<p>Everyone here seems to be very adamt about being admitted to a top school.. once you get in and experience all that you want from a school, what do you plan to do afterwards?</p>
<p>journalist. move back to nyc. enjoy my life and no longer stress about "tomorrow's test". actually do things that are important.</p>
<p>Interesting thread, blairt. I like. :) Don't forget to post, yourself.
I would like to go to Oxbridge--preferably Oxford for undergrad and Cambridge for graduate. I would like to study either child psychiatry or law, and write novels on the side. I'm not quite sure from there. If somehow I make a lot of money, I would really like to start a school (I have been coming up with plans for this "school" since the approximate age of four).
I can dream, can't I? :D</p>
<p>Your post made me smile, Msu. I'm leaving CC right now for a last brush through of notes for tomorrow's test.</p>
<p>haha me too! good luck on yours!</p>
<p>Reform the public education system. Period. I will not be happy unless I wake up people up about the confinements that public school education imposes on its subjects. Would like to make more kids aware of opportunities available at boarding school. Set up a web site not unlike current online education sites but make it free (preferably financed by government) and available to any US (Hmm.. maybe everyone?) citizen. Degrees should be completely legit and respectable. Students of any age may take the courses, which would vary greatly (pre-algebra to existentialism to masters in economics, etc.). Smart kids limited by course offerings will be able to explore interests. Also - elementry students would learn to reallllly love school at a young age and we would keep it that way (watch the documentary A Touch Of Greatness, where a 2nd grade teacher manages to get students interested in Shakespeare.. all of the students who had him as a teacher became successful and seemingly happy) by engaging them and whatnot.</p>
<p>Somehow (this is much more ambitious): teach ethicality and morality to American kids because there really isn't much character building, etc. these days.</p>
<p>Major in philosophy at a college where kids are actually happy and not overachievers.
Write memoir. Live in southern France for a while (or other country in Mediterranean) and paint and write poetry and philsophize all day.</p>
<p>Horseback ride, sail, play tennis, read, surf, swim, etc. until I die.</p>
<p>Then return to alma mater and teach whatever subject I end up pursuing most (philosophy/english/French/science/art)..</p>
<p>theres more.</p>
<p>oh jeez. thats a lot! but it sounds great.
I plan to travel as well and I was thinking about staying somewhere in Europe for a while.
any colleges in mind?</p>
<p>Those are some amazing ambitions, blairt. I very much hope you achieve them. Founding a school is now sounding much easier. :D</p>
<p>oh yes traveling. but not just traveling.. i want to live in each place for an extended period of time (somewhat unrealistic.. this is the only reason i would want extra money.. so i want a job that pays for travel and permits employees to choose where they travel to some degreee.. ).</p>
<p>I want to go to Yale and major in Psychology or English and later write a book and become a teacher, but I won't make the school. :)</p>
<p>I'd like to go to Georgetown and major in Political Science, or go to the SFS and major in International Relations.</p>
<p>I will go to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and double major in Mathematics (or Physics) and Economics. Then, I will go to The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania and double major in Finance and Entrepreneurial Management. </p>
<p>Am I ambitious? Yes. But insane is a better word. :D</p>
<p>Blair - the documentary you mention is a "must see". I really enjoyed it. I have an elementary school aged child who was fortunate enough to have a similar teacher last year. It was amazing watching my child blossom. This year is a bit of a let down in comparison but he did learn life long lessons from last year's teacher that he'll always carry with him.</p>
<p>My son wants to make lots of money......:)
(maybe he'll take care of his parents in their old age...)</p>
<p>I want to go to some top college (maybe in Europe) and end up a CEO...become a billionaire...move to Germany or France, and live my life happily, raising trilingual, or maybe quadlingual kids...(German, French, Italian, English...)</p>
<p>Blairt & prettyckitty ..when I become a CEO, I'd be glad to help fund your great ideas :)
(We can discuss the details later ....)</p>
<p>ChaosTheory, your ideas for MIT/Wharton education to prepare you for business world are not as far fetched as you might imagine. I used to work for a big investment bank and currently work for a hedge fund. Just like qualified applicants for prep school, there are some amazing kids coming out of undergrad/grad school into the business world. The educaction they have obtained and the resumes they have built are often not that far off from what you describe. My recommendation - do math/engineering at MIT, don't bother with grad school, you will do great in today's finance world.</p>
<p>Those are encouraging words, biffgnar. </p>
<p>Are there any significant "advantages" if one goes to Business School after undergraduate studies? What is the average retirement age for people who follow this path? </p>
<p>I'd like to go back to MIT after I retire and get a Ph.D. in Mathematics. :D
Ah, dreams, dreams.</p>
<p>B School question depends on exactly what you want to do in business world. Investment bankers typically do get their MBAs, although generally they would work for a few years as an analyst after undergrad then go back to B School. In a trading or sales seat very common for people to only have undergrad. My group was a derivative structuring group and very rarely did we hire MBAs. Almost always math and engineering kids straight out of undergrad who worked hard and got real experience on the desk.</p>
<p>Retirement question sort of depends on what you mean by retirement. A lot of the people with the personalities to be successful in the business world are not those to ever really stop working. Moving to Florida and playing golf every afternoon not really their thing. That being said, in the bank/broker dealer world ("sell side") if you are 40 on a trading floor you are probably one of the oldest people around and are probably only still around because you are doing real well and moving up in management. Time and energy commitment in that world can be very significant and most people at some point decide they need a change. I know people who have made significant changes (say, becoming high school teachers or starting their own charities/foundations), but a lot of people will move to investment management companies/hedge funds ("buy side"). Not that they don't work hard in those seats, but it is a lot different working for a large institution (in my case, an investment bank with approx. 25,000 employees globally) and a smaller buy side shop (again in my case, a hedge fund with one office and 100 employees), in particular if you can be your own boss in that buy side seat. Whatever change you chose to make though depends on your lifestyle and how much is "enough". That is definitely different for different people and you may find that your appetites can change over time as lifestyle changes. It has been said that you never realize how poor you are until you make a little money.</p>
<p>I see. Thank you very much for the information. I will keep it in mind. I appreciate the effort and time you spend to answer my questions. </p>
<p>I have more questions. :D</p>
<p>What are the advantages of choosing mathematics for an undergraduate major? How much of mathematics is actually applied in the business world? Or, would a double major in Economics and unrelated topic, Physics for example, be sufficient?</p>
<p>Depends what you want to do. If you want to be an investment banker then finance skills are what you need. Trading markets though these days are driven more and more by mathmatical and statistical analysis. As I said above, in my derivatives group some of the best kids I had on the desk were EE majors with 5.0s from MIT. At the hedge fund I currently work at there are a bunch of math PHDs. They actually were here a few months ago filming scenes for an independent movie about the International Math Olympiad because there are so many people here who had participated and they were doing a bit of a "where are they now" sort of thing. I am personally not a huge fan of pure econ. There are definitely jobs out there that focus on that, but I think the markets that are fun and where you can make a lot of money may be a bit less efficient and a bit more of the wild west than where economists feel comfortable.</p>