Did you pay your kids for grades or get paid as a kid?
- Thread starter funksouljon
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RTM58
How many kids in her AP classes? How many kids in the school, or her grade?
I think there are about 350 in her graduating class, each class is about equal. In her AP World History class? I'd guess about 20. Not sure if there's more than one AP World History class though.
Like Harvard of the South. There a ton of great schools not named Stanford.
I agree. Her goals, not mine. I've explained that there's more than one path to where she wants to be. She recognizes that the better the school though, the better the chances of getting into a top medical school, and if she graduates from a top medical school, then she has better professional opportunities.
Do they calc it like FSU and UF do? You know, with the Madison Avenue slight of hand.
I think it's a pretty standard calculation. Because of the bump you get for honors (0.5) and AP (1.0) you can get higher than a 4.0 GPA, even on a 4.0 scale. It's meant to correct other schools with weird grading systems. The kid's school uses a 4.3 GPA system. 4.3 is A+, 4.0 is A, 3.7 is B+, and so on. Then you factor in the bumps for certain classes. On her school's 4.3 scale, she's got a 4.24 as of now. She's just started taking AP courses though, which should cause her GPA to go up over the next couple of years - if she stays on pace.
Sounds like you got a great kid.
Thanks! I'm trying. It's hard though. This area has too many kids that commit suicide because (from what we can tell) they're never taught how to deal with adversity and/or failure. So, they go through school only seeing one path to "success" with anything else being seen as failure. When something happens - like a bad grade - that may throw them off that path, they're incapable of dealing with it and see they're whole life as being ruined already - while they're still in high school.
I imagine we spend more time talking about what to do if she has problems, dealing with stress, reaching out and talking to someone, etc, as we do talking about drugs, pregnancy, bullying, or anything else.
I think a lot of parents don't recognize the amount of stress these kids have been under since basically elementary school. There are a lot of kids in our district that have been in test prep summer camps every year since 5th grade! I felt like a loser dad because between 7th and 8th grade several of her friends took geometry over the summer so they could jump ahead in math - from 2 years ahead to 3 years ahead!
How many kids in her AP classes? How many kids in the school, or her grade?
I think there are about 350 in her graduating class, each class is about equal. In her AP World History class? I'd guess about 20. Not sure if there's more than one AP World History class though.
Like Harvard of the South. There a ton of great schools not named Stanford.
I agree. Her goals, not mine. I've explained that there's more than one path to where she wants to be. She recognizes that the better the school though, the better the chances of getting into a top medical school, and if she graduates from a top medical school, then she has better professional opportunities.
Do they calc it like FSU and UF do? You know, with the Madison Avenue slight of hand.
I think it's a pretty standard calculation. Because of the bump you get for honors (0.5) and AP (1.0) you can get higher than a 4.0 GPA, even on a 4.0 scale. It's meant to correct other schools with weird grading systems. The kid's school uses a 4.3 GPA system. 4.3 is A+, 4.0 is A, 3.7 is B+, and so on. Then you factor in the bumps for certain classes. On her school's 4.3 scale, she's got a 4.24 as of now. She's just started taking AP courses though, which should cause her GPA to go up over the next couple of years - if she stays on pace.
Sounds like you got a great kid.
Thanks! I'm trying. It's hard though. This area has too many kids that commit suicide because (from what we can tell) they're never taught how to deal with adversity and/or failure. So, they go through school only seeing one path to "success" with anything else being seen as failure. When something happens - like a bad grade - that may throw them off that path, they're incapable of dealing with it and see they're whole life as being ruined already - while they're still in high school.
I imagine we spend more time talking about what to do if she has problems, dealing with stress, reaching out and talking to someone, etc, as we do talking about drugs, pregnancy, bullying, or anything else.
I think a lot of parents don't recognize the amount of stress these kids have been under since basically elementary school. There are a lot of kids in our district that have been in test prep summer camps every year since 5th grade! I felt like a loser dad because between 7th and 8th grade several of her friends took geometry over the summer so they could jump ahead in math - from 2 years ahead to 3 years ahead!
