In what aspect of life are you best a cheapskate (aka summoning your inner Dave Ramsey thread)?
Comments
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No car payments / own a vehicle for 10 + yearsOur airbnb was right up the little street in that gap between the buildings center right, directly across from the Duomo baptistery
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F.O. Row Peter Puffer, you left...
After a little forensic research, I'm almost certain we stayed at the Hotel Villa Elda, just up the hill from St. Catherine's. Was like $120 per night, breakfast was gigantic and amazing, house wines were great, and it had a rooftop terrace with great views. The best part was then when we got there, the receptionist said, "When we saw you were American, we gave you the garden house because it has the best air conditioning." Apparently we?'re notoriously bitchy people, so we've got that going for us. Anyway, this room was its own building right on the ground floor garden, so we had a ton of privacy and space. Huge bang/$.BearsWiin said:Our airbnb was right up the little street in that gap between the buildings center right, directly across from the Duomo baptistery
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F.O. Row Peter Puffer, you left...
Was this you and the Mrs?1to392831weretaken said:
After a little forensic research, I'm almost certain we stayed at the Hotel Villa Elda, just up the hill from St. Catherine's. Was like $120 per night, breakfast was gigantic and amazing, house wines were great, and it had a rooftop terrace with great views. The best part was then when we got there, the receptionist said, "When we saw you were American, we gave you the garden house because it has the best air conditioning." Apparently we?'re notoriously bitchy people, so we've got that going for us. Anyway, this room was its own building right on the ground floor garden, so we had a ton of privacy and space. Huge bang/$.BearsWiin said:Our airbnb was right up the little street in that gap between the buildings center right, directly across from the Duomo baptistery
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F.O. Row Peter Puffer, you left...
I know the pub. We sat there and drank as well. We missed the Palio I think by a day. The winning district was still parading around town, but I think they do that for a week or so.1to392831weretaken said:Palio is like the running of the bulls only in Siena, and it's a horse race. One of those things that only happens in one place. Apparently Siena is a competitive place, and the 17 city districts used to settle who was tuffest once per year with a brawl in town square. Then it was bullfights. When bullfighting was outlawed, it turned to horse races. First modern Palio was in 1633, and they've been doing it twice per year (sometimes three on special occasions) ever since.
If you ever go to Siena, you want to be there during Palio, as every district has its own colors and banner, and EVERYONE is flying their colors. The streets toward the city center are all narrow, and it's awesome walking through the sea of colors:
Through some preliminary competitions that I'm not sure about, the 17 competing districts are whittled down to 10 that will compete in the race. Piazza del Campo, the central town square, is cleared out, covered in a thick layer of dirt, and mattresses and whatnot are put up around the outside to protect jockeys who fly off their horses (happens all the time, apparently). The race is bareback, three laps around the square, lasts about 90 seconds, and the jockey (being your district's jockey is a huge honor) who wins has to fight his way through an army of vagina for the rest of his life. It's tough.
Anyway, with the horses running around the outside of the square, the crowd actually packs into the middle. Or pays BIG dollars to sit in the balcony of one of the pubs or restaurants or whatnot around the square:
Upper right corner of that picture, there are three connected buildings. The one in the middle is a bit darker than the other two. In the lower two floors of that building is a pub. The very first thing we did when we got off the train (Rick Steves can suck my dong for recommending the trains, btw...) was walk all the way through town to that pub, sit on that balcony there with a Guinness, watch a whole bunch of construction activity, and wonder what the hell was going on and why there were banners hanging everywhere. We would have needed a to take out a second mortgage to sit in those same seats three days later. -
F.O. Row Peter Puffer, you left...
WOOD!creepycoug said:
Was this you and the Mrs?1to392831weretaken said:
After a little forensic research, I'm almost certain we stayed at the Hotel Villa Elda, just up the hill from St. Catherine's. Was like $120 per night, breakfast was gigantic and amazing, house wines were great, and it had a rooftop terrace with great views. The best part was then when we got there, the receptionist said, "When we saw you were American, we gave you the garden house because it has the best air conditioning." Apparently we?'re notoriously bitchy people, so we've got that going for us. Anyway, this room was its own building right on the ground floor garden, so we had a ton of privacy and space. Huge bang/$.BearsWiin said:Our airbnb was right up the little street in that gap between the buildings center right, directly across from the Duomo baptistery
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I hade zero to one offspring total (i.e., avoided Grumble's Malthusian condition)HoustonHusky said:
Fit several of these, but there needs to be a corollary thread on this...what’s the one thing you do that would make Dave Ramsey cringe in fear.
