Random Thoughts - Part Deux [NO POLITICS]

[Sapphireho]

Made my first smoothie this morning. Cherry, strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, mango, banana, acai, agave, and almond milk.

I had fruit today, so exiting!

[HaXx]

Should i go to the great, but affordable state university grad school for $60,000, or should i go to the private excellent grad school for $150,000. big life decision time, hedge my bets and come out possibly with no debt, or strive and climb as high as i possibly can, taking on every single opportunity to achieve higher.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by HaXx

Should i go to the great, but affordable state university grad school for $60,000, or should i go to the private excellent grad school for $150,000. big life decision time, hedge my bets and come out possibly with no debt, or strive and climb as high as i possibly can, taking on every single opportunity to achieve higher.

Easy one for me. State grad school unless you can pay cash for the private school.

[spike021]

So I don't believe I told you guys the actual news, but I got the apartment for sure. Unfortunately it won't be available until March 18, though. The nice thing is I'll get a lot of time to start packing and figure out logistics of moving all my shit over.

But that wait time also means I'll keep getting woken up in the middle of the night by homeless/drug addicts outside who scream at nobody in particular for hours. Last night I got woken up at 5am .

Perhaps the best news, though, is that while I don't get a garage I will get to park in a car port/covered spot. My car has been an outdoors car the past 4 years, so some cover will be great. Maybe it'll stay clean for longer.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by HaXx

Should i go to the great, but affordable state university grad school for $60,000, or should i go to the private excellent grad school for $150,000. big life decision time, hedge my bets and come out possibly with no debt, or strive and climb as high as i possibly can, taking on every single opportunity to achieve higher.

May depend on what field you are pursuing a graduate degree in, whether or not you are going on for a PhD and what state university and private school you are considering?

[spike021]

Originally Posted by HaXx

Should i go to the great, but affordable state university grad school for $60,000, or should i go to the private excellent grad school for $150,000. big life decision time, hedge my bets and come out possibly with no debt, or strive and climb as high as i possibly can, taking on every single opportunity to achieve higher.

While I didn't have the option like you, at the time I wish I had. I would say it really depends on what career path and goals you have. What major will you be studying?

I ended up going to a state school, which honestly had a really bad program (despite what news sites and stuff will tell you) _but_ saved a buttload of money, and it didn't hurt my career prospects at all.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by spike021

So I don't believe I told you guys the actual news, but I got the apartment for sure. Unfortunately it won't be available until March 18, though. The nice thing is I'll get a lot of time to start packing and figure out logistics of moving all my shit over.

But that wait time also means I'll keep getting woken up in the middle of the night by homeless/drug addicts outside who scream at nobody in particular for hours. Last night I got woken up at 5am .

Perhaps the best news, though, is that while I don't get a garage I will get to park in a car port/covered spot. My car has been an outdoors car the past 4 years, so some cover will be great. Maybe it'll stay clean for longer.

Congratulations on acquiring a new apartment -

Covered parking would be better than non covered for sure.

As far as the noise outside for the next month, how about some good earplugs and a LOUD alarm clock -

[HaXx]

Originally Posted by spike021

While I didn't have the option like you, at the time I wish I had. I would say it really depends on what career path and goals you have. What major will you be studying?

I ended up going to a state school, which honestly had a really bad program (despite what news sites and stuff will tell you) _but_ saved a buttload of money, and it didn't hurt my career prospects at all.

Im worried that im going to wind up with the same PT job, in the same PT clinic, but with 100,000 more dollars in debt. there really is not too much variability in an entry level job as a physical therapist, so on paper it is appealing to get the education for as cheap as possible. but as of now, i am committed with a deposit down on the expensive school because im a dreamer and helpless romantic. i want to go to the school in Boston. its a doctorate of physical therapy btw, for those asking.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by HaXx

Should i go to the great, but affordable state university grad school for $60,000, or should i go to the private excellent grad school for $150,000. big life decision time, hedge my bets and come out possibly with no debt, or strive and climb as high as i possibly can, taking on every single opportunity to achieve higher.

Teach & research your way to that PhD. Do eet!

I was too old by the time I got my BSME. Needed to get crackin'.

[HaXx]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

Easy one for me. State grad school unless you can pay cash for the private school.

Im a huge fan of state schools, thats why im so caught in the middle of this decision. my undergrad is from a state university, and while i graduated with zero debt from a "affordable" university, it was a launch pad to get me accepted to great schools in the heart of boston. it is what you make of it, and im not expecting anything to be given to me at the expensive school. i know its the size of the fight in the dog. but i cant help but feel i may regret passing up the opportunity to "do something great"

i mean the brz was not the smart decision. living in boston an AWD 4-door wrx was the obvious choice. but i think the brz was my absolute best decision ever. i love my frs/brz. despite the drawbacks, yeah i need to put on winter wheels, yeah its not practical. i dont care, im one to do things that others envy when they settled for the safe bet.

nothing against state schools, thats why this decision is so hard for me, resorting to the forum to see what the peanut gallery has to say haha. my father says go to the school in boston "do great things, son", my practical mother says come out of it all with zero debt. my parents are no longer married fyi

[Ultramaroon]

Got yer peanut gallery right here.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by HaXx

nothing against state schools, thats why this decision is so hard for me, resorting to the forum to see what the peanut gallery has to say haha. my father says go to the school in boston "do great things, son", my practical mother says come out of it all with zero debt. my parents are no longer married fyi

Unless your Dad plans to cover the debt, your Mom is giving you the right advise. IMHO. Think of it this way, what happens if you, for some reason besides being a slacker, you fail out 2/3rds of the way through? How you going to pay the debt then? You can't bankrupt it. It will be nothing but a drag. What good does it if the degree gets you and little extra money in your first job if it all goes to the bank?

I'm not sure what field you are in, but very few fields really matter where you got your education, except maybe your first job. Hell, look at the medical field, very few come from the "elite schools", but we all call them Dr. and they all get the big checks. Heck, a good percentage of them came from schools that you've never heard of, that aren't in this country.

[Sapphireho]

In my career, i was never once asked where I went to school, and no one ever told me where they went to school, except the Harvard people. They liked to tell you every other sentence that they went to Harvard, even though they performed no better than anyone else.

School is what you make it.

[Sapphireho]

Another school story.

I did my first 2 years at De Anza junior college (my dad taught math there for 38 years). One of my profs in economics was Dr. Mac. He also taught at Stanford. In one class he said, "who is smarter?", and described how he was teaching our class to about 20 of us in a single room, and how he teaches the same class at Stanford in a lecture hall of 200, and it is closed circuit broadcast to two other lecture halls of 200.