Wall Street Vs. Law School Vs. Graduate School

[GeorgeF]

The people who did the best over the past 20yrs were employed by the government. In particular jobs like police and fire that pay for your training and have 20 retirements did the absolute best. Teachers came close. While the salaries seem low, remember that the benefits are 'back loaded'. A pension + Health package at age 40 that is worth $55,000 is equal to a $1M lump sum. If it adjusts for inflation it is worth much more.

I suggest that you investigate government jobs. To estimate the value of pensions see: http://www.brkdirect.com/spia/EZQUOTE.ASP

If you are young and language talented learning Arabic and going for a state department job would be sweet.

[Misfire]

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I'm currently attending a top-ten school...However, I have no idea with what to do with my life.

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I hope you went on a free ride. Otherwise, why would you spend the money required by a top-ten school without knowing why you're even there??

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I want to have a job where I will earn a decent amount of money...At the same time, sometimes I'm really sickened by the materialism that drives our culture.

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Get over it. Work as hard as you want, make as much money as said work is worth, and don't for a second feel guilty for it.

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Hence graduate school, and giving something back to the world.

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The world is like a kitten. You think it's all sweet and loving, but if it could, it would eat you.

Seriously, the best thing you can do to "give back" is to get as ridiculously rich as you can and in doing so, you will be forced to provide opportunities for others to make their lives better. Bill Gates did more to make this world a better place than Mother Theresa.

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If i go work on wall street, i'm thinking about applying to some entry level stock broker. I might check out some finance firms, but I have no econ background. What would you guys recommened?

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If you like Wall Street, an MBA in finance is a good option. Study econ too (it'll help you get over this anti-materialism nonsense).

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law school vs some sort of job on wallstreet (and if you recommend wall street, what would you recommend vs getting away from all the nonsense and going to grad school and getting a phd of some sort.

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Richard Montauk writes that going to law school is more likely to LIMIT your job options rather than expand them. Unless you are completely in love with the idea of being a lawyer, law school is out.

Go to Wall Street if that's the kind of life you want to lead. Like I said, an MBA in finance probably wouldn't hurt.

A PhD is completely unnecessary unless you A) want to be an academic, or B) you just absolutely need a doctorate to make you feel smart.

Seriously, don't do ANY grad school until you KNOW what you want to do with your life. Get a job for a couple years. Hang out with people who have jobs you eventually want to do. Grad school will always be there. Harvard isn't gonna go out of business. Many schools actually prefer students with some real world business experience under their belt.

More than anything, do what you like. There's money in everything. If I was a multi bajillionaire and I told you that I would pay all of your bills for anything you wanted for the rest of your life, what would you do with your time?

Do the work because you love it. Take the money because it's there.

[Paluka]

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I hope you went on a free ride. Otherwise, why would you spend the money required by a top-ten school without knowing why you're even there??


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This statement is idiotic. So if a really smart 17 yr old kid gets accepted to Harvard, he shouldn't pay to go unless he has a solid idea of what he wants to do for a living? Absurd.

[Misfire]

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I hope you went on a free ride. Otherwise, why would you spend the money required by a top-ten school without knowing why you're even there??


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This statement is idiotic. So if a really smart 17 yr old kid gets accepted to Harvard, he shouldn't pay to go unless he has a solid idea of what he wants to do for a living? Absurd.

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Would you go 100K in debt for something without even knowing what you're going to do with it???????????

[edtost]

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Would you go 100K in debt for something without even knowing what you're going to do with it???????????

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undergard degrees are more about learning how to do work/learn/think than about specific skills in most cases anyway. very few of my classmates came to school knowing what they wanted to do. to quote the administration, only about 30% of kids stay with the major they put down on their application.

many good schools (including my own) vehemently deny that they are training their undergraduate students for the work force. education and job training are two very different things.

[Paluka]

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I hope you went on a free ride. Otherwise, why would you spend the money required by a top-ten school without knowing why you're even there??


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This statement is idiotic. So if a really smart 17 yr old kid gets accepted to Harvard, he shouldn't pay to go unless he has a solid idea of what he wants to do for a living? Absurd.

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Would you go 100K in debt for something without even knowing what you're going to do with it???????????

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Yes. I graduated from an Ivy League school. I've already paid back close to 100k in student loans for me and my wife. I still had no idea what I was doing with my life on the day I graduated from college. I would make the same choice again.

[Misfire]

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Yes. I graduated from an Ivy League school. I've already paid back close to 100k in student loans for me and my wife. I still had no idea what I was doing with my life on the day I graduated from college. I would make the same choice again.

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What happens is that many students, after paying out almost 100k or more, realize that their life's calling has nothing to do with the education they just spent all that money purchasing. Yeah, everyone acts like you can't amount anything without higher education. Bull. Some people are better off without it and going to college litterally puts them 4 years and tens of thousands of dollars behind the game. So it worked for you. Whoopie. Not everyone is like you. Telling someone to make that large of a purchase without a plan is just bad advice.

[Paluka]

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Yes. I graduated from an Ivy League school. I've already paid back close to 100k in student loans for me and my wife. I still had no idea what I was doing with my life on the day I graduated from college. I would make the same choice again.

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What happens is that many students, after paying out almost 100k or more, realize that their life's calling has nothing to do with the education they just spent all that money purchasing. Yeah, everyone acts like you can't amount anything without higher education. Bull. Some people are better off without it and going to college litterally puts them 4 years and tens of thousands of dollars behind the game. So it worked for you. Whoopie. Not everyone is like you. Telling someone to make that large of a purchase without a plan is just bad advice.

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Telling an 18 year old that he should have a plan is bad advice. I also think that telling someone that they should view college as job training is bad advice.

[Misfire]

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Telling an 18 year old that he should have a plan is bad advice.

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"Thinking" like this is why so many 22 year old college grads are serving me french fries. Call that Ivy League school and get your money back.

[RunDownHouse]

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I hope you went on a free ride. Otherwise, why would you spend the money required by a top-ten school without knowing why you're even there??

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True. Go to NorthwestSouth State Community Technical College of Design Online and get their degree. Its identical to a Harvard degree!