Making the most pragmatic educational decision in light of finances, the economy, and

Applying to College
1

<p>Thread title was cut off. Last word is "goals."</p>

<p>I have several options for my plans. </p>

<ol>
<li>Top ranked state university. BS in Biochemistry. Ph. D in Biochemistry. Academia or industry work. Salary: 75k+ starting. Job prospects poor. </li>
<li>Top ranked state university. BS in Biochemistry. BA in Finance. Ph. D in Biochemistry. Academia or industry work. Banking if biochemistry doesn't pan out or I need supplementary income and can't find a job. Salary: same. Finance offers similarly poor income. </li>
<li>Ivy League university. Degree in Applied Economics and Management. MBA at top ranked business school. Go directly into private equity or investment banking. Salary: 300k+ starting (including "compensation"). </li>
</ol>

<p>Points to consider. </p>

<ol>
<li>Biochemistry is fun. Working with money is also fun. I love money. </li>
<li>Ultimate goal is to make enough money to reduce my parents' workload by at least 50%. Ideally I can make enough so that my parents can retire at least 10 years early or simply work part-time jobs. Ultimate salary goal is 300k+. Ideally, 700k+. </li>
<li>Ph. D job market for biochemistry is getting oversaturated. Everyone outsources to China. Ironic, because I'm Chinese. </li>
<li>Income can be supplemented and augmented by day trading. I have already begun to practice. With eight years, I am quite sure I will be able to learn how to do it rather well. </li>
<li>Marriage will always wait after Ph. D or MBA. It will not interfere with educational plans. </li>
<li>I will be living in my parents' house even after marriage, as according to tradition and custom. </li>
<li>Cost of undergraduate education is rather high for the Ivy League university. Cost is low for the top public state university, but still significant. </li>
<li>Admission into both universities is almost guaranteed. </li>
<li>It would be embarrassing for me to only have a job of ~100k when all my friends are doctors with incomes of 300k+. </li>
<li>The economy is rather bad. </li>
<li>I have no talents aside from math, science, and piano. </li>
<li>Any profession I undertake must be suitable in terms of both income and appearance. I must raise my family's position and elevate my parents' standings. That is the ultimate goal. </li>
<li>I must be able to fund a wife as well as the education of at least five children, including private piano and violin lessons as well as mathematical tutoring for competitions and olympiads such as the American Invitational Mathematics Examination and the International Mathematics Olympiad. </li>
<li>I cannot fail in any undertaking. </li>
</ol>

<p>Above all else, my professions must follow the Buddha's teachings as per the Noble Eightfold Path. Enumerated below are professions which are forbidden. I have copied and pasted this list from Wikipedia; it should suffice. Quite a few of these restrictions are not even really applicable to my situation, but it does not hurt to elaborate more. </p>

<ol>
<li>Business in weapons: trading in all kinds of weapons and instruments for killing.</li>
<li>Business in human beings: slave trading, prostitution, or the buying and selling of children or adults. </li>
<li>Business in meat: "meat" refers to the bodies of beings after they are killed. This includes breeding animals for slaughter. </li>
<li>Business in intoxicants: manufacturing or selling intoxicating drinks or addictive drugs. </li>
<li>Business in poison: producing or trading in any kind of toxic product designed to kill. </li>
</ol>

<p>For my Ph. D I plan on attending the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, if I do indeed end up deciding to pursue a doctorate. I have already begun planning for my admission into this esteemed college. Admissions should be fairly simple as long as I make the proper preparations. Failing Harvard, I'm sure I'll still be able to attend a top 10 biomedical sciences graduate school. MIT, perhaps, or Stanford. I hear Berkeley's reputation is falling quite rapidly these days, though, so I am not quite so sure about Berkeley. </p>

<p>I would like to decline to reveal the precise identity of this state school which I mention for purposes of personal privacy. Please understand. </p>

<p>My current state: senior in high school. </p>

<p>I am at a crossroads in my life. I do not know which path to take. Please, does anyone have any advice for me? I seek guidance in this matter. Forgive my poor English, my native language is Chinese and I do not utilize English particularly well.</p>

2

<p>I’ll be blunt. You make yourself out to be a rather robotic and mercenary learner – not the type of student that would be accepted at schools like the Ivies who value inquisitive minds and people who wish to influence the community around them. No where in your missive do you speak about your internal desire to learn. Do you learn? Surely. In previous “chance me” threads you post your SATs and GPA. But are you a learner and to you seek knowledge because you enjoy it? It appears to be a necessary tool to attain degrees and income and life prestige.</p>

