<p>Indeed, I heard from DS that that nobody would talk about things like SATs or GPAs (even though most students there had done great on these mundane academic stuff.)</p>
<p>Performances at the Olympic level or the Carnegie Hall level could possibly be “cool”. Perfect 2400 SAT scores with 800s in all SAT subject tests are not. Nobody is obsessed with the numbers on this kind of tests (except those students who frequent CC, perhaps. LOL.) Plenty of students take this kind of tests without much preparation as they have other better things to do. (However, the STEP-1 board test is a different animal - most do study intensely on it, like 11 to 13 hours of self-study everyday but they are grown-ups, not college kids.)</p>
<p>While the OP certainly went over a bunch of lines there, I’d say a lot of posters were definitely being obnoxious about their assumptions. I know a lot of people who drink plenty, party plenty, and have survived their current college life more than well. The idea that just because he parties, he’ll fail as a student, is preposterous. </p>
<p>Anywho, yeah $1500 is quite a bit, and I think you’ll find that even if YOU could use that much money in a month, it may alienate friends. I know very few, if any, people at my school who could use up $1500 after room and board, both because they wouldn’t and more importantly because they simply do not have that level of discretionary spending. I don’t like making assumptions, but I’ll guess your “selective high school” draws by and large from a similarly wealthy population. Understand that most US colleges will not have a population that wealthy. If you spend $50 a day, very few friends will be able to participate in a meaningful proportion of those activities. I do have friends whose parents COULD give them that much money, but they don’t find an opportunity to use it because they’re friends with people who might only be able to spend a couple hundred a month, or a term.</p>
<p>OP, when the Revolution comes, you will be the first against the wall. </p>
<p>During the first semester of my freshman year, before I started working, their was a point when I had $41 in my bank account to get me through the remaining two and a half months of the semester. And you know what? It was fine. There were a couple of Friday nights when my friends went out to eat and I didn’t, but beyond that, my social life didn’t suffer at all. I continued to participate in multiple extracurriculars (which were perfectly happy to pay for transportation to competitions, etc), go to (free!) parties, and even go to New York for a weekend on a bus funded by my college. And this was at a college famous for its entitled snobs, some of them nearly as ridiculous as the OP. </p>
<p>I’ve started working relatively well-paying campus job since then and can afford a few additional amenities, but learning to live frugally has been a valuable experience, and I’d venture to say that learning to appreciate the value of money one has earned for oneself rather than that handed out by one’s parents is something many people could benefit from. </p>
<p>One of my friends is the son of a banking tycoon worth something like 6 billion dollars. His allowance? $500 per semester. I think dad has rightfully concluded that handing life to his son on a silver platter is not the best way to help him grow up. </p>
<p>I’d say that 9 times out of 10, parents who give their kids more than, say, $1000 per semester for discretionary spending are doing their children a disservice.</p>
<p>Wow. OP, I think you might want to lose that “holier than thou” attitude you’ve got going on there. I don’t think anyone was implying that you should spend 24 hours a day studying. We’re just telling you that $1500 a month is FAR MORE than any college student should reasonably need to spend. Seriously, I don’t even know what I would spend that money on. I’d have to be going out to eat for every meal of the day, and buy new clothes every few days just to get through that much money. </p>
<p>Clubs in the US are expensive. Even just regular bars in the US are expensive. Most college students avoid these places because they’re expensive as hell, and because they are usually 21+. Some college towns do allow students younger than 21 to enter bars, but they still won’t serve you.</p>
<p>Never been to stadium concerts etc.? OP, I’ve been to more concerts in the span of one week than you’ve probably been to in your entire life. I spent about 4 years in between high school and college doing nothing but traveling to a ton of music festivals and concerts. Again, you might want to lose the ‘holier than thou’ attitude. It’s not going to make you many friends in the US if you’re running around talking about how easy the SAT’s are, and how stupid American students are.</p>
<p>If our education system is so bad here, then remind me why it is that you’re coming to the US to go to college?</p>
<p>mcat, almost all public Us are very expensive to international students. UMich I believe runs about 50-60k a year.</p>
<p>I did my undergrad at one of the largest party universities in the country. Most of my friends drank often and graduated on to successful careers. I would never suggest that you can’t party and do well. I think that’s a stupid assumption.</p>
<p>OP, you should know that Americans don’t enjoy being told that they “need to learn their place.” I think you’re going to have a paradigm cultural shift to get used to over here. If you came into an American college talking the way that you’re talking on this thread, it would probably result in getting your ass kicked.</p>
