- US$450 (not incl. travel to a different city) travel for the GRE exam
- US$600 for test prep
- US$ 85 per application
- US$285 for World Education Services to verify my degree from LSE, plus 30$ to send it out to each school
And that’s just to apply to 3 schools in the US. Australia’s next.
Touché, global education-industrial complex. You’ve ripped out $3k dollars from my carpal tunnelled hands before I even make a move. Touché.
The best scams are those we walk into voluntarily. This might as well be a tax on dreams.
I would like to provide an update to you, my imaginary friends.
At the start of this year, I set out to extract myself from this country. I have made reasonable progress. And I have gone mad for it.
All the poetry has bled out from that incessant avaricious striving.
Still, extraordinary experiences exact extraordinary tolls. I sometimes forget that the kind of globe-trotting mobility I seek is a privilege reserved for the lucky few, either born into wealth, intellect or the ‘right’ passport. We are inexorable subjects to the circumstances of birth, the escape from which, should we seek it, is not an entitlement but hard-won with tears, blood, and flesh and sweat. Man is cursed by dreaming.
Plus, I’m a pretty average person, all things considered. With 400 hours of intensely and intently studying, I only narrowly broke into the esteemed percentile of 75 in the equivalent of a middle-school level math test… yet the relative cost of my effort would have ranked amongst the pinnacles. I don’t think 75% of GRE test takers got up at 4.30am to study for three months. My above-average effort yielded below mediocre returns. That is more disappointing than the test scores themselves.
That said, to build a life that is extraordinary by the standard of my peers, all I have to give is burnout. All of this might be inspirational someday if I make it… when I make it.
Then I’d proselytize to every child what I wish I’d known. As early as possible, pick up a solid technical skill and get very good at it. If you’re contemplating further education and you’re not rich, skip the fluff. Go for the hard STEMs. You can always read philosophy on your own. And if you’re working now, pick a skill that’s needed to make stuff and specialize, whether it’s woodworking or plumbing or digital marketing or analytics or graphic design or 3d modelling. Take every opportunity to learn and to practice. Skills make you valuable, and skills compound.
You do not want to wake up at thirty to contend with the fact that you’re good at nothing but donkey shite. (It’s not too late, of course, but your brain just won’t work as well anymore). And you certainly to want to realize this when you have nothing to leverage yourself out of a hole.
Also, SAVE YOUR FUCKING MONEY.
#00117F 