We all make hundreds and thousands of decisions every day, but some decisions have more consequence than others, both financially, spiritually, metaphysically, etc. One of the biggest decisions I've ever made is where to go to law school.
At the time, I had narrowed my decisions down to 2: Washington University in St. Louis for a FULL RIDE, or go to USC for a 1/3 scholarship. Present value financially speaking, a slam dunk to go to Washu, it was 100,000 extra dollars over 3 years. That's a lot of money. But at the time, I had just turned 21, didn't really grasp the concept of such a financial commitment (I now appreciate the value of 100,000, especially if it's increased through compound interest)
The scholarship amount also seemed a little fishy, like it was too good to be true, or some sort of trap. I had this confused notion as a newly minted 21 year old that i would have to pay all that scholarship back somebody anyway when I made it big and thereafter paid back all the scholarship money as a show of appreciation ( I know, not very logical) so I thought the money issue wasn't that big of a deal, and many law school advice books suggested "going to the best school you get in." USC was a few spots ahead in the rankings and better suited geographically, plus in a better city with a defined market with ample alumni connections. I was "sold" (probably a poor choice of words).
To make a long story short, I went to USC, and my personal history changed irrevocably. One of the few ways to judge how significant a decision is would be to see how irrevocable it was, like if I watch Superman movie instead of Batman movie tonight, I can easily reverse the decision by watching batman the next time and I'd be right back where I was before the decision. The USC decision can't be reversed: I can recover that 100,000 plus dollars (eventually, hopefully) but I can never recover the chance of going to WashU l, making innumerable memories, living debt free, possibly becoming a Cardinals baseball fan, etc. who knows. Luckily for me though the path I did take turned out really well: I met an ubforgettable group of friends and connections through law school, acclimated myself to one of the best cities in the world, stayed near my family, took up basically what I feel is my life's calling in dodgeball, and met the woman of my dreams (eventually). There's little to regret/revocate from those standpoints, just the money.
Anyway, the lesson here is for any kids out there (or if I could go back and make the same decision again) , when choosing between schools, the scholarship money IS a substantial factor especially at the escalating cost of tuition nowadays, and it is a very significant decision that effects a lot of what you do in the future, but it's not the k my decision. I would make the same decision again if I had to do it all over again.
And oh yea I should have bought Netflix stock today, the stock was down (along with the entire stock market) but then went up 20% in after hours trading (20%!!!!!! That means for every share you bought you gained $20 dollars today cuz it traded at $100! Geez what a buying opportunity. Shoulda, woulda, coulda known all those hyped Netflix shows like Stranger Things would give it a big sales bump). Money......it's fickle, and it's tiring chasing after it, get that scholarship money! Lol.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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