You're killing me smalls...
So twenty kids in her AP class ,and if I remember correctly, probably the same 20 kids in all of the AP classes so 20/350=5.7%. I thinks it's fair to say most of those kids are busting their hump. I think when people talk about kids today being entitled and expecting everything to just be given to them, they are referencing the other say 80% of her classmates. In reality, probably only 20% to 30%.
By "do they calc it like FSU and UF do", I was referencing the acceptance rate? The Ivy's and the Ivy lights are just as skilled, probably more, as the state schools at showing themselves in their best light, ie academic scholarships vs athletic scholarships.
Had a girl in a couple of my classes in high school that would have a mental breakdown if she got an A-. She had a total freakin' meltdown in the middle of class. My goals weren't as lofty as hers, but my grades were good enough to gain access to the best damn football school in the south, well back then at least.
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I have no issue with the idea of bribing kids for good grades. With the first kid, I tried everything to get young Mr. Blutarsky to study....bribe, threaten, beg...nothing worked. The second kid was just driven and motivated. Used to wake up at 5 and find her sitting at the kitchen table studying.
The stats I could find show that 46% of the kids in her school take at least 1 AP course, including 16% participation in AP Math, and 17% in AP Science. I'm not sure how that relates to the bigger picture, but that's what I could find.
I don't know about colleges manipulating their acceptance rates. I know enough to look at what's on their sites and others like US News that show the number that applied, and the number that are accepted. If there's some gamesmanship built in there to make them look more exclusive, then I'm just not familiar.
The daughter had a friend who wasn't doing well in the AP History class and wanted to drop it, but her parents told her she couldn't so she''s freaking out about not getting a good grade in that class. That seems crazy to force a kid to stay in a class that she may not have been ready for. I guess all they know is the higher number of AP classes you have on your transcript, the better it makes your application look.
Wow, I had no idea that this was so common, and such large amounts. Surprised they never asked about it. Have a first year graduate student, first year Georgia Tech student, and a high school freshman, and as long as everyone is bragging on their kids, they have had one B ever between them (oldest in a college chemistry class). Who knows what I'd have been on the hook for.
It still doesn't track with me, but hearing the stories, it obviously can work and be a positive thing. Parenting is challenging enough, so to each his own, whatever works. I'm glad I guess that they didn't "need" to get paid to do well, but I get the concept that it imparts some immediate reward for all the hard work, instead of a nebulous "this will help you graduate with a better GPA, which will get you into a better college, that will result in better job opportunities so this is why this health class you're taking at 14 will eventually result in $20k more ten years from now." That seems like a nice thing. Just another part of a positive reinforcement cycle.
I would have been too concerned though with three kids. I was fairly certain my oldest was smart, but didn't count on the younger ones being as smart. Would not want to think about a scenario where the oldest cashed in on a couple grand in school, that the others couldn't. I guess you'd have to adjust goals to the kids' abilities? But is that fair to the others? I don't know...seems like it's definitely easier if you only have one.
I still feel like "getting the best grades your abilities allow" is just a baseline expectation in our family, like being respectful of parents, no hitting, etc. But again, every kid and situation is different.
I definitely agree that this generation is under way more pressure, both real and social pressure, to work hard and excel. The "lazy pampered kids" trope just makes no sense if you're around them, and the pressure they are put under to take and ace AP classes, put in all kinds of extra training and effort for any extra curricular activities, etc. It's just absurd, and it's not just for kids that have some shot to get a baseball scholarship or something. Want to wave a flag at halftime of the football game? Sure, mandatory two hour practices every night, competitions every weekend, and in August, two weeks of eight hour a day training camp. To spin a freaking flag.
You like robotics and want to join the robotics club? F-- you, unless you've been spending every summer at MIT "robot camp" since you were five, or your father is a NASA engineer putting in two hours a night with you. There's state robotics titles to win.
And yet, people will have you believe that's all offset because a kid got a participation trophy in tee ball. There are fewer more misguided tropes in the culture than that one.