Mine is that eat out a some (it’s the Texas way), and when I do I’m a big believer in tipping REALLY well at my regular hole-in-the-wall spots so that when I show up they take really good care of me.
Well, that and my 4 year benders every 2 weeks... -
No car payments / own a vehicle for 10 + years
Friendly reminder to your daughter that quants make at least 10x more than teachers.creepycoug said:The main indulgence, however, was college for three kids. We paid for them to go where they got in and wanted to go and didn't insist on an in-state ROI discussions and all that. One kid got into UW honors college and wound up going to the most expensive school of her choices. That has entailed sacrifice. In one case, did it benefit the kid really? No, I don't think so. In another, it was clearly a good investment. And I think in this last one, it will prove to have been, but that story isn't entirely yet written.
I have drawn the line. The oldest came out talking about law school, and I figured she'd profile for one of the NW privates or public OOS, and I don't think her toolkit sets her up to be good lawyer. I told her that while both her sisters were in private college that there wasn't an extra $40k / yr. in the budget for her, so she'd have to borrow, and that I thought it was a risk for her at that time in her life. She needed to live a little off the family tit. She'd be ready for it now, but I think that moment has passed.
The second got into fully funded PhD programs in math and decided beyond the last minute she wanted a masters and will "think about a PhD". Masters are typically not funded. She miraculously found one that is close to fully funded, and we're helping with rent but I made her borrow a small amount for the balance. She's one who gets these opportunities people dream about and tends to take them for granted, so I thought she needed some skin in the game going forward.
The last one wants to get her PhD and be a practicing clinician. We shall see where that goes. Talking about a PhD is fun. Getting one is another matter. -
F.O. Row Peter Puffer, you left...
She actually wants to go to industry ... the question is whether it will help her to have the PhD or if it's overkill. She has a nice internship in Cambridge this summer, which will be her first real work experience outside of academic research. If I had to guess, she'll move on to the PhD. IDC because those are paid by the school.Sources said:
Friendly reminder to your daughter that quants make at least 10x more than teachers.creepycoug said:The main indulgence, however, was college for three kids. We paid for them to go where they got in and wanted to go and didn't insist on an in-state ROI discussions and all that. One kid got into UW honors college and wound up going to the most expensive school of her choices. That has entailed sacrifice. In one case, did it benefit the kid really? No, I don't think so. In another, it was clearly a good investment. And I think in this last one, it will prove to have been, but that story isn't entirely yet written.
I have drawn the line. The oldest came out talking about law school, and I figured she'd profile for one of the NW privates or public OOS, and I don't think her toolkit sets her up to be good lawyer. I told her that while both her sisters were in private college that there wasn't an extra $40k / yr. in the budget for her, so she'd have to borrow, and that I thought it was a risk for her at that time in her life. She needed to live a little off the family tit. She'd be ready for it now, but I think that moment has passed.
The second got into fully funded PhD programs in math and decided beyond the last minute she wanted a masters and will "think about a PhD". Masters are typically not funded. She miraculously found one that is close to fully funded, and we're helping with rent but I made her borrow a small amount for the balance. She's one who gets these opportunities people dream about and tends to take them for granted, so I thought she needed some skin in the game going forward.
The last one wants to get her PhD and be a practicing clinician. We shall see where that goes. Talking about a PhD is fun. Getting one is another matter. -
No car payments / own a vehicle for 10 + years
Interesting. What do math students (sans PhD) do these days besides teach? Big data/ information systems?creepycoug said:
She actually wants to go to industry ... the question is whether it will help her to have the PhD or if it's overkill. She has a nice internship in Cambridge this summer, which will be her first real work experience outside of academic research. If I had to guess, she'll move on to the PhD. IDC because those are paid by the school.Sources said:
Friendly reminder to your daughter that quants make at least 10x more than teachers.creepycoug said:The main indulgence, however, was college for three kids. We paid for them to go where they got in and wanted to go and didn't insist on an in-state ROI discussions and all that. One kid got into UW honors college and wound up going to the most expensive school of her choices. That has entailed sacrifice. In one case, did it benefit the kid really? No, I don't think so. In another, it was clearly a good investment. And I think in this last one, it will prove to have been, but that story isn't entirely yet written.
