congrats on the exam. It really is a good feeling to be really good at things you were once bad at.
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And I have to spend hours on the phone just to get Sallie Mae to let me pay $500 a month (they want me to pay $750), but that's because they're crooks, and until recently were way in with congressional Republicans.
Geez, did you take out the entire loan from them? Luckily, I have parents who can help me a little bit. They couldn't help me when I was in college but now they are able to take care of a couple things we can't handle until my wife graduates from law school. But, I was able to talk Sallie Mae into letting me pay a lot lower than that. I'm not actually paying anything off but I'm not going into default either. I did that with one loan and I'm finally getting out.
I frequently have that same thought about how double-f'd the people who made the conservative choice will be once this all comes down, though I don't think that's gonna be great for guys like us either. But you're right that I chose this life, and I like it, except for the money stuff.
A lot of people have worked hard and have had lifelong dreams about professions that are high paying too! ;D Silly artist.
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Geez, did you take out the entire loan from them?
Yeah, plus I consolidated under a rate that doesn't seem to be too high, but what do I know? I'm like the opposite of the math-haters from the other thread - I like math, but I hate arithmetic. I just hate money, even though I've read Marx and Adam Smith and I completely understand it.
A lot of people have worked hard and have had lifelong dreams about professions that are high paying too! ;D Silly artist.
Don't rub it in, Gilly.
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Don't rub it in, Gilly.
Hey, I work in radio. I'm in the same boat you are! Luckily, I married someone who has always had a dream of being a lawyer. I don't get it, but it'll probably pay the bills!
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Don't rub it in, Gilly.
Hey, I work in radio. I'm in the same boat you are! Luckily, I married someone who has always had a dream of being a lawyer. I don't get it, but it'll probably pay the bills!
I ain't sayin' he's a golddigger...
I married a fiction writer. The two-writer household thing is tough sometimes, but at least she has a good editorial resume.
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I'm with a painter. So what we've got here is a (I guess) multi-media artist who joins a lot of bands and a painter pre-occupied with New Age stuff, neither of whom are from money. But we've got love. And one MFA with another MFA on the way. I should just think of these degrees as our children. If you think of it that way, you'd be doin' all right if you only dropped 400 bucks on your baby every month. Wait, would you? I don't even know. Oh shit, I just realized we can never have children.
MOST DEPRESSING THREAD EVER.
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MOST DEPRESSING THREAD EVER.
FIXED.
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