<p>Someone talked about European vs American alcohol laws. Is the OP from a European country? (I admit, I didn’t read his long rant against me… I tried but the typos made me give up)</p>
<p>As someone who raised by a European and has lived in Europe, his posts do not ring European to me. Much more Middle Eastern or some parts of Asia in mentality.</p>
<p>He’s from Turkey, romani. Or he’s only talked about Turkey.</p>
<p>
This thought ran through my head. Man, Americans are so dumb and inferior to the likes of OP. Why should OP lower themself to such idiocy when there are better universities around? Surely OP’s superior intellect can land them in a better university!</p>
I hope you’re exaggerating, because my son got in EA, and is heading there next year. Well, among thousands of students, a few tools should be easy enough to ignore.</p>
<p>While we’re orders of magnitude less well off than your friend (the banking tycoon’s son), we are comfortable, but it was informative that spending money of $500-$1000 per semester is probably the sweet spot.</p>
<p>I’m glad that you have more disposable income now, but you learned a valuable lesson (part of the Bogleheads philosophy): Live Below Your Means.</p>
<p>yes, saying “Europe vs. USA” was lazy on my part. OP is from Turkey but my most in depth discussions on alcohol and growing up were with a college teammate who was raised in Greece and the UK and thinking about friends of mine who went to the UK for school/live there now. Opulence among the rich is definitely greater in the middle east than europe but my friends who now live in the UK do seem to put a pretty strong emphasis on making sure places they are going are “posh enough” for them.</p>
<p>As someone who is a well mix of ethnicities, lived in various countries and understands expenses relatively well… Id say $1,500 is excessive if all things are covered (I’ve lived in London, Torino & Lecce, AND Istanbul)</p>
<p>If your parents can afford it though, does it really matter what other people think?</p>
<p>I live in one of the most expensive cities, at an expensive school, in Greek life and my expenses still probably hover around $500 a month, $750 if there was an event I splurged on (holiday/birthday/etc)</p>
<p>The holier then thou attitude will definitely cause people to side eye you, no one really wants to be friends with someone who thinks that they are eons better. </p>
<p>At least in my city, you’d be hard pressed to find a club who allows 18+ in, I think there’s maybe 2</p>
<p>I just wanted to say that this is the conversation you were referring to (in case you forgot):</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That doesn’t mean “I am sure that I can/may be admitted”. That means “I am sure that I will be able to go there,” which given what dsi411 said can reasonably be interpreted as you saying that you are sure you will be admitted and that you will be able to afford to attend.</p>
<p>I don’t care what your test scores are or what you think of the American education system, but I would suggest that you take a hard look at your own reasoning ability and use of the English language before you criticize others’.</p>
<p>Talking about “extravagant” club lifestyle, DS met several of these students in college. A girl in the next suite is like that (owning an up-scale apartment in the Manhattan area for her weekend get-away, throwing her own party and never asking any other students to chip in, etc.) A suitemate could be like her as well but his parents purposely disallow that. (But still, he threw a birthday party in some private box for a baseball game complete with lavish food/drink and fancy limo to/from that event.) The parents of some of these parents could be somebody you may frequently see on the national TV. DS once joked that he would never have a chance to run into so many rich people after he graduated from college. But in the end, those students lead a different life than the rest if us, in school years or after graduated from college.</p>
<p>Another story (that did not happen at DS’s school): The D of G. W. Bush got into a trouble because she used a fake ID to get drinks in a restaurant close to her college. BTW, that is not a high end restaurant at all (I have been in that restaurant before). Since she wanted to be with her fellow students/friends, she could not go to the high-end places all the time for apparent reasons. Wonder whether those secret service people were disciplined because they did not guard her well enough to let her create this drama - yes, she was protected by them when this happened. (But when she married a year ago, her SO is not one of those who are from a socioeconomic class that is too different from hers.)</p>
<p>I still can’t decide if OP is epically tone-deaf or a very effective ■■■■■. If he’s really in Turkey, I guess he’s getting ready to go out clubbing (although 10pm might be too early), so we won’t know until tomorrow, if ever.</p>
<p>Imported alcohol is heavily taxed in Turkey and extremely expensive so if OP is drinking Dom then he has money to burn. You can get fabulous caviar at bargain prices but you have to drink it with horrible state owned sparkling wine unless you pay up for imports. This may have changed since I was there, though. I don’t think Turkey was EU.</p>
<p>I don’t care how much he drops on Dom. He’s still carrying about as a butt orifice. Which I don’t care if he acts that way either…just stating the truth. :)</p>