It still doesn't track with me, but hearing the stories, it obviously can work and be a positive thing. Parenting is challenging enough, so to each his own, whatever works. I'm glad I guess that they didn't "need" to get paid to do well, but I get the concept that it imparts some immediate reward for all the hard work, instead of a nebulous "this will help you graduate with a better GPA, which will get you into a better college, that will result in better job opportunities so this is why this health class you're taking at 14 will eventually result in $20k more ten years from now." That seems like a nice thing. Just another part of a positive reinforcement cycle.
I would have been too concerned though with three kids. I was fairly certain my oldest was smart, but didn't count on the younger ones being as smart. Would not want to think about a scenario where the oldest cashed in on a couple grand in school, that the others couldn't. I guess you'd have to adjust goals to the kids' abilities? But is that fair to the others? I don't know...seems like it's definitely easier if you only have one.
I still feel like "getting the best grades your abilities allow" is just a baseline expectation in our family, like being respectful of parents, no hitting, etc. But again, every kid and situation is different.
I definitely agree that this generation is under way more pressure, both real and social pressure, to work hard and excel. The "lazy pampered kids" trope just makes no sense if you're around them, and the pressure they are put under to take and ace AP classes, put in all kinds of extra training and effort for any extra curricular activities, etc. It's just absurd, and it's not just for kids that have some shot to get a baseball scholarship or something. Want to wave a flag at halftime of the football game? Sure, mandatory two hour practices every night, competitions every weekend, and in August, two weeks of eight hour a day training camp. To spin a freaking flag.
You like robotics and want to join the robotics club? F-- you, unless you've been spending every summer at MIT "robot camp" since you were five, or your father is a NASA engineer putting in two hours a night with you. There's state robotics titles to win.
And yet, people will have you believe that's all offset because a kid got a participation trophy in tee ball. There are fewer more misguided tropes in the culture than that one.
I don't know about this either, it's impossible to know, but I've been told stories. My daughter got a massive come on from Tulane form the moment she took her PSAT, a really hard sell. Mentioned it to my sister, who stays way more on top of the college stuff, and she said Tulane had a reputation for that, for really pushing hard for a massive amount of applications from all around the country for the exact purpose of rejecting as many applications as possible.
Who knows if that's true, but that's the way it played out eventually, my daughter was eventually rejected, even being 75 points above the 75th percentile SAT. Maybe she just wasn't smart enough, and we also didn't visit or do any of the "indicate interest" stuff. And if I was them, I probably wouldn't "waste" acceptances on kids from ten hours away and no connections that didn't even bother to visit. But the whole "come on, come on, come on, please, come on...sorry" was definitely a unique experience compared every other school we've dealt with through two kids.
This is something that we're going to be making a big push for. I wonder if even the colleges that say they don't choose based on "demonstrated interest" don't still check to see if you've visited, emailed, called, etc just to see where you're at with them.
We've got plans to incorporate some of that into upcoming vacations over the next couple of years. We've mapped out a route that will allow us to hit most of the ivy league schools up and down the Northeast that she says she wants to apply to, and we've got another trip to the west coast that will let us see UCLA, USC, Cal and Stanford. I may try to get a third trip in to the Midwest to hit Notre Dame, Michigan, and Northwestern. We'll see how it goes. I want her to be able to visit as many campuses as possible so she can get a better idea of what's out there, and formulate her own preferences. She's been to eight different colleges so far, and we'll be able to check out College Station next week.
"I still feel like "getting the best grades your abilities allow" is just a baseline expectation in our family, like being respectful of parents, no hitting, etc."
I agree with this. And also this:
"I get the concept that it imparts some immediate reward for all the hard work, instead of a nebulous "this will help you graduate with a better GPA, which will get you into a better college, that will result in better job opportunities so this is why this health class you're taking at 14 will eventually result in $20k more ten years from now.""
