Quote from: sneakersjay on September 08, 2008, 02:54:00 PM
I'll throw out the dissenting opinion. Personally I'd get the surgery now and finish school next semester. School will always be there. Why do people act like it's the only important thing in life? Getting surgery will help tremendously with your mental health (at least it has with me; I'm 11 days post hysto and while a bit sore, am on cloud nine!! And already back to work...).
And nobody other than grad school admissions people give a flip about your college grades. None of my employers ever asked for transcripts. I graduated, I have the degree, and while I did graduate in the top 10% of my class, I have classmates who graduated at the bottom who are far more financially successful than I am. Grades are NOT a predictor of success in life. And neither is college, btw.
My uncle, age 49, never went and was a B/C student in high school. He started a business selling info to cable companies which morphed into his own cable company. He sold it 8 years ago for >$5 million dollars and is retired. Also, a girl I grew up with went to art school, subsequently ended up in NYC where she and another person started a newspaper and subsequently sold it, also for millions of dollars and is retired. she's 46.
I, OTOH, have a doctorate, am gainfully employed and have good benefits, but still make far less than non-college grads in construction and the trades (the ones who own their businesses; not the laborers).
So... that's the end of my school rant. School is the biggest lie of all time. My kids have never set foot in a school.
/rant. Back to your regularly scheduled topic...
Jay
I have to agree with Jay on this one.
I graduate college in Dec 2005. We were all told the stats of how are salary potential would double that of a non college graduate. Well, here is what they don't teach you in college. Your major is the most important factor in your starting salary. Business majors fair better than liberal arts or other majors because let's face it, your not going to get into a management trainee position with a major in history or music.
I learned this the hard way. My major was health science with a concentration alternative medicine. I was all excited to graduate and I was sure that I would find a job and start making $30,000 a year to start. In college we were fed how much the healthcare industry is in need of workers and the industry would be short staff in the years to come. Well, reality is that the healthcare industry is short staff in nursing and MD's. They aren't short staff in supportive staff positions. These supportive staff positions such as Nurse's aid, medical assistant, pharmacy tech's, medical records clerks are all field by trade school graduates. They go to school for as little as 3 weeks to as long as 2 years.
Now, I on the other hand, have gone to trade school for a year plus college for 3 years. I'm now over qualified for these supportive medical staff. When I go on job interviews, I'm going after the same jobs that other trade school graduates go after and are much more willing to take a lesser salary than I. So, when I finally interview with a company and tell them I'm not willing to take a job less than $30,000 a year. They simply move on to the next person willing to take a job for $15,000 half of what I would take a job for. I have student loans to pay back. $15,000 is not a lot to survive off of when you live in a major city like I do and rent alone cost $800-$1000 month for a shack.
I ended up taking a merchandiser job where I make less than the cashier at Walmart make, really. I decided that I had to go back to school to get a marketable skill that requires more than a trade school education to obtain. I'm now working on my master degree majoring in Accounint and Finance. I hope to get my CPA so that the next time I go looking for work, I won't be told that I'm over qualified and the people going after the jobs I apply for must have at least an undergraduate degree in accounting or finance. By 2011 or 2012, in order to take the CPA exam, you must have a least a master degree in most states. This is good for me. At that time, it will eliminate everyone with just a bachelors degree looking to become accountants. I graduate in 2010 from graduate school and by then, I should be good to go on getting a good paying job.
So, if your in college, make sure your majoring in a field that is a marketable skill. It's hard out here in todays economy to obtain a decent job with decent pay without a marketable skill.
-JasmineG