I have drawn the line. The oldest came out talking about law school, and I figured she'd profile for one of the NW privates or public OOS, and I don't think her toolkit sets her up to be good lawyer. I told her that while both her sisters were in private college that there wasn't an extra $40k / yr. in the budget for her, so she'd have to borrow, and that I thought it was a risk for her at that time in her life. She needed to live a little off the family tit. She'd be ready for it now, but I think that moment has passed.
The second got into fully funded PhD programs in math and decided beyond the last minute she wanted a masters and will "think about a PhD". Masters are typically not funded. She miraculously found one that is close to fully funded, and we're helping with rent but I made her borrow a small amount for the balance. She's one who gets these opportunities people dream about and tends to take them for granted, so I thought she needed some skin in the game going forward.
The last one wants to get her PhD and be a practicing clinician. We shall see where that goes. Talking about a PhD is fun. Getting one is another matter. -
F.O. Row Peter Puffer, you left...
Not sure if it's still the case, but there used to be huge money in compression algorithms. My former process control engineer recently retired. Before that, he once told me about his older brother. This guy is top-three smartest people I've ever known, and he said he feels like a simpleton next to his brother. Said he's an eccentric mathematician type. Worked for a company that developed a video compression algorithm (I'm guessing h.265). The part that piqued my interest the most was when he said, "Yeah, if he ever fell off his wallet, he'd probably hurt himself."Sources said:
Interesting. What do math students (sans PhD) do these days besides teach? Big data/ information systems?creepycoug said:
She actually wants to go to industry ... the question is whether it will help her to have the PhD or if it's overkill. She has a nice internship in Cambridge this summer, which will be her first real work experience outside of academic research. If I had to guess, she'll move on to the PhD. IDC because those are paid by the school.Sources said:
Friendly reminder to your daughter that quants make at least 10x more than teachers.creepycoug said:The main indulgence, however, was college for three kids. We paid for them to go where they got in and wanted to go and didn't insist on an in-state ROI discussions and all that. One kid got into UW honors college and wound up going to the most expensive school of her choices. That has entailed sacrifice. In one case, did it benefit the kid really? No, I don't think so. In another, it was clearly a good investment. And I think in this last one, it will prove to have been, but that story isn't entirely yet written.
I have drawn the line. The oldest came out talking about law school, and I figured she'd profile for one of the NW privates or public OOS, and I don't think her toolkit sets her up to be good lawyer. I told her that while both her sisters were in private college that there wasn't an extra $40k / yr. in the budget for her, so she'd have to borrow, and that I thought it was a risk for her at that time in her life. She needed to live a little off the family tit. She'd be ready for it now, but I think that moment has passed.
The second got into fully funded PhD programs in math and decided beyond the last minute she wanted a masters and will "think about a PhD". Masters are typically not funded. She miraculously found one that is close to fully funded, and we're helping with rent but I made her borrow a small amount for the balance. She's one who gets these opportunities people dream about and tends to take them for granted, so I thought she needed some skin in the game going forward.
The last one wants to get her PhD and be a practicing clinician. We shall see where that goes. Talking about a PhD is fun. Getting one is another matter. -
F.O. Row Peter Puffer, you left...
I'm not sure. I think a lot of them get pulled into consulting. Yes, the natural connection with data is another one, and of course that's big these days.Sources said:
Interesting. What do math students (sans PhD) do these days besides teach? Big data/ information systems?creepycoug said:
She actually wants to go to industry ... the question is whether it will help her to have the PhD or if it's overkill. She has a nice internship in Cambridge this summer, which will be her first real work experience outside of academic research. If I had to guess, she'll move on to the PhD. IDC because those are paid by the school.Sources said:
Friendly reminder to your daughter that quants make at least 10x more than teachers.creepycoug said:The main indulgence, however, was college for three kids. We paid for them to go where they got in and wanted to go and didn't insist on an in-state ROI discussions and all that. One kid got into UW honors college and wound up going to the most expensive school of her choices. That has entailed sacrifice. In one case, did it benefit the kid really? No, I don't think so. In another, it was clearly a good investment. And I think in this last one, it will prove to have been, but that story isn't entirely yet written.