<p>Also, you seem to lack any connection with any people besides your goals to provide for your family and future family. While laudable, you seem extremely different than people I knew at my HYP college. Indeed, the character trait of being a person of influence and a leader seems to be lost on you.</p>

<p>In #8 you say you’re guaranteed admission – to where? </p>

<p>And your statement #14 makes me wonder if your entire post is a joke.</p>

<p>You’re not the type who will come off sounding attractive in your essays and personal statements. You better come to a better understanding of what graduate schools and future employers are looking for as well. Maybe you could be some technician or research scientist. But you seem extremely limited in business world skills.</p>

3

<p>Ok, I’ll bite.</p>

<p>1) The number of individuals who are “almost guaranteed admission” to any of the Ivy-level institutions is vanishingly small. So make sure your list has a few more options.</p>

<p>2) Depending on the state you live in, and your public university’s policies, it is entirely possible that a student can know whether or not he/she is guaranteed admissions just by reading the website. If that is your case, and your family can afford that institution without any aid other than federally determined (FAFSA) aid, then congratulations! You have a nice Academic and Financial Safety.</p>

<p>3) No one can predict in their senior year of high school whether or not they will be able to get into graduate school anywhere at all, let alone in any particular subject or at any particular institution. It is fine for you to set goals for yourself, but life has a way of interfering with our plans, and leading us down unexpected pathways. </p>

<p>4) What exactly is your plan if, due to unexpected circumstances, you actually do “fail in any undertaking”? Any outlines that you make now for your future life need to have enough flexibility, and redundancy, so that you can find your way out of the inevitable failures that you will face. For guidance along that line, I suggest that you spend a bit more time with your spiritual advisors. Within the Buddhist tradition, you will be able to find tools to help you develop your resilience.</p>

4

<p>T26E4:</p>

<p>I’ll be blunt. Why would I need to show off “business world skills” in a post on College Confidential asking for advice? I laid out the parameters of my situation as well as the choices available to me. I did not ask for questioning or interrogation. What did you expect me to do, to lay out all my “connections” for you to evaluate or to speak on and on about how much of a leader I am? I am not speaking to an admissions committee. There is no need to discuss those things in the context of my post.</p>

5

<p>I don’t want to bite…but I will.
as much as you’d like to think otherwise, you don’t know everything. you don’t know that you can make $300k simply by going to an ivy league school for a degree in economics. you don’t know that you can even get into the school. you don’t know whether or not you’ll be able to support five kids. you don’t know if you’ll even find a wife. you don’t even know that you have talents besides math, piano, and science…heck, you’ve mastered the english language. you have NO IDEA if you can get into harvard grad school. you don’t know that all your friends will be doctors and that they’ll all be making upwards of 300grand. laying out your life like this is going to lead to one of two things: everything can go as planned and you just won’t enjoy your life because everything is so systematic, or everything won’t go as planned and this is the biggest waste of time in the world. you don’t know that you can augment your income with day trading; you might deplete it. also, if you “know” that your salary will be $300k+ going into private equity or investment banking starting out (it won’t), why are you even considering the cost of the ivy league school?</p>

6

<p>Your asked: “Does anyone have any advice for me?” - open-ended</p>

<p>You’ve been given some very good advice:</p>

<p>“You’re not the type who will come off sounding attractive in your essays and personal statements. You better come to a better understanding of what graduate schools and future employers are looking for as well.”</p>

<p>“The number of individuals who are “almost guaranteed admission” to any of the Ivy-level institutions is vanishingly small. So make sure your list has a few more options.”</p>

<p>“Any outlines that you make now for your future life need to have enough flexibility, and redundancy, so that you can find your way out of the inevitable failures that you will face. For guidance along that line, I suggest that you spend a bit more time with your spiritual advisors.”</p>

<p>“laying out your life like this is going to lead to one of two things: everything can go as planned and you just won’t enjoy your life because everything is so systematic, or everything won’t go as planned and this is the biggest waste of time in the world.”</p>

<p>So what’s the problem? You asked for advice - you got it.</p>

7

<p>“I love money.”
“Ultimate salary goal is 300k+. Ideally, 700k+.”
“It would be embarrassing for me to only have a job of ~100k when all my friends are doctors with incomes of 300k+.”</p>

<p>Seems like option three is where you want to go…</p>