Considering Grad School: Gotta be on the water!

[hellosailor]

We all have different priorities and there's nothing wrong with that, but seriously?


One should pick a grad school, which is going to cost an arm and a leg, by the reputation and quality of the school, not whether it is convenient to your boat.


A law degree and an MBA degree are very different. Their uses are very different. Hell, MBA programs are very different, the Wall Street Journal just had a long article talking about the op MBA schools and which one to try for, depending on what career path you wanted to follow--because they each specialize in, and are recognized in, and lave alumni connections in, different areas of "business".


If the priority is to stay on your boat and keep working, then don't attend grad school YET. Work the business. Get a couple of reading lists (from the schools) and read some of the texts on your own, or find free online courses on your own. Two years from now when you figure out what you want to do and what you want to study? You try for the best school you can afford IN THAT SPECIALTY and if it means selling the boat, say ba-bye. If the business isn't portable, find a good manager, because you're going to need a lot of time for your studies, and not the business.


If the priority is keeping life the same and the grad school is just a frill...that's something else again. But it seems like you'd benefit from waiting a while and then refining your focus one way or the other.

[goat]

[TacomaSailor]

Originally Posted by letsgetsailing3

Figure out what you want to study, and get into the best program related that that. When you're in grad school you probably won't have much time for sailing anyway. Then get established in a career or business in a location near the sailing you want to do.

You have to have your priorities, but be smart about it. Early in your career, your career has to be king. The ocean isn't going anywhere.

It is possible to go to grad school and still sail daily, ski when the snow is good, and climb when the rocks are dry. My priorities were:
- good sailing
- lots of climbing
- a leisurely graduate education experience

I needed 3.5 years to accumulate 42 credits and to finish my thesis. During that time I sailed hundreds of different boats in races between Olympia, Washington and Vancouver BC. And, I worked on several ground breaking computer technology projects that led to a great future.

I had no concern about making a lot of money - I knew that would come later. Sail now - get rich later!

I worked as a NASA computer programmer for a year between undergrad and graduate school. When I started grad school I was careful to take no more than two courses a semester. I worked a deal with the university that I did not have to pay tuition if I worked as a programmer for them 10 hours a week.

That work let to consulting and contract work with professors and projects that needed an experienced programmer. Those projects paid my living expenses and only required 10 or so hours a week work.

I connected with several professors who needed a boat boy and crew. I sailed with them several days a week and took care of their boats. One of them had a lake house with three sailboats that I sailed several times a week.

Eventually, several of my sailing connections led to an excellent and very lucrative computer opportunity with a state of the art company that was showing the world how to implement some great new technology.

And, I kept sailing with my university friends several days a week.

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by TacomaSailor

It is possible to go to grad school and still sail daily, ski when the snow is good, and climb when the rocks are dry. My priorities were:
- good sailing
- lots of climbing
- a leisurely graduate education experience

I needed 3.5 years to accumulate 42 credits and to finish my thesis. During that time I sailed hundreds of different boats in races between Olympia, Washington and Vancouver BC. And, I worked on several ground breaking computer technology projects that led to a great future.

I had no concern about making a lot of money - I knew that would come later. Sail now - get rich later!

Everybody has to have their priorities, and I'm not saying one can't balance their life.

But studies show definitively that those who put the effort in early in their career make more money and have a higher level of career success.

Those studies say that what you do in your twenties dictates your lifetime earnings.

Your mileage may vary, of course.

[TacomaSailor]

"Those studies say that what you do in your twenties dictates your lifetime earnings.

Your mileage may vary, of course."

What I did in my twenties would land me in jail if I did them in this century. Other than that year as a NASA programmer I did not hold a "real job", i.e, forty hour a week on a schedule, until I was 28-years old. I am a firm believer that a person should experiment and work hard at finding the niche they want to occupy and not just accept a job that will pay the bills.

However, at age 27 I did meet my wife who immediately switched from the blonde bimbo party girl I first knew to shortly become a very responsible wage earner who held a very difficult and technical job for 35 years. She allowed me to take some big chances to start a consulting business in an esoteric field of computer science. That business lasted 18-years and allowed us to go sailing for good.

So - I guess I would have to agree with you - Before you are 30 - find a great, smart and hard working wife who will tolerate a sailors life.

[Roniszoro]

Yours is the most ass backward way of choosing an area to study and where to do so I may have ever heard.

You are going to spend good money plus have the opportunity cost of not working to study something..maybe law, maybe business..at a cost of $50K+ per year. If you are a serious student, you won't have time for anything but study. If you are not, the you'll be wasting your money.

Save your money (or your parent's money). You won't be a student, just an enrollee.

[msponer]

I'm curious -- did any of you guys follow a path to success that you feel could be replicated or even used for advice for other people?

I am at a total loss. There is nothing in the path I've taken that could be helpful advice to anyone else. At best I can revert to platitudes and successories like "take risks, work hard, believe in yourself"...?

If, where, or how someone goes to graduate school -- who the heck knows. If his goal is to be rich, and he were my kid, I'd buy him a 7-11 franchise. Costs less and he'd learn more.

[k9medic]

Originally Posted by skipmac

University of FL offers an online MBA program. Top public university in the state (ignore what anyone from FSU has to say on this subject )

A bit over an hour to any live aboard locations but since you won't need to go to campus daily wouldn't matter.