I have drawn the line. The oldest came out talking about law school, and I figured she'd profile for one of the NW privates or public OOS, and I don't think her toolkit sets her up to be good lawyer. I told her that while both her sisters were in private college that there wasn't an extra $40k / yr. in the budget for her, so she'd have to borrow, and that I thought it was a risk for her at that time in her life. She needed to live a little off the family tit. She'd be ready for it now, but I think that moment has passed.
The second got into fully funded PhD programs in math and decided beyond the last minute she wanted a masters and will "think about a PhD". Masters are typically not funded. She miraculously found one that is close to fully funded, and we're helping with rent but I made her borrow a small amount for the balance. She's one who gets these opportunities people dream about and tends to take them for granted, so I thought she needed some skin in the game going forward.
The last one wants to get her PhD and be a practicing clinician. We shall see where that goes. Talking about a PhD is fun. Getting one is another matter.
I'm really talking out of my ass right now, but based on conversations with her, the real split occurs in theoretical vs. applied. She did a post-bacc year in advanced math (also paid by the school - thank you) that is ostensibly there to create more female math PhDs. They don't admit it, but there is a huge bias towards theoretical. They want to reproduce themselves.
One of the hints of this, is the requirement that everyone in this funded program has to take Real Analysis. It may go by other names, and you may know this (I did not), but this is where you write math proofs all day. That's it. An entire semester of doing this. This is the shit where you fill a chalk board (or whatever) with hieroglyphics to prove that 1 + 1 = 2 and that algebra is a real thing ... that kind of abstraction. It is apparently challenging and serves as a good filter to figure out who has the chops to go get a PhD and study the crazy stuff ... knot theory, topology, etc. She did well in that course and the full press was applied. Fortunately she's like her Dad and has a backbone ... she's not nearly perfect (hi @DoogieMcDoogerson ) but she is not afraid of @RaceBannon and said "no" to the people paying for her education. She found that she likes applied, especially probabilistic math and data and said 'fuck it' I'll go to grad school for that instead.
So, back to the original point, as a natural consequence of both her undergraduate majors and what she's studying now, she's heavy in stats and has developed data chops. She can program and knows R, Python, MatLabs, and all that shit very well; though the word "data" won't appear on any of her degrees.
Where I see her going is probably probability modeling ... insurance companies, almost anywhere in healthcare, etc. To do financial modeling, she'd have to add some economis chops. Maybe I'll have her join the Finance Club! -
F.O. Row Peter Puffer, you left...Never mind. Reading fail.
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F.O. Row Peter Puffer, you left...
I have no idea what compression algorithms are, but I'm sure I can't write them.1to392831weretaken said:
Not sure if it's still the case, but there used to be huge money in compression algorithms. My former process control engineer recently retired. Before that, he once told me about his older brother. This guy is top-three smartest people I've ever known, and he said he feels like a simpleton next to his brother. Said he's an eccentric mathematician type. Worked for a company that developed a video compression algorithm (I'm guessing h.265). The part that piqued my interest the most was when he said, "Yeah, if he ever fell off his wallet, he'd probably hurt himself."Sources said:
Interesting. What do math students (sans PhD) do these days besides teach? Big data/ information systems?creepycoug said:
She actually wants to go to industry ... the question is whether it will help her to have the PhD or if it's overkill. She has a nice internship in Cambridge this summer, which will be her first real work experience outside of academic research. If I had to guess, she'll move on to the PhD. IDC because those are paid by the school.Sources said:
Friendly reminder to your daughter that quants make at least 10x more than teachers.creepycoug said:The main indulgence, however, was college for three kids. We paid for them to go where they got in and wanted to go and didn't insist on an in-state ROI discussions and all that. One kid got into UW honors college and wound up going to the most expensive school of her choices. That has entailed sacrifice. In one case, did it benefit the kid really? No, I don't think so. In another, it was clearly a good investment. And I think in this last one, it will prove to have been, but that story isn't entirely yet written.