It's been the expectation that she try as hard as she can: that school is her "job" for now. We wanted to start demonstrating to her that, like in a job, you get rewarded when you do well - the better you do, the bigger the reward. We were having a hard time with the abstract idea how her performance in a class in 7th grade could have an impact on the job she gets out of college 10 or 12 years down the road. So this gave her more immediate, tangible results and if she keeps stacking those up, then the downstream will take care of itself.
Yeah, they say everyone is "A"P these days.
I believe it goes something like this
10 kids apply
6 get accepted
1.8 (30%) enroll
18% Acceptance Rate
That seems mean spirited. Parents keeping up with the Joneses.
Drove thru McDonalds and order fries and a soda. We parked out front and watched the people walk in and out. I said they're always hiring if you don't want to study. It felt immediate and less nebulous. And, it only cost me $2.38.
Best part, your kid went with the awesome FREE SAT Prep.
A better football team would garner the same result.
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(Jeez, after pasting that in, I realized the reference might be too old for a lot of people...)
Did she negotiate for guaranteed money up front? You should always get guaranteed money before talking performance incentives. You never know when you could take a hit to the head and bye bye As and Bs.
(Jeez, after pasting that in, I realized the reference might be too old for a lot of people...)
Nice try old timer. You know she's a Bob Sugar kind of lass.
And I vaguely remember the show you linked. NOW I remember it. I didn't watch, but was aware. It wasn't that long ago. Hell, my reference was older! Junior.
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Maybe, maybe not. It can be a little trickier than that. It's possible for a student to become too focused on an "A".
For example, colleges look very closely at the choice of classes, we heard it again and again...does the student take a rigorous course load compared to what is offered. So a kid who goes to a school with 2 AP classes offered and takes 2 > a kid who goes to a school with 18 AP classes offered and takes 2.
So, if a kid has 12 AP classes, and wants to drop out of the 13th, no big deal. If you go to a school with three AP classes, and a kid has taken none or one, dropping that class so you're only taking 1 of 3 instead of 2 of 3 could reflect on the application...worse than getting a B when challenging yourself.
The other factor is...you could have an 89 or 90 in that class and want to drop because you might pull a B. What is your college prospect? Are you trying to reach so far in terms of admissions that a B vs an A in that class really affects your prospects? Because you have the exam credit to consider. Let's say I had a kid that could run a 3.6 GPA taking no AP classes, or a 3.0 taking 5 AP classes. That 3.6 isn't likely going to be good enough for a top level school, and almost certainly if it was put up with no APs. But if he takes the tests and does ok, he could shave a semester or more off of college. Could save a few bucks, or could allow them to have a more flexible schedule, take more electives, double major or minor, take a semester abroad, whatever.
No, if a kid is cutting themselves over the anxiety, then forget it. But if it's just stress over A vs B, the parents could have some logic behind it.
No, she's never had a Big Mac. I'm not sure if she's had McDonalds for anything other than breakfast before. Maybe she has, at the Air & Space museum or somewhere, but she'd have had the McNuggets, rather than a hamburger.But has she ever had a Big Mac?
It's a terrible idea in general. Carol Dweck's research and book "Mindset" are a staightforward starting point as to why it's such a bad idea.
Just read a synopsis of the theory. Very interesting. It makes some sense.
Not sure it applies here in the examples given by parents here exactly though (and that's from someone "against" the idea). It seems like the way it's being implemented here implies the opposite of what she warns about, the idea that abilities are fixed. Seems like paying for grade implies the very opposite, that people can achieve more. Why would you pay for grades if abilities were fixed?
That said, I could see how the practice could fall into the mindset trap if the emphasis was on a letter grade over learning, so for example a kid was taking an on-level class instead of an AP class to make sure they cashed in $100. So I guess I could see where you're coming from, but I don't think that's what's happening with the fuller description people are giving of their system.
While I wouldn't do this, I was reminded by my youngest recently that I did tell my kids that if they got a completely full ride somewhere, I would buy them a car (of my choice, not theirs). Zero for two on that one, my oldest had a full ride+ offer to Valdosta State but didn't take it.