Bingo. Besides, if it wasn't for FSU, those who couldn't get into UF might not have a chance to get into a state university. Then again, I might be bias...

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by TacomaSailor

[I]

So - I guess I would have to agree with you - Before you are 30 - find a great, smart and hard working wife who will tolerate a sailors life.

If she had money is would also be helpful

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by TacomaSailor

"Those studies say that what you do in your twenties dictates your lifetime earnings.

Your mileage may vary, of course."

What I did in my twenties would land me in jail if I did them in this century. Other than that year as a NASA programmer I did not hold a "real job", i.e, forty hour a week on a schedule, until I was 28-years old. I am a firm believer that a person should experiment and work hard at finding the niche they want to occupy and not just accept a job that will pay the bills.

However, at age 27 I did meet my wife who immediately switched from the blonde bimbo party girl I first knew to shortly become a very responsible wage earner who held a very difficult and technical job for 35 years. She allowed me to take some big chances to start a consulting business in an esoteric field of computer science. That business lasted 18-years and allowed us to go sailing for good.

So - I guess I would have to agree with you - Before you are 30 - find a great, smart and hard working wife who will tolerate a sailors life.

More power to ya, but I'd suggest that most "luck" is based on hard work and good decisions.

Choosing a grad school based on it's proximity to a sailing club rather than by it's relevance to your chosen career field might be leaving a bit much to chance.

In your case, choosing computer programming or running your own business isn't really the easy path -- I'd suggest that you likely worked pretty hard. You probably had other friends who chose a less challenging path than writing software at NASA.

I'm not saying not to have fun, but let's not pretend that success is just luck. At some point, most success is a direct result of hard work. Ask Edison.

[jkindredpdx]

West Coast... I totally think an extra degree is good as long as you don't go into debt for it. I let my employer pay for my MBA. TacomaSailor makes a good point... Bellingham is beautiful (albeit wet), it's more of a counter culture, hipster, arty school... maybe not an investment.

U of Washington is surrounded by water in downtown Seattle, semi prestigious, maybe not too expensive. U of Portland is in a town consistently named as one of the best cities to live in and has a music and arts scene, food, breweries, minutes from Columbia River (sadly not on saltwater). Univ of Puget Sound is also in Seattle Area and considered a good school. UC Santa Barbara: smoking hot for a small town but living expenses are astronomical. Univ of British Columbia is a great school, right on the Ocean, Vancouver BC is a bustling cosmopolitan city...

Go west young man!

[TacomaSailor]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

If she had money is would also be helpful

She had enough that after a month she bought a new set of tires for my Mazda RX-2. She said the old ones scared her and if I could not pay for them she would have to because she wanted to continue going out with me.

I thought she was just a cute blonde but I began to realize she was quite practical as well as useful.

[qatharms]

After reading your post twice, I echo the question, "Why do you want another degree?" I know from experience that going to college simply in order to learn things you don't know is a waste of money, because you can find the answers to almost any question you can think of by doing the research online, from your boat or elsewhere.
If you want to increase your effectiveness in your business, colleges are not necessarily the best place for help, either. Do you want to make a bigger profit in the business you now operate, or do you want to be a CEO and a big player in the world of economics and politics? Do you just enjoy the academic world and classes and assignments?
You seem to be expressing a need for education in a very generic way. I recommend you keep working on the right way to express what you think you need. Is there some skill you need that you think you don't have? name it. Is there some field of expertise you think you need for your business? name it. When you know exactly what you need that you don't have, then you will be much more likely to find the solution that fills your need.
I sense that you just love to learn new things. That is great, but you don't need to spend thousands in tuition to do that. Almost anything you want to know is available free or for very little cost on the internet. If you go to college, you will spend most of your time reading books you did not choose. Most of them will tell you interesting things that do not apply to you or fulfill your unique needs. Obtaining an advanced degree for no particular reason simply enslaves you to somebody else's agenda and requires you to pay for it.
I live and cruise on a sailboat. I read constantly, and I am bombarded by opportunities to learn both exotic and mundane information and skills daily. I work freelance from my boat, and it doesn't matter where I am. If you "gotta be on the water," you can operate your business and continue your education without spending thousands. Advanced degrees really matter if you want to teach others to obtain advanced degrees, and a few other professions actually require them. Otherwise, the course of study will more likely interfere with the attainment of your real objectives.
Know your real objective before you decide if you need an advanced degree.

Katherine Harms
Aboard S/V No Boundaries

[kjerram]

Most of the responses have featured seaside campuses in warm climates, for good reason. If you're up for more seasonal northern Atlantic waters, the University of New Hampshire in Durham has a decent business school within a short commute to Portsmouth Harbor. I finished my M.S. in Ocean Engineering at UNH last year and presently work for their ocean mapping center while living aboard a Bayfield 29. The boat's on a mooring in Great Bay all summer and at a marina (with electric heat!) near downtown Portsmouth all winter. Both locations have their upsides and both are pretty easy commutes to UNH by bike or bus. Portsmouth, in particular, might suit your criterion for nightlife.

[Greenhand]

Originally Posted by MYTraveler

If you are looking for prestige, it's not easy to get into, but there is a really good B-School on the Charles River, and within walking distance from there the same university has a law school (which is getting a bad name from some of its graduates -- like Obummer). And they offer a joint JD-MBA, like Mitt got.

Congratulations on making a grad school inquiry all about politics.