I have drawn the line. The oldest came out talking about law school, and I figured she'd profile for one of the NW privates or public OOS, and I don't think her toolkit sets her up to be good lawyer. I told her that while both her sisters were in private college that there wasn't an extra $40k / yr. in the budget for her, so she'd have to borrow, and that I thought it was a risk for her at that time in her life. She needed to live a little off the family tit. She'd be ready for it now, but I think that moment has passed.
The second got into fully funded PhD programs in math and decided beyond the last minute she wanted a masters and will "think about a PhD". Masters are typically not funded. She miraculously found one that is close to fully funded, and we're helping with rent but I made her borrow a small amount for the balance. She's one who gets these opportunities people dream about and tends to take them for granted, so I thought she needed some skin in the game going forward.
The last one wants to get her PhD and be a practicing clinician. We shall see where that goes. Talking about a PhD is fun. Getting one is another matter.
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Low monthly housing cost relative to net income
Both?1to392831weretaken said:
WOOD!creepycoug said:
Was this you and the Mrs?1to392831weretaken said:
After a little forensic research, I'm almost certain we stayed at the Hotel Villa Elda, just up the hill from St. Catherine's. Was like $120 per night, breakfast was gigantic and amazing, house wines were great, and it had a rooftop terrace with great views. The best part was then when we got there, the receptionist said, "When we saw you were American, we gave you the garden house because it has the best air conditioning." Apparently we?'re notoriously bitchy people, so we've got that going for us. Anyway, this room was its own building right on the ground floor garden, so we had a ton of privacy and space. Huge bang/$.BearsWiin said:Our airbnb was right up the little street in that gap between the buildings center right, directly across from the Duomo baptistery
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Low monthly housing cost relative to net income
At least at one time I heard that Microsoft would rather hire math graduates than computer science grads.1to392831weretaken said:
Not sure if it's still the case, but there used to be huge money in compression algorithms. My former process control engineer recently retired. Before that, he once told me about his older brother. This guy is top-three smartest people I've ever known, and he said he feels like a simpleton next to his brother. Said he's an eccentric mathematician type. Worked for a company that developed a video compression algorithm (I'm guessing h.265). The part that piqued my interest the most was when he said, "Yeah, if he ever fell off his wallet, he'd probably hurt himself."Sources said:
Interesting. What do math students (sans PhD) do these days besides teach? Big data/ information systems?creepycoug said:
She actually wants to go to industry ... the question is whether it will help her to have the PhD or if it's overkill. She has a nice internship in Cambridge this summer, which will be her first real work experience outside of academic research. If I had to guess, she'll move on to the PhD. IDC because those are paid by the school.Sources said:
Friendly reminder to your daughter that quants make at least 10x more than teachers.creepycoug said:The main indulgence, however, was college for three kids. We paid for them to go where they got in and wanted to go and didn't insist on an in-state ROI discussions and all that. One kid got into UW honors college and wound up going to the most expensive school of her choices. That has entailed sacrifice. In one case, did it benefit the kid really? No, I don't think so. In another, it was clearly a good investment. And I think in this last one, it will prove to have been, but that story isn't entirely yet written.
I have drawn the line. The oldest came out talking about law school, and I figured she'd profile for one of the NW privates or public OOS, and I don't think her toolkit sets her up to be good lawyer. I told her that while both her sisters were in private college that there wasn't an extra $40k / yr. in the budget for her, so she'd have to borrow, and that I thought it was a risk for her at that time in her life. She needed to live a little off the family tit. She'd be ready for it now, but I think that moment has passed.
The second got into fully funded PhD programs in math and decided beyond the last minute she wanted a masters and will "think about a PhD". Masters are typically not funded. She miraculously found one that is close to fully funded, and we're helping with rent but I made her borrow a small amount for the balance. She's one who gets these opportunities people dream about and tends to take them for granted, so I thought she needed some skin in the game going forward.
The last one wants to get her PhD and be a practicing clinician. We shall see where that goes. Talking about a PhD is fun. Getting one is another matter. -
F.O. Row Peter Puffer, you left...