The economics of it make sense, but in practice I would rescind my offer if they wanted to use it to go to a worse school that they didn't want to really like, for a car. The idea was more that if choosing between two roughly equal institutions they liked, it would encourage the wise financial decision over "but I like the color of the dorm walls" or something. But choosing a $20k car in exchange for a worse education and a school they'd be less likely to thrive in is pretty much the opposite of a wise choice.
The economics of it make sense, but in practice I would rescind my offer if they wanted to use it to go to a worse school that they didn't want to really like, for a car. The idea was more that if choosing between two roughly equal institutions they liked, it would encourage the wise financial decision over "but I like the color of the dorm walls" or something. But choosing a $20k car in exchange for a worse education and a school they'd be less likely to thrive in is pretty much the opposite of a wise choice.
@Nole Lou , thats exactly why I was curious what people are doing. It is something I had thought about, but tend to be on the "not a fan side" but I definitely get both sides. I worked all through HS, I could have done better, but had my own money so $25 wasn't going to be worth it. ROI, I could easily pick up another shift at work.
I do see the ROI on the position of "if you get a full ride, I will buy you a graduation car". And to NDR's perspective, he is just making short-term payments to try and ensure the long term, which culminates in a car! It all about cars I guess.
I will look at the linked book @NoleMoreTears
I do see the ROI on the position of "if you get a full ride, I will buy you a graduation car". And to NDR's perspective, he is just making short-term payments to try and ensure the long term, which culminates in a car! It all about cars I guess.
I will look at the linked book @NoleMoreTears
Thanks for checking. The issue is that most young people and parents will receive/convey the message that the worth is simply about the result.
But you make a good point that I didn't consider. So I stand corrected, it could be a feasible strategy.
I'm sure you already know this, but just one piece of unsolicited advice, from reading all your posts about your daughter.
What she's done is super, super impressive, and I applaud you for all your efforts going down the path with her. My kids have done ok, but we definitely didn't engage that strongly (even though it felt like it was consuming at times). But my sister has been full on, hardcore admissions parent, so I get a lot of feedback from her, as well as my kids' friends in a really high achieving high school.
It's EXTREMELY important that your daughter is setting up expectations that don't crush her. The type of schools she's chasing right now, on top of everything else, there's almost a lottery element. As you or someone else mentioned, those schools are turning away 1600 SAT kids with 18 AP scores, etc. When you get into that echelon of school, perfect stats, team captains, club presidents...that's just giving you the chance to pull a lottery ticket. There's no "if I can do this, I WILL get in." Like, you pretty much know if you pull a 1570 SAT and have a 4.5 GPA, you WILL get into FSU. There's nothing like that though with elite schools.
Those IVY level schools are picking from ALL kids like that, so they're picking the ones with 1570/4.5...AND have been homeless since they were 11. Or AND are a refugee. Or AND are HIV positive. Or AND started a foundation that has bought clean drinking water to 200,000 people in Africa. Or AND created an app and sold it for eight figures. Etc. Now, they're picking some kids from the "normal smart kids pool", but it's a total crapshoot. There is no "good enough."
That's a tough thing for a kid to deal with, and it really doesn't line up with anything else...you can do EVERYTHING, and still not, probably not, have the reward.
I just hear about so many kids spending so many years committed to it (and their parents), and they get totally stonewalled. Most of them do. My daughter knows a girl at Georgia Tech who went that route, and got blanked by all of Stanford/Ivy/ND, and Georgia Tech was her "safety school". And she was sour and bitter as hell at "having to go to Georgia Tech." Well...ok...but Georgia Tech (or Georgia, or FSU, or whatever) is still a perfectly fine school, and it's pretty terrible to go into it hating every second about having to go there like you were sentenced to it. Especially at a school that while not elite, is still going to demand a good amount from you, so you should have your head straight.
Another person my sister knows, he had everything...perfect ACT, perfect GPA, some blog with half a million readers, etc. He got blanked from like 14 elite schools, except NYU eventually took him off the waitlist. And so his parents are sending him to NYU for like $90K a year in loans, instead of normal good southern state universities for nothing, because there was no way after that that they could say no. He was ready to throw himself off a bridge over it (slight exageration, MAYBE). There were probably hundreds of kids accepted to those schools that he stacked up to, but he lost the crapshoot.
