How Much Would I Have To Make?

[B Dids]

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bad nasty image that shows Josh powns removed[ QUOTE ]


Holy [censored], dude. I know I'm not adding anything, but -- Holy [censored]. This is so beautiful it makes me want to cry.

Congratulations.

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Nitty on my part, but could we stop quoting this page stretching image please?

[AJo Go All In]

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You have oppurtunites most could only dream of. Coming from a privledged background, where your family has decent connections and can afford to put you through an excellent institution.

At a 3.04 GPA you are underperforming for your abilities.If you were footing your own bill this would not be a big deal, but being that you are accepting your fathers money, you have an obligation to make the best of it.



As someone who just went through the college admissions process, it's obvious you don't give him enough credit. Getting into Columbia in this day in age, you have to have good work ethic. I understand you are trying to he helpful, but give a little credit where it is due.




unfortunately, he happens to be 100% right. I was lucky (I test well, and I applied early as a reach and got in), but a 3.0 GPA is not much to be proud of when most of my classes are curved around a B+. I'm still amazed how perfectly he read me

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i agree. if columbia is anything like yale, which i imagine it is, a 3.0 GPA is pretty bad. i have a 3.6 and my grades are not at all competitive. i consider them a liability for the job market.

[krishanleong]

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the reason that I'm using money to gauge me si because if I don't get a job out of college, I'm at a signfiicant disadvantage whenever I do want to get a job. but if I could make a certain amount of money playing poker and invest that, it will give me such an advantage that it will be worth being behind the curve as far as work experience goes.

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I could be wrong, but I think you completely missed Alobar's point. He is saying this is wrong way to go about the decision. (And I agree) It should be about what makes you happy, not missing out on work experience.

Krishan

[colgin]

I haven't read the whole thread so maybe this has been discussed already.

However, I wanted to point out one important thing. You are 21 and people (interviewers, grad schools, family) are very forgiving of choices you make at this age. Later in life it can be hard to take chances, try somthing different or move into new field. Very hard! At college age it is not hard to do these things and many people expect that you will.

I went straight through college to law school. In general, I don't regret it since I made so many lasting relationships. However, in retrospect I would have taken soem time off and done some job, any job, in a different field since I could always go back to law school later. I was in a rush to "get on with my life", but I did not appreciate that that was a great age to try something out. When I started law school, while there were many people like me, many others had done various things since college, a number of whom, from what i could tell, did [censored] all for two years+. Yet, the admissions office was pretty forgiving because these were qualified people with good grades. Now I know you have some concerns becuase of the way poker might be viewed and how good your own grades are but you take my general point.

Moreover, you may be underestimating the value of a Columbia degree. Columbia B.S. and a 3.0 is still pretty good. Don't assume you won't be an excellent candidate for whatever you may choose to do school or work-wise whether that is now or in a year or two. (My little brother had OK grades at Cornell but did well on his GMAT's and got in to Columbia Business School after working at a so-so job for a few years.)

I am not saying that you shuld play poker for 1-2 years now. But if you choose to I would not assume that people will hold it against you in any way, in large part because of your age (coupled with the fact that you will be able to demonstrate a good deal of success in that endeavor). It is really hard to totaly [censored] up your life at 21. I am 37+. Even if I could earn more playing poker in the next 12 months than in my current law job, if the whole online poker world fell apart in a couple of years my decision could have really ruined my life. Not so with you. At 21, unless you get caught up (in a bad way, since I think they are generally a good thing) with drugs or get deep in debt, it is hard to totally mess up your life. You will be 22 or 23 when (if your prediction is correct) poker blows up. And you will have somethng to show (yourself and others) for it. You can still do anything you want at that age whether it is in engineering or soemthing else. People won't see you as too old. When you are in your thirties or older, by contrast, they may very well see it that way.

