You just won the lottery -- would you finish your degree?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by thomas_jefferson, Sep 9, 2010.

Loading...
  1. If you won the lottery (say, $100 million) would you go on to finish your degree or perhaps start a degree program you couldn't afford before?

    OR would you just take the money and tell academia to stuff it?
     
  2. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    I would complete my degree, just to not have some unfinished business hanging about in my life.

    I am, however, an autodidact, so I probably wouldn't ever go to "real" school again. I would be perfectly content with opencourseware and my beautiful, beautiful, library card.

    EDIT: I would still complete my degree in the same, microfrugal manner that I currently am following.

    EDIT 2: For the first time ever, I rated a thread. I just gave you five stars. I have no idea if that function even works on this site, but let it be known, I think that this thread/question is awesome.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 9, 2010
  3. b4cz28

    b4cz28 Active Member

    I would enslave grad students to do it for me....lol

    They would be paid with Starbucks....
     
  4. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    That's a good question; how many of us are getting a degree just for the income it would produce? I would absolutely finish me degree. There is a chance that my degree will not produce any extra income and my motivations are not monetarily based. I'm fascinated by the subject and I want the accomplishment.
     
  5. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    >>

    So easy- YES! I'd also enroll at Harvard Extension :)
     
  6. me again

    me again Well-Known Member

    $100 million

    Yes, if I won $100 million, I would still start a degree program that I couldn't afford. And it would be very expensive.
     
  7. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    Yea, Harvard sounds nice or maybe at least USC.
     
  8. NorCal

    NorCal Active Member

    Ha Ha (Insert smiley here if they worked when you click on them)

    I would drop out (Just being honest) and I would move somewhere where I would be surrounded awesome beaches and good looking women who don't speak a lick of english, lol.

    Just being honest.
     
  9. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    If I won the lottery, I'd invest in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds and spend the rest of my life in grad school.
     
  10. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    From Another Website
     
  11. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    I would make a donation to a school and collect a honorary doctorate;)
    (but first I would build a bicycle racing complex and buy an Avanti)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 9, 2010
  12. lawrenceq

    lawrenceq Member

    I would finish my degree. With 100 million dollars in the bank I would need something to do.
     
  13. Cauble_TXSG

    Cauble_TXSG Member

    Everyone is different, but just because I have "found" some money would not change my education goals. The difference would be that I would be relieved of the burden of balancing work with school. I would finish up my degree at TESC, but would immediately start looking for a very high profile and expensive graduate school to attend. The London School of Economics comes to mind.
     
  14. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    I don't think that I could not work. If money was no longer an issue then I would probably shift my focus but I would probably accelerate myself through my ed goals because I wouldn't have to bother with standard employment stressors.
     
  15. 03310151

    03310151 Active Member

    Drop out immediately. I would show my kids the world and my family would be with me. Skiing in Europe, traveling-a lot, donating-a lot, lots of Porsche's, I'd coach basketball full-time, go on lots of dates with my beautiful wife, and read for leisure.

    The thought of getting some external recognition from my education (i.e. grades, degree, praise from teachers) is what would make it unbearable.

    Education is...

    ...a state-controlled manufactory of echoes.

    ...a form of self-delusion.

    ...man's going forward from cocksure ignorance to thoughtful uncertainty.

    "We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a bellyful of words and do not know a thing"
    Ralph Waldo Emerson
     
  16. StefanM

    StefanM New Member

    I'm in my last term of my M.A. I would DEFINITELY finish.

    I would probably pursue a graduate degree in clinical psychology, with the intention of becoming a psychologist.

    Alternatively, I would consider taking some coursework to attempt to enter medical school, with the intention of eventually becoming a psychiatrist.
     
  17. AUTiger00

    AUTiger00 New Member

    I'd just invest the money and live off the interest (hell, with $100 million even at 3% that would give $3 million a year to play with) and finish my program at Harvard GSE. After that I would possibly pursue an Ed.D, but definitely in a distance program where I could do the work from anywhere because I'd own homes in Charleston, Auburn, Galway and Amsterdam and travel to numerous others. I'd try for that UPenn program (possibly bribe them because that is likely the only way I'd get in), but would settle for GWU, UGA or the University of Florida.
     
  18. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    I even do nothing, but travel and go to school. Get my Ph.D in Finance to management my chunk of money. lol
     
  19. Go_Fishy

    Go_Fishy New Member

    Finish my degree? I would finish six of them! [​IMG]
     
  20. Woho

    Woho New Member

    I'd invest in the service of some top notch application consulting firm to let me shine in the right light and then do the "full" Harvard thingy - without the "Extension".
     

Share This Page