There are still firms that see things that way. McKinsey is known to hire people with those general "tough" degrees that are not necessarily professional or directed. Math, Physics, etc. Goldman hires kids with applied math degrees who otherwise don't know shit about markets and corp. fin. But the pendulum has swung hard toward pre-professional studies unless you're at a tippy top school, in which case they don't seem to care what you majored in.HHusky said:
At least at one time I heard that Microsoft would rather hire math graduates than computer science grads.1to392831weretaken said:
Not sure if it's still the case, but there used to be huge money in compression algorithms. My former process control engineer recently retired. Before that, he once told me about his older brother. This guy is top-three smartest people I've ever known, and he said he feels like a simpleton next to his brother. Said he's an eccentric mathematician type. Worked for a company that developed a video compression algorithm (I'm guessing h.265). The part that piqued my interest the most was when he said, "Yeah, if he ever fell off his wallet, he'd probably hurt himself."Sources said:
Interesting. What do math students (sans PhD) do these days besides teach? Big data/ information systems?creepycoug said:
She actually wants to go to industry ... the question is whether it will help her to have the PhD or if it's overkill. She has a nice internship in Cambridge this summer, which will be her first real work experience outside of academic research. If I had to guess, she'll move on to the PhD. IDC because those are paid by the school.Sources said:
Friendly reminder to your daughter that quants make at least 10x more than teachers.creepycoug said:The main indulgence, however, was college for three kids. We paid for them to go where they got in and wanted to go and didn't insist on an in-state ROI discussions and all that. One kid got into UW honors college and wound up going to the most expensive school of her choices. That has entailed sacrifice. In one case, did it benefit the kid really? No, I don't think so. In another, it was clearly a good investment. And I think in this last one, it will prove to have been, but that story isn't entirely yet written.
I have drawn the line. The oldest came out talking about law school, and I figured she'd profile for one of the NW privates or public OOS, and I don't think her toolkit sets her up to be good lawyer. I told her that while both her sisters were in private college that there wasn't an extra $40k / yr. in the budget for her, so she'd have to borrow, and that I thought it was a risk for her at that time in her life. She needed to live a little off the family tit. She'd be ready for it now, but I think that moment has passed.
The second got into fully funded PhD programs in math and decided beyond the last minute she wanted a masters and will "think about a PhD". Masters are typically not funded. She miraculously found one that is close to fully funded, and we're helping with rent but I made her borrow a small amount for the balance. She's one who gets these opportunities people dream about and tends to take them for granted, so I thought she needed some skin in the game going forward.
The last one wants to get her PhD and be a practicing clinician. We shall see where that goes. Talking about a PhD is fun. Getting one is another matter. -
F.O. Row Peter Puffer, you left...
Does the Pope shit in the woods?HHusky said:
Both?1to392831weretaken said:
WOOD!creepycoug said:
Was this you and the Mrs?1to392831weretaken said:
After a little forensic research, I'm almost certain we stayed at the Hotel Villa Elda, just up the hill from St. Catherine's. Was like $120 per night, breakfast was gigantic and amazing, house wines were great, and it had a rooftop terrace with great views. The best part was then when we got there, the receptionist said, "When we saw you were American, we gave you the garden house because it has the best air conditioning." Apparently we?'re notoriously bitchy people, so we've got that going for us. Anyway, this room was its own building right on the ground floor garden, so we had a ton of privacy and space. Huge bang/$.BearsWiin said:Our airbnb was right up the little street in that gap between the buildings center right, directly across from the Duomo baptistery
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Low monthly housing cost relative to net income1to392831weretaken said:
Not sure if it's still the case, but there used to be huge money in compression algorithms. My former process control engineer recently retired. Before that, he once told me about his older brother. This guy is top-three smartest people I've ever known, and he said he feels like a simpleton next to his brother. Said he's an eccentric mathematician type. Worked for a company that developed a video compression algorithm (I'm guessing h.265). The part that piqued my interest the most was when he said, "Yeah, if he ever fell off his wallet, he'd probably hurt himself."Sources said:
Interesting. What do math students (sans PhD) do these days besides teach? Big data/ information systems?creepycoug said:
She actually wants to go to industry ... the question is whether it will help her to have the PhD or if it's overkill. She has a nice internship in Cambridge this summer, which will be her first real work experience outside of academic research. If I had to guess, she'll move on to the PhD. IDC because those are paid by the school.Sources said:
Friendly reminder to your daughter that quants make at least 10x more than teachers.creepycoug said:The main indulgence, however, was college for three kids. We paid for them to go where they got in and wanted to go and didn't insist on an in-state ROI discussions and all that. One kid got into UW honors college and wound up going to the most expensive school of her choices. That has entailed sacrifice. In one case, did it benefit the kid really? No, I don't think so. In another, it was clearly a good investment. And I think in this last one, it will prove to have been, but that story isn't entirely yet written.