If it sounds like I am suggesting you should play poker I am not. I just think that you could and that the potential adverse consequences, if any, from that choice are not as dramatic as you make them out to be. Now, if I am completely ignorant of engneering firms and engineering grad schools then OK. And if that is what you want to do and you thnk you materially hurt your chances of doing that then I think your poker earn number has to be pretty high. However, my experience is that opportunities for smart people (with good degrees to boot) at your age don't dry up, even when that person has made bad choices. And many people will not even view making 6-figures at the age of 21 as a "terrible choice" (albeit via poker) even if it is not the one they would have made themselves. If I am correct, then the earn number doesn't need to be that high, although I could not say what it should be.

Best of luck with your decision.

[ggbman]

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I think trying to come up with a number is a bad way to do this. Money is a funny thing, if you are using it to gauge happiness, no matter how much you have, it will never be enough, because you will wish it was a little more.

To me it sounds like you know what you'd like to do, but it also sounds like you already know what you are going to do.

My advice would be to make yourself happy, because if you are unhappy, it isnt going to matter if other people respect you more or like you better or like your decision better.

Timprov gave some pimpin wisdom "If your goal is eventually to get a job, then get a job. If it's not, then don't worry about it."

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This is so true it's scary

[Ulysses]

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I'm surprised you picked a number so low because I have seen you write things in the past that made me think that you really value work experience. so I'm wondering why. because I can invest that and make a bundle? because you don't think I'll be able to get a good enough job for it to be worht getting that work experience? you are one of the people I really hoped would respond, so I'm curious what your thought process is on this. thanks.

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If you were taking 3 years off in the middle of a career that would be hard to jump back into where you left off, the number would be way higher. Or if you were talking about a longer-term potential career, I'd suggest a higher number (given potential burnout, lack of skills you'll have if things dry up, etc.). However, you are talking about taking a year (or maybe two) after school. People do all sorts of stuff (travel, f around with a "fun" job, etc.) between school and starting their "real" life (whatever that means). You just need to make enough money such that you won't be strapped at the end of the year (or two) and can then make a good decision wrt finding a job, getting more schooling, etc. For your age, 200k seems plenty for that, even in NYC.

[beachbum]

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Party just pared off about $70/hr of my earn with the rake hike.

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I wasn't aware of this. When did this happen? What exactly were the increases?

[Schneids]

Josh, here's how I look at it:

We all have one life, we've gotta make the most of it by doing what we feel is naturally right for ourselves. I think you feel like poker is the right choice, so roll with it. Money provides a wealth of opportunity... You win a couple hundred thousand the next year or few years, and you can certainly use that to garner additional financial or personal rewards, and set yourself up for the life that you want to live. Are you going to be able to obtain financial security by trying to use your degree immediately out of school? Can you see yourself going that route your entire life? Probably not. Will you be able to return to that line if after a few years poker doesn't work out? Probably. I think, as well as you, that the window is fading for internet poker, and so, I think you need to take advantage since you're capable of earning enough from online poker to make it worth foregoing the "traditional" post-graduate route.

I say, graduate and do poker. You know people on these forums who are/will be experiencing the same things as you, I'm sure amongst us we'll find some investment opportunities that will work.

Totally ignore all of this if the thought of being a poker pro makes you unhappy or cringe, since then I think you should consider the other non-poker options you described.

[Ponks]

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Party just pared off about $70/hr of my earn with the rake hike.

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I wasn't aware of this. When did this happen? What exactly were the increases?

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Change from $2 to $3 max rake on the 6 max tables.

Ponks

[colgin]

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However, you are talking about taking a year (or maybe two) after school. People do all sorts of stuff (travel, f around with a "fun" job, etc.) between school and starting their "real" life (whatever that means). You just need to make enough money such that you won't be strapped at the end of the year (or two) and can then make a good decision wrt finding a job, getting more schooling, etc. For your age, 200k seems plenty for that, even in NYC.

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This is a more succinct statement of what I said above. By your standard ("just need to make enough money such that you won't be strapped at the end of the year (or two)"), and even though NY is very expensive, I think the number is much lower. With no college loans to repay, sthief could easily make do with half that $200K amount (post-grads get by here with much less than that).