I know there's no way you're putting all the eggs in the elite basket, but it's also important she's not putting all her emotional eggs in one basket either. It's one thing to say "Yeah if I don't make it I'll go to the state school and it's fine", but you also have to mean it. Visiting mid range schools too. Looking at the positives there. Talking about what they would do if they went there, what's great about those schools. Trying not to make it all "if I had to" for those schools. Even acting like you'd be fine if they CHOSE one of those schools.
And I don't even know if finances play a part in it, or if you have the cash to pay or are willing to take out loans. Because that's a whole other factor of "Accepted but holy crap this is going to cost a quarter million dollars" at places like Notre Dame or Northwestern that are just sub-ivy.
I'm sure you know this and are dealing with it, but I just have a small piece of my mind every time I read about how awesome your kid is doing and how much you are doing to support her that says "That is awesome, and she's probably not going to get into any of those just because most people don't. But also, she might." Which is perfectly ok, that's the game, as long as everyone knows the rules. I mean, even if kids don't get in, think about how much they learn and gain by achieving what they do (including probably great scholarships to "merely good" schools), and as long as they can look at it, that's great. My daughter came to talk to me about Harvard, and we went through the same discussion, and I said I thought she was smart enough, and if she wanted to go for it I would do everything within our power and finances to support it, as long as she knew the playing field. Made here read some decision threads for Harvard, Stanford, etc on college confidential and see what kind of kids were getting in, or more importantly being rejected. Unlike your daughter (credit to your daughter), my daughter decided pretty quickly she wasn't willing to put in that kind of effort and would rather direct it to a school she felt reasonably confident she could control her own destiny, she's ambitious, but that just fit her personality more. She took a couple fliers on pretty good schools (wait listed and denied by Vandy) but she never went all in on that.
So anyway, off my soapbox, and enough of my two cents you didn't need.
I think it would be a better use of money to save the Ivy leagues for law, business or med school.
Nobody cares if you go to Harvard for undergrad then FSU for law school, but if you can go to FSU then to Harvard Law lots of opportunities will open up for you.
Nobody cares if you go to Harvard for undergrad then FSU for law school, but if you can go to FSU then to Harvard Law lots of opportunities will open up for you.
I appreciate it, and I wholeheartedly agree with you! I think it's great that she's got these goals, and I'm doing everything I can to help her get there. But you;re right - in the end it comes down to whatever might be able to make her story stand out vs a lot of the other stories you see get accepted. Like it or not she didn't float over on a raft as an orphan, or escape some kind of civil war. We can help her to build the best story that she can, but it's going to be her story and it may or may not be as interesting as some of the others out there. And unfortunately, we don't have the cash on hand to donate a new dorm or science building, so she's going to have to get in on merit. And you're right - there's going to be a lot of luck involved with getting in. I think the interview may help her, so we're going to help her get as ready as possible for those. But it's still going to be somewhat of a crapshoot.
I've tried to be clear with her that there are multiple paths to the same goal, and that if she were to fall short of getting into Yale, and "only" end up getting into UVA or Notre Dame or somewhere, then that's still WAYYYYY better than I did, or that most people are able to do. And that a big part of this is going to be finding the college that she likes, in the area that she likes, with the atmosphere and everything that makes her feel like she can be successful. We don't know yet which one that'll be - maybe one she hasn't eve considered yet. We're going to help her see as many different colleges as we can though.
We also talked about the value of having someone else pay for your college - even if it's not the ivy league school - vs paying for it yourself. She seemed to really understand the value of not laying out $200k for college, or taking out al those student loans, vs getting out of school debt free. Like Rocky said - the med school you go to is way more important than the undergrad. I have a nephew that took a lacrosse scholarship to some really small school in Florida (I don't know the name), did well, and still got into Georgetown medical school, which seems to be pretty decent.
I've told her that our job is to open as many doors to her as we possibly can, so that she can pick whatever door she wants to go through, and never have anyone tell her that she can't do something that she's earned the right to do. For now, that includes trying to do what we can to help her get into an ivy league school if that's what she wants, while also helping her to understand that there are a bunch of good schools that she could get into, any one of which would end up making her happy and successful.
I definitely appreciate your input though - and that of others. We've just got the one kid - so I have no idea what I'm doing as I go along, and I don't have another one to try again on if I screw this one up!
Awesome, I'm sure it will work out (although ND isn't a shoe in either LOL).
When my daughter was picking her graduate school, she got accepted to a much more attractive school and a much less attractive one. No aid from any of them - aid for masters is not common in her major, nor is there any great gravitas to where you go...just got to get the certificate. She had to finance with loans...our deal was that they'd get through undergrad loan free, but grad school was on them (three kids will do that to you). It was the difference between $60k+ in loans for two years of school vs $20k. The thing that did it was screen-shotting the payment of $750/month for 10 years vs $350 for five years set her mind pretty quickly.
Of course, being a couple years away from the workforce and actually picturing having to start making that nut is a lot different perspective than a 15 year old. Those are just numbers to 15 year old...there's just no way to make them have impact, and I've tried. But when they go off to graduate school and have to see what things really cost, and the difference between a $950 apartment and a $1700 apartment or a $250 car payment vs $400... things start to come into focus really quickly LOL.
Some kids are natural students and others are not. This doesn't mean the students not natural are failures.
Pedigree and grades don't mean everything unless you want to be a Wall Street Investment Banker or NY corporate lawyer etc.
Neighbor of mine went to FSU back in the 80s and said his sole goal was to graduate, because he wanted to go into sales, and all he needed was a college degree and achieve a 2.0 in business.= He killed it in sales and probably makes 3x or 4x or more my salary with a house on lake while I have an MBA and undergrad in STEM but work as a low level manager.
College roommate was a hotel/restaurant major at FSU and was making 150K as a GM for a restaurant back in the 1990s. He had a crap GPA.
Best friend struggled to get through college, maybe 5 years, made little money for many years after graduation. Now an insurance agent makes 3x or 4x what I am making. Nice house on a lake too. His own boss. Works maybe 6 hours a day today with all the vacation he wants
My oldest graduated summa cum laude from FSU but pursued his dream that will not make him rich.
My middle, senior at UF, is my hippie child who I can see joining the Peace Corps. She will be happy with that.
My youngest once told me "I don't study books, I study people", and he did not get into FSU, but attends TCU and will hopefully xfer. I suspect he will do far better than most with a great GPA from a good school.
The guy who fixes my AC and my ACs on my rental properties makes good money, sets his schedule, controls his life and likely make more than many who work at my IT company.
Pedigree and grades don't mean everything unless you want to be a Wall Street Investment Banker or NY corporate lawyer etc.
Neighbor of mine went to FSU back in the 80s and said his sole goal was to graduate, because he wanted to go into sales, and all he needed was a college degree and achieve a 2.0 in business.= He killed it in sales and probably makes 3x or 4x or more my salary with a house on lake while I have an MBA and undergrad in STEM but work as a low level manager.
College roommate was a hotel/restaurant major at FSU and was making 150K as a GM for a restaurant back in the 1990s. He had a crap GPA.
Best friend struggled to get through college, maybe 5 years, made little money for many years after graduation. Now an insurance agent makes 3x or 4x what I am making. Nice house on a lake too. His own boss. Works maybe 6 hours a day today with all the vacation he wants
My oldest graduated summa cum laude from FSU but pursued his dream that will not make him rich.
My middle, senior at UF, is my hippie child who I can see joining the Peace Corps. She will be happy with that.
My youngest once told me "I don't study books, I study people", and he did not get into FSU, but attends TCU and will hopefully xfer. I suspect he will do far better than most with a great GPA from a good school.
The guy who fixes my AC and my ACs on my rental properties makes good money, sets his schedule, controls his life and likely make more than many who work at my IT company.