I have drawn the line. The oldest came out talking about law school, and I figured she'd profile for one of the NW privates or public OOS, and I don't think her toolkit sets her up to be good lawyer. I told her that while both her sisters were in private college that there wasn't an extra $40k / yr. in the budget for her, so she'd have to borrow, and that I thought it was a risk for her at that time in her life. She needed to live a little off the family tit. She'd be ready for it now, but I think that moment has passed.
The second got into fully funded PhD programs in math and decided beyond the last minute she wanted a masters and will "think about a PhD". Masters are typically not funded. She miraculously found one that is close to fully funded, and we're helping with rent but I made her borrow a small amount for the balance. She's one who gets these opportunities people dream about and tends to take them for granted, so I thought she needed some skin in the game going forward.
The last one wants to get her PhD and be a practicing clinician. We shall see where that goes. Talking about a PhD is fun. Getting one is another matter.
-
Low monthly housing cost relative to net income
A good chunk of my grad school class went straight to consulting. It was kinda frightening actually...all these people get trained by the top technical university around and immediately ditch technical work for consulting/business. I know a lot of the quant firms use to hire PHD ChemEs who specialized in Fluid Dynamics...intense math skills that they would use for all sorts of (non-ChemE) purposes.creepycoug said:
There are still firms that see things that way. McKinsey is known to hire people with those general "tough" degrees that are not necessarily professional or directed. Math, Physics, etc. Goldman hires kids with applied math degrees who otherwise don't know shit about markets and corp. fin. But the pendulum has swung hard toward pre-professional studies unless you're at a tippy top school, in which case they don't seem to care what you majored in.HHusky said:
At least at one time I heard that Microsoft would rather hire math graduates than computer science grads.1to392831weretaken said:
Not sure if it's still the case, but there used to be huge money in compression algorithms. My former process control engineer recently retired. Before that, he once told me about his older brother. This guy is top-three smartest people I've ever known, and he said he feels like a simpleton next to his brother. Said he's an eccentric mathematician type. Worked for a company that developed a video compression algorithm (I'm guessing h.265). The part that piqued my interest the most was when he said, "Yeah, if he ever fell off his wallet, he'd probably hurt himself."Sources said:
Interesting. What do math students (sans PhD) do these days besides teach? Big data/ information systems?creepycoug said:
She actually wants to go to industry ... the question is whether it will help her to have the PhD or if it's overkill. She has a nice internship in Cambridge this summer, which will be her first real work experience outside of academic research. If I had to guess, she'll move on to the PhD. IDC because those are paid by the school.Sources said:
Friendly reminder to your daughter that quants make at least 10x more than teachers.creepycoug said:The main indulgence, however, was college for three kids. We paid for them to go where they got in and wanted to go and didn't insist on an in-state ROI discussions and all that. One kid got into UW honors college and wound up going to the most expensive school of her choices. That has entailed sacrifice. In one case, did it benefit the kid really? No, I don't think so. In another, it was clearly a good investment. And I think in this last one, it will prove to have been, but that story isn't entirely yet written.
I have drawn the line. The oldest came out talking about law school, and I figured she'd profile for one of the NW privates or public OOS, and I don't think her toolkit sets her up to be good lawyer. I told her that while both her sisters were in private college that there wasn't an extra $40k / yr. in the budget for her, so she'd have to borrow, and that I thought it was a risk for her at that time in her life. She needed to live a little off the family tit. She'd be ready for it now, but I think that moment has passed.
The second got into fully funded PhD programs in math and decided beyond the last minute she wanted a masters and will "think about a PhD". Masters are typically not funded. She miraculously found one that is close to fully funded, and we're helping with rent but I made her borrow a small amount for the balance. She's one who gets these opportunities people dream about and tends to take them for granted, so I thought she needed some skin in the game going forward.
