How Life Became an Endless, Terrible Competition

[nosuchreality]

On a separate topic, maybe I'm just uneducated, but what is the purpose of pursuing a Harvard/Ivy degree so hard?  Does it pay better once you normalize for major and/or career path?  Do you get to relish in the prestige of this degree?  I'm curious what makes it so worthwhile to put every other aspect of your life - happiness, family life, childhood, personal fulfillment - on the back burner?

I was friends with the valedictorian of my graduating class and she went to Harvard.  She's now a doctor in the Bay Area.  Would she be any less of a doctor for not attending Harvard? 

The #2 student in our class was somebody that I was also friends with, and when we were graduating he started crying because he felt like a failure for only getting into Stanford.  He's now a lawyer in private practice.  Would his practice be any less successful if he had just relaxed and had some fun in high school?  You only get one childhood.

I think it depends if their Ivy degrees got them to where they were or could they have got to the same place with say a UC or CalState education.

From what I've heard, it's the Ivy network that can open doors for you that is not available to others.

For my field, it doesn't matter if I was Ivy educated or not, I would gamble that I could probably get away with no degree... but I can't know if my first few opportunities would have never happened without it.

IHO, I think this was more common for 40+ crowd.  Today, I think we have a much greater emphasis on certifications, credentials and degrees.  Look at the local public K-12 schools as example, if you don't have a doctorate, you're essential dead in the water to doing anything other than classroom teacher.

 

[Happiness]

Our education system for the last 100 years is very focused on creating 'employees' and not entrepreneurs.  Most that have succeeded going through the system are looking for their place in the system, not making something new in the system.

Therein lies the danger of over-education. Too much book learning provides a shortcut to innovation and tenacity. Because human nature will always seek the path of least resistance, an overeducated person will always fall back on something they read rather than come up with something new.

People should get real jobs after college. Once they become successful in their fields, then they can consider an advanced degree. Nothing is worth less that a doctorate and no real world success.

 

[srh563]

If you do what everyone else does you will have competition. So why do people follow a common path ?
I thing it what our education system "programs" us to do as well as our parents.

It is not hard to work 20hours a week and make a good living in OC but its not what our school system teaches you.

 

[usctrojancpa]

If people focused on finding an occupation that they are good at and have a passion for then what they do for a living will not feel like a job. If someone would have told me that I would have been a realtor 15 years ago I would have laughed in their face because I spent so much time and money on finishing grad school and getting my CPA but sometimes life has its own plans for you and I couldn't be any happier being a realtor.