What to do with a humanities kid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it's mythical, but the humanities positions that do exist are going to people from Harvard and Yale not from random state research universities

Absolutely! I know for fields such as history, econ., or Eng. this is v. true. But my experience with an MFA is that it is a long slog for tenure, regardless of pedigree. And, for HYP, being near NYC is helpful in fine arts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it's mythical, but the humanities positions that do exist are going to people from Harvard and Yale not from random state research universities

This is true but i would never, ever, ever advise an 18 year old to make life decisions based on the hope of being a tenure track professor. They're probably not going to make it to the NFL either.

That said, the HYPS recruitment into bullshit jobs that make a ton of money is pretty strong. I didn't go down that path, i was an academic schmuck, but I wouldn't be living in an exurban townhouse if I had.

[Anonymous]

As others have said, $20k for four years is extremely do-able, even better if its FAFSA, and certainly worth going to HYPS over Arizona.

Humanities education at top Ivies or SLACs cannot be beat by a large state university, because of how humanities classes are taught. Classes are discussion-based rather than simply a professor lecturing for an hour and going on with their day.

This means having a small class size, intelligent peers, and a great professor (not saying state U's don't have good professors - they generally do) really helps the educational experience.

For STEM classes, where the professor basically lectures for an hour while everyone else takes notes, having small class size is not as important.

As others have said, HYPS humanities grads generally don't have an issue getting a decent job, even if its some administrative role in a corporation or government. $20k over 4 years is definitely do-able.

[Anonymous]

I'd venture to guess that most humanities majors end up employed in fields that the major is not relevant to. For a nonrelevant major, the HYPS name may go further on the resume than ASU.

[Anonymous]

Have you included her summer income? She may be able to make close to $5000/year in summer/break jobs. Even if you still need the loan, I think it’s well worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you included her summer income? She may be able to make close to $5000/year in summer/break jobs. Even if you still need the loan, I think it’s well worth it.

Thank you. I have not included her summer income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like your daughter has two excellent choices! When I first read the headline, I thought: either go for a very inexpensive school OR go for an Ivy, where there are still lucrative job opportunities afterwards. If your daughter truly can graduate from HYPS with only $20K debt TOTAL, go for it! If you mean $20K for each year, that's a different story!

Does she know what she wants to do afterwards? Law school, becoming a novelist, or working for a non-profit? Or going into consulting for awhile?

She honestly has two great choices!

It's $20K for all four years ($5K a year). She knows for certain she doesn't want to go to law school (was mock trial captain and hated it) or academia ("too long!"), but other than ruling out those two options, she has no clue what she wants to do after graduation.

$20,000 is nothing. She might be able to make that in a summer internship. It’s really nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it's mythical, but the humanities positions that do exist are going to people from Harvard and Yale not from random state research universities

This is true but i would never, ever, ever advise an 18 year old to make life decisions based on the hope of being a tenure track professor. They're probably not going to make it to the NFL either.

That said, the HYPS recruitment into bullshit jobs that make a ton of money is pretty strong. I didn't go down that path, i was an academic schmuck, but I wouldn't be living in an exurban townhouse if I had.

PP, I agree, but the same things that you'd do to work towards a tenure track job as an undergrad, namely getting great grades and working with professors, will help them get any other job too.

[Anonymous]

OP, I would pay the extra money for the far better school. I live in AZ and my DD is also accepted to Barrett but not going. If you have not been to campus - it is large and fairly spread out. The Barrett dorms are 3/4 mile from the heart of campus. Your DD will have priority registration, which is nice, and Barrett specific courses will be small. Other than those, she will be in the same large classes as everyone else. When we visited campus, our tour guide was a former Barrett student who dropped the program because she felt the extra work wasn't worth it. She said that out of those who start in the program, a lot leave for various reasons. Due to size, administration is large and impersonal, everything is done via the portal and heaven help you if you need to actually talk to a human. I know that 35K is a stretch, its a stretch for me as well. But if my DD had the option to go to HYPS, I would do what I could to make it happen.

As I said, my DD is admitted to Barrett but we're going to pay about the same as you (37K) for her to go to a higher ranked school that is quite a bit smaller, more personal, and fits her needs better. We will cross the grad school bridge when we get there. Good Luck

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you included her summer income? She may be able to make close to $5000/year in summer/break jobs. Even if you still need the loan, I think it’s well worth it.

Thank you. I have not included her summer income.

Are we talking about Yale? If so, I'd 100% support it for humanities ... and a quirky kid. Personal experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No brainer, OP. As she progresses in her studies, she'll have a clearer idea of what she wants to do. Perhaps she'll change her mind about law school or academia. Regardless, the brand name of the Ivy will save her.

Isn't there a 9-page running thread about why this isn't true?

That’s because of alums who are livid most people don’t give a hoot about their 2nd tier universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you included her summer income? She may be able to make close to $5000/year in summer/break jobs. Even if you still need the loan, I think it’s well worth it.

Thank you. I have not included her summer income.

Are we talking about Yale? If so, I'd 100% support it for humanities ... and a quirky kid. Personal experience.

Yes, it's Yale. And she is quirky -- does Yale lean that direction? In all honesty, we did very little research on colleges as DD just shotgunned to most of the T20 schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you included her summer income? She may be able to make close to $5000/year in summer/break jobs. Even if you still need the loan, I think it’s well worth it.

Thank you. I have not included her summer income.

Are we talking about Yale? If so, I'd 100% support it for humanities ... and a quirky kid. Personal experience.

Yes, it's Yale. And she is quirky -- does Yale lean that direction? In all honesty, we did very little research on colleges as DD just shotgunned to most of the T20 schools.

I would definitely do Yale while trying to keep the loans as low as possible. Congrats!

[Anonymous]

Obviously go to Yale.

[Anonymous]

Humblebrag thread. We all know where the kid is going.