What was the point?
I was putting together my bookshelf when I came across one of my old college texts, "Intermediate Microeconomics". I opened it. Esoteric notations. Strange math concepts. Didn't understand it and never really did.
Then I thought of the textbooks my coworkers have shown me. Without exception, all my coworkers came from regional or obscure colleges, ASU being the most popular. Their books were, to put it plainly, easy.
Yet look at us now. We're all doing the same job in the same company. We're all making the same salary, living the same lives, buying the same things. My coworkers, who were all finance or accounting majors, had a more practical education than I did. They can invest in stocks and know what they're doing. I don't.
And while they were enjoying their four years of college, having fun and partying, what do I have to show for mine? Unless I planned on becoming a graduate student and going into research, which I knew was never for me, there was absolutely no point in going to a "good school". Our alumni network is nonexistent, which doesn't help me in my job search. I work for a Fortune 100 company which mostly recruits in local schools. The only thing I can cling onto is a tiny sliver of prestige. Prestige has no inherent worth, and I doubt I believe in it enough to make it worthwhile.
I suffered through Berkeley with the thought that it would mean something in the end. But now that I look back on it, I have to say...
It probably didn't.
Then I thought of the textbooks my coworkers have shown me. Without exception, all my coworkers came from regional or obscure colleges, ASU being the most popular. Their books were, to put it plainly, easy.
Yet look at us now. We're all doing the same job in the same company. We're all making the same salary, living the same lives, buying the same things. My coworkers, who were all finance or accounting majors, had a more practical education than I did. They can invest in stocks and know what they're doing. I don't.
And while they were enjoying their four years of college, having fun and partying, what do I have to show for mine? Unless I planned on becoming a graduate student and going into research, which I knew was never for me, there was absolutely no point in going to a "good school". Our alumni network is nonexistent, which doesn't help me in my job search. I work for a Fortune 100 company which mostly recruits in local schools. The only thing I can cling onto is a tiny sliver of prestige. Prestige has no inherent worth, and I doubt I believe in it enough to make it worthwhile.
I suffered through Berkeley with the thought that it would mean something in the end. But now that I look back on it, I have to say...
It probably didn't.