Should I spend 40k to go get a masters at the University of Chicago?

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Should I spend 40k to go get a masters at the University of Chicago?

SlyFrog: May 16, 2007; What? One name? Who are you, Seal?

Radio Talmudist posted:

I know intellectually that attending would be horrible. There are just so many people in my life telling me that this is an amazing opportunity, that a MA will open so many doors, that it would super difficult to continue my education later on in life....

Here is the simplest, bluntest advice I can give you: do not listen to them. A large number of people in our society right now are completely oblivious to the contemporary job market and value of degrees. They're still living in the 80s and 90s culture of, "Any degree from a good school opens doors." They're behind the times, and do not realize that a non-STEM degree from a good university does not magically open middle and upper-middle class management positions anymore, that getting a social sciences degree even from a great university often ends up as a very expensive millstone around your neck regardless of how much you "network."

They are genuinely trying to help you, but their knowledge is dated and flawed. They are the functional equivalent of telling you to treat your case of migraines by drilling holes in your head.

Radio Talmudist posted:

and I have to admit that on an emotional level, I really want to go to U Chicago. I want to study alongside the smartest people in the world. I totally infatuated with the romantic idea of the University.

But this is not worth imprisoning myself with a 120k (excluding interest) in debt for. I cannot tell you how much my life has been constrained by my existing debt. If I didn't have it, I could afford to rent my own apartment and begin my life.

I went there. It's not that cool, such that it is worth living the next 40 years of your life under additional financial pain.

Find something that you want to do, that will provide a good living, and then figure out what you need to do in order to get there.

Figure out the ends, and then determine the means. What you are considering is figuring out means, without really having a solid idea of what the end will be.

SlyFrog fucked around with this message at 16:50 on Aug 8, 2014

# ¿ Aug 8, 2014 16:46

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 17:10

SlyFrog: May 16, 2007; What? One name? Who are you, Seal?

Yes, you are still thinking the right way. If your parents think it is such a slam dunk, they should pay for it.

You are doing the right thing in trying to figure this out. Do not give in to the siren song of not knowing what to do, so you just pay $25k (plus the value of lost wages, etc.) to defer having to figure it out for a few years.

# ¿ Aug 12, 2014 17:18

SlyFrog: May 16, 2007; What? One name? Who are you, Seal?

Radio Talmudist posted:

God, I must come off as horribly mercurial in this thread. Sorry about that. But I am working on forging some direction in my life.

No, you come across as fairly intelligent and trying to figure things out.

As I said, I think your greatest risk here is that you cannot figure it out quickly, and jump into something stupid for lack of having a better direction. Don't "give up" on figuring things out by simply going back to school. Sometimes the better decision really is to do nothing for awhile (metaphorically).

# ¿ Aug 12, 2014 19:11

SlyFrog: May 16, 2007; What? One name? Who are you, Seal?

Radio Talmudist posted:

UPDATE: (I'll also put this in the OP)

So I officially withdrew last Monday and I was a little depressed. Even though I knew, intellectually, that I had made the right choice, it was still a difficult thing to say no to an elite education. So much of my self-worth was bound up in the idea of attending a top school that it hurt a little bit to walk away from it all.

I told co-workers at my temp job of my decision. One of these co-workers as a funny, unassuming guy I assumed was just a regular office drone. He didn't carry himself in any special way, and I enjoyed our brief, casual conversations about the office, or politics, which he was passionate about.

Turns out he was an executive. He wanted me to go to U Chicago but upon hearing that I was sticking around, he suggested that I apply for an opening in a department he managed. I interviewed last friday and got the job. It's a salaried gig that pays dramatically more than I've ever been paid.

In the span of a week I've withdrawn from graduate school and initated a new career. Hopefully it works out - it will work out, because I refuse to squander this amazing opportunity. I'm beyond excited.

gently caress yes. Besides, you've done better than getting an education from a top school. You were given the option of getting an education from a top school, and you're so baller, you rejected them.

Congratulations on the new position!

# ¿ Aug 20, 2014 18:43

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Should I spend 40k to go get a masters at the University of Chicago?