Reply to $80k In Debt Worth It for Ivy Undergrad?

Forum Index » Jobs and Careers

Reply to "$80k In Debt Worth It for Ivy Undergrad?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I’d tell your parents that you are going to transfer to a less prestigious school because you don’t want to take out loans. If they don’t get bragging rights anymore, they might change their mind about funding the Ivy. [/quote]

I agree with this.  Do not go $80K into debt for a college you don't even want to be at -- especially one that was so toxic for you that you contemplated suicide!  There are other schools out there where you can finish your degree for much less money and hopefully a better fit.[b]  Your parents are trash for taking this approach.[/b][/quote]

-1

OP's parent's aren't trash for taking this approach. They're 100% right that a Columbia degree will open up doors for the rest of OP's life.

OP, take the debt and finish up at Columbia. Get over your fear of "stressful, competitive" jobs (whatever the hell that means) and take that six-figure job offer after graduation so you can pay down your student loans.

Oh, and BTW, going into arts administration or non-profits or environmental education will be a decision you'll regret for the rest of your life. No question there. [/quote]

A few years out no one cares where you went to college. What matters is who you've gotten to know and what you've actually done. Perhaps having gone to Columbia means knowing some people who could be useful in life, but it's not like at age 30 anyone is still talking about your college. I am married to a guy who didn't even finish the low-ranked college he started at and he's doing great. [/quote]

YMMV.  Some of us continue to benefit from the strong alumni networks, and academic, cultural, social, and career oriented resources offered by our colleges. While this isn’t advocating for staying at a school that’s a bad fit, don’t pretend that “no one cares”.  For some of us, especially POC, it may be the difference between getting an interview— or not, or being the first generation in our families to offer broader experiences to our kids, should we choose to do so.  I’m glad that your guy is doing great. Not everyone gets to do a JD Vance though. And “who you’ve gotten to know” can be enormously impacted by where you go to college and where you’ve gone to college —especially for those of us whose families don’t have the kinds of connections that lead to UMC careers. [/quote]

As someone who formerly worked in admissions, I would see this application to a seven sisters' nontraditional student program and toss it immediately.  The people they are looking for are not Asians who had mental health issues and struggled despite coming from a UMC background - a teen mom who worked her way through the early childcare years, sure, but not someone who has never managed to overcome any adversity.  Her resume and history screams that any acceptance would be wasted on her - why would we let in someone who had pretty much every opportunity (because OP, you do) and squandered it?  Finally, the students at the seven sisters are not ALL significantly different than an Ivy, and there are the SLAC types at Ivy League schools as well.  When I got into the Ivies, we used seven sisters as safety schools.  The people I know who attended Smith, Vassar, Barnard all just didn't get into the Ivies, but they had the same mentality as those of us who did.

[b]This is a long winded way of saying that OP really should accept that for her, work will probably suck no matter what it is.  The key is to figure out the job that pays you the most with the least hours and focus on other hobbies and interests to fulfill yourself.  And that high-pay, low-effort job only comes after you pay your dues by way of finance, biglaw, residency, etc.[/b][/quote]

OP here. You're right that an admissions office would probably be wary of my application. I do think that getting to graduate from a Seven Sisters school with little to no debt (since only my income would be considered for financial aid purposes at that point and not my parents') would put me in a much better spot than taking out $80k in loans to go to Columbia. I also don't know how an admissions officer would be able to glean that I left Columbia for mental health reasons (and not, say, my financial reasons) if I don't disclose this on my application.

And I've had your same thoughts about work sucking for me no matter what and having to pay my dues in some soul-crushing career in my 20s. But I am not mentally healthy or stable enough to stick it out in Big Law, MBB, BB IB, or residency. If I can't even handle college, how the hell am I supposed to handle a high-pressure, competitive, cutthroat atmosphere in whatever job or industry that will allow me to pay my dues for an eventual "high-pay, low-effort" job in the future?

Many of my friends are interning in BB IB or MBB this summer. [b]Although most of them are much more mentally healthy and stable than I am[/b], they're still absolutely miserable and depressed because of the intense, competitive nature of those jobs. When Goldman Sachs analysts are saying that their job is worse than foster care ( https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/mar/18/group-of-junior-bankers-at-goldman-sachs-claim-inhumane-work-conditions ), it's time for me to re-evaluate what to do post-grad. For me, I think what will keep me the most sane, mentally healthy, and stable after graduation (keep in mind I am not any of these things right now) is not stepping on the treadmill of a grueling career (even if it'll set me up for success later), but taking a relatively chill job that I'll (at least somewhat) enjoy. Whether that's at a non-profit or maybe working on a farm or something else is up in the air, but what I do know for certain is that taking out $80k in loans will completely eliminate that possibility for me.

I don't know. But I was looking at MBB consulting internships for Summer 2023 a few weeks ago (the deadline to apply is coming up soon). Just hearing about the work they do and the case interview seems soul-sucking. I don't think I'd be able to survive, even for a year, in that sort of environment because I am not healthy at the moment. [/quote]

I worked for several of the companies in those categories and I can assure that there aren't a lot of mentally stable people there[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics