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Can you give me an example of a horror story? I'd be horrified if I graduated undergrad with 40k+ in student loans, a 2.5 degree in Women's Studies, no grad school or any job offers...
I don't think it's a horror story because it was all completely preventable-> she chose her major, she chose not to study enough or get enough help from TA's & professors or to change majors early enough to not bomb her GPA, she chooses to be stubborn and unrealistic about career opportunities & grad school.
A college "horror story" is having a parent lose his/her job and having to withdraw or take out debilitating loans to continue & finish school. A "horror story" is a college shutting down your department / major when you're a rising senior, causing you to pick another major and spend an extra year in school to graduate (yes, this happens. My college shut down the journalism degree & many classmates I knew ended up spending 5-5.5 years to get BA after picking a new major). These are truly horrible things as they're un-preventable and unplanned. Big differends from your friend.
Making bad grades and being unrealistic about life post-college is not a "horror", but some combination of laziness, immaturity, lack of planning and research, etc.
Funny thing about reading this thread and the angst re: grades. I went back to school to study Physics. As an older student I knew that it was FAR more important to understand the material conceptually than it was simply to get the homework done with high scores, or to ace tests, when it was done simply by memorizing. I focused on concepts and happened to remember the material months later when most of my classmates had simply memorized enough stuff in order to do well, but promptly forgot most everything once the class was done.
I got fed up with the way the teaching was going at University of Oregon, it was simply terrible, and I transferred to Oregon State U primarily because their physics department had changed their curriculum. About ten years ago they began testing their physics students at the start of the new term, in order to gauge how much of the subject matter they truly knew. What the administrators found was that instead of knowledge the students were completely confused. They couldn't remember concepts, the proper use of math, how to approach problems which depended on their overall knowledge of physics. They were graduating BS in Physics who basically were functionally illiterate in the subject, And these were folks who had in many cases excellent grades.
What it goes to show is that in many cases a lot of students know how to memorize just what they need for a class or a grade, but knew nothing of the material. Grades often aren't the best indicators of a person's overall knowledge of the material, if those grades are simply the artifact of a person's ability to remember things well. But simply remembering doesn't mean that you have an understanding of the subject matter. That is the worst horror story, that you are deep in debt, and don't know much if anything at all, that much of the time, you weren't challenged as a student, you had profs who knew that they weren't teaching worth a damn, but they couldn't do much about it because they had to spend the bulk of their time chasing after research grants, that you were only good for the school for the loans you generated for their banking beneficiaries, or for the college endowment's investment in Student Loan Asset Backed Securities, which was the main reason they kept raising tuition because they made money from your debt. Those are nightmare scenarios....
I knew a girl who got accepted to harvard, and she was working at radio shack, lol. Is that a horror story, or missed opportunity? I think she didn't go because of...family problems?
-Stories like that can get sad though. Person got accepted to X. Could of done something. But.....something got in the way. Like a fork in the road....I could have gone this way....or, I could have gone this way.
-The "horror stories" (lost opportunities) I know of were in middle school. Person x was bright. Could have gone onto stanford or berkley. He or she was "gifted".
But from grade 8 to 12, they fall through the cracks in highschool. And they end up a b student. And they go to a less prestigious college. I dont think theres nearly enough resources in middle school. It's a huge transition and can set students on different paths. But they get lost in the shuffle of 1,200 other kids.
-Also, people who are bright outside of the school system. You can be smart/genius in some category, but not do well in school.
Since when do grades equal intelligence? You do realize that Albert Einstein had so-so grades in his math and science classes and yet he was a genius...right? Not saying that she is as smart as Einstein but...
In 1895, he sat the entrance examinations to get into the prestigious Federal Polytechnic School (or Academy) in Zurich, Switzerland. He was 16, two years younger than his fellow applicants. He did outstandingly well in physics and mathematics, but failed the non-science subjects, doing especially badly in French - so he was not accepted. So in that same year, he continued his studies at the Canton school in Aargau (also called Aarau). He studied well, and this time, he passed the entry exams into the Federal Polytechnic School.
So the next year, he finally started studying at the Federal Polytechnic in Zurich (even though he was now one year younger than most of his fellow students). Also in the year 1896, even though he was only 16 years old, he wrote a brilliant essay that led directly to his later work in relativity.
So he definitely did not fail his high school, and definitely was not a poor student.
So how did the myth that he failed high school start?
Easy. In 1896, which was Einstein's last year at the school in Aargau, the school's system of marking was reversed.
A grading of "6", which had previously been the lowest mark, was now the highest mark. And so, a grading of "1", which had been the highest mark, was now the lowest mark.
And so, anybody looking up Einstein's grades would see that he had scored lots of grades around "1" - which under the new marking scheme, meant a "fail".
And that means that schoolkids can't use that mythconception as a crutch any more - they'll just have to work harder...
A college "horror story" is having a parent lose his/her job and having to withdraw or take out debilitating loans to continue & finish school. A "horror story" is a college shutting down your department / major when you're a rising senior, causing you to pick another major and spend an extra year in school to graduate (yes, this happens. My college shut down the journalism degree & many classmates I knew ended up spending 5-5.5 years to get BA after picking a new major). These are truly horrible things as they're un-preventable and unplanned. Big differends from your friend.
Making bad grades and being unrealistic about life post-college is not a "horror", but some combination of laziness, immaturity, lack of planning and research, etc.
I'd rep this if I could. There's a lot of brilliant students out there who are/were halfway through college and had the bottom fall out on them financially, particularly in the current economy and then had to either drop out entirely, transfer somewhere else (and lose most of their credits) or take out crazy amounts of private loans.
I loved philosophy but I had enough sense to make sure I majored in something more practical as well (biology). I didn't expect my philosophy degree to open a lot of doors for me jobwise, and aside from helping my reasoning/writing skills it mainly only serves the purpose of impressing people when I tell them I double majored.
GPA's don't mean crap. I'm a 6th grade drop out and I can guarantee you that I've made more money then you will ever see in your lifetime. I've always been able to generate 50K or more a day without an education. People who know how to make money never depend on anything or anyone else to make it for them.
busta
I don't know about 50k a day, but I do agree some people seem to have the "money making gene" and will find success one way or another regardless of their credentials. Then you have some poor guy with pristine credentials who can't find a job. Having the relentless drive to work is far more valuable than a bunch of degrees (not saying degrees are worthless though).
My husband is an executive and a major workaholic, the guy never stops working unless he's asleep or in the bathroom. His dad is a dishwasher but is the same way-- still working full time even though he's well into retirement age. It's like they don't know what to do with themselves unless they're working.
I don't think it's a horror story because it was all completely preventable-> she chose her major, she chose not to study enough or get enough help from TA's & professors or to change majors early enough to not bomb her GPA, she chooses to be stubborn and unrealistic about career opportunities & grad school.
A college "horror story" is having a parent lose his/her job and having to withdraw or take out debilitating loans to continue & finish school. A "horror story" is a college shutting down your department / major when you're a rising senior, causing you to pick another major and spend an extra year in school to graduate (yes, this happens. My college shut down the journalism degree & many classmates I knew ended up spending 5-5.5 years to get BA after picking a new major). These are truly horrible things as they're un-preventable and unplanned. Big differends from your friend.
Making bad grades and being unrealistic about life post-college is not a "horror", but some combination of laziness, immaturity, lack of planning and research, etc.
Funny enough, that's what happened in our family. Add that our daughter had to have major surgery during spring break of her senior year while carrying the load of taking four courses, teaching a course, along with two TA internship positions--one lab, one class. This while striving to get a 3.75 in two degrees in the Honors College, which she achieved. It took getting six additional A's over her initial degree program requirements, but she did it by taking intersession classes, going to summer school, and losing sleep in order to study.
Somehow we never realized that we were in the middle of a horror story. BTW, the surgery was not only unsuccessful, it left her in worse condition than before. Her attitude is that it is just what life sent her way and she will deal with it. She starts med school a week from today after a year-long lab job that she got from one of her summer internships. It will be stressful, but hopefully no horror story.
GPA's don't mean crap. I'm a 6th grade drop out and I can guarantee you that I've made more money then you will ever see in your lifetime. I've always been able to generate50K or more a day without an education. People who know how to make money never depend on anything or anyone else to make it for them.
busta
$50K a day? Do you mean $50K a year? Because 50K a day... if you worked for 50 weeks out of the year, 5 days a week would be 50*5*$50,000 = $12,500,000 (12.5 Million) a year.
Also I see from your profile that you are a home contractor.
I suppose this would be possible if you flip houses in a high priced area. Is this what you do? Just curious because I've never heard of anyone making this amount of money as a middle school drop out.
As a college graduate with a B.S. I make about $190,000 a year at age 25. I make this much because I planned out what I would major in, what school to go to, and which employers to look at before I went to college. Anyone in college could do what I did as long as they do their research. I'm not special.
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