The last one wants to get her PhD and be a practicing clinician. We shall see where that goes. Talking about a PhD is fun. Getting one is another matter.
Its funny because when I was working in Japan a good while back one of the higher ups at Mitsubishi Chemical told me they had all kinds of trouble hiring Chemical Engineers there because the banks were hiring them straight out of school.
Kinda sad really if you look at it from a 10,000 foot level...
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F.O. Row Peter Puffer, you left...
Agreed. That's a lot of smarts, and they are leaving a lot of intellect on the table helping the bankers cook up their trickerations. But as they say, no bucks, no Buck Rodgers.HoustonHusky said:
A good chunk of my grad school class went straight to consulting. It was kinda frightening actually...all these people get trained by the top technical university around and immediately ditch technical work for consulting/business. I know a lot of the quant firms use to hire PHD ChemEs who specialized in Fluid Dynamics...intense math skills that they would use for all sorts of (non-ChemE) purposes.creepycoug said:
There are still firms that see things that way. McKinsey is known to hire people with those general "tough" degrees that are not necessarily professional or directed. Math, Physics, etc. Goldman hires kids with applied math degrees who otherwise don't know shit about markets and corp. fin. But the pendulum has swung hard toward pre-professional studies unless you're at a tippy top school, in which case they don't seem to care what you majored in.HHusky said:
At least at one time I heard that Microsoft would rather hire math graduates than computer science grads.1to392831weretaken said:
Not sure if it's still the case, but there used to be huge money in compression algorithms. My former process control engineer recently retired. Before that, he once told me about his older brother. This guy is top-three smartest people I've ever known, and he said he feels like a simpleton next to his brother. Said he's an eccentric mathematician type. Worked for a company that developed a video compression algorithm (I'm guessing h.265). The part that piqued my interest the most was when he said, "Yeah, if he ever fell off his wallet, he'd probably hurt himself."Sources said:
Interesting. What do math students (sans PhD) do these days besides teach? Big data/ information systems?creepycoug said:
She actually wants to go to industry ... the question is whether it will help her to have the PhD or if it's overkill. She has a nice internship in Cambridge this summer, which will be her first real work experience outside of academic research. If I had to guess, she'll move on to the PhD. IDC because those are paid by the school.Sources said:
Friendly reminder to your daughter that quants make at least 10x more than teachers.creepycoug said:The main indulgence, however, was college for three kids. We paid for them to go where they got in and wanted to go and didn't insist on an in-state ROI discussions and all that. One kid got into UW honors college and wound up going to the most expensive school of her choices. That has entailed sacrifice. In one case, did it benefit the kid really? No, I don't think so. In another, it was clearly a good investment. And I think in this last one, it will prove to have been, but that story isn't entirely yet written.
I have drawn the line. The oldest came out talking about law school, and I figured she'd profile for one of the NW privates or public OOS, and I don't think her toolkit sets her up to be good lawyer. I told her that while both her sisters were in private college that there wasn't an extra $40k / yr. in the budget for her, so she'd have to borrow, and that I thought it was a risk for her at that time in her life. She needed to live a little off the family tit. She'd be ready for it now, but I think that moment has passed.
The second got into fully funded PhD programs in math and decided beyond the last minute she wanted a masters and will "think about a PhD". Masters are typically not funded. She miraculously found one that is close to fully funded, and we're helping with rent but I made her borrow a small amount for the balance. She's one who gets these opportunities people dream about and tends to take them for granted, so I thought she needed some skin in the game going forward.
The last one wants to get her PhD and be a practicing clinician. We shall see where that goes. Talking about a PhD is fun. Getting one is another matter.
Its funny because when I was working in Japan a good while back one of the higher ups at Mitsubishi Chemical told me they had all kinds of trouble hiring Chemical Engineers there because the banks were hiring them straight out of school.
Kinda sad really if you look at it from a 10,000 foot level...
As you can probably appreciate, getting a PhD in really anything isn't easy. And getting one in anything quant or hard science is especially difficult. I have a lot of respect for those folks, and in a way I like the thought of a good number of them getting their pay day instead of some guido Wall Street character who doesn't have 1/10th the smarts but knows the lingo and how to act. Soooooo much of Wall Street firm placement is like Frat House recruiting.
