Originally Posted by Byron_944

Wow, this whole thread has been very interesting and informative. I already read through all eight pages of it. There is lots of useful and genuine advice here, information that can truly be useful.

I’m new to Rennlist, although I’ve been a member of 968.net for some time now. My friend is in the midst of buying a 968, and being the enthusiast that I am, I’m trying to walk him through the process as best as I can. Rennlist was recommended to me by VentoGT, and I don’t know if I’ve seen a more close-knit automotive community. The comradeship here is simply astounding; it’s great how everyone is sincerely interesting in helping out other like minded enthusiasts.

I think that I, and many other teenagers on the board, all come from the same automotive motivated milieu. We grew up loving cars, and now that it’s almost time for us to work, we would like to get the highest paying job, so that our craving for high end Porsches can be adequately satisfied. I can undeniably say that I am in a similar situation to the topic starter.

I’m 16 at the moment, and I’m current a junior in High School. My passion in life is cars, but for a profession, I’ve always wanted to be a lawyer. I’m in the NYC area, so there are many firms which I have researched, Skadden Arps among them. Firms are always looking for more litigators, and such a profession will land you about 180K dollars, straight out of Law School, should you get accepted to Skadden Arps. But I see how much litigators are worked; I see how they have no life-how they work like dogs from early in the morning, to the wee hours of the night. While the money is very appealing, I don’t intend to run my life that way. So I am aiming to get a job as an Estate Lawyer, where I would make the same amount of money, yet have a 9-5 working hour schedule. It would be boring, but the work itself isn’t as important to me as having a family life. And I know I wouldn’t enjoy litigation if I got back at 1:00 every night.

Perhaps the advice I can give the topic starter is this; you can’t stop working, and money doesn’t come to you easily in life. Like they say, it doesn’t grow on trees, and you have to work to attain it. I don’t have any actual work experience yet, but thus far, that’s the best advice I can offer, however scant it may be.

I’m aiming for an Ivy League college, but I need to get top notch grades on SATs and SAT IIs, in addition to AP exams. I really have a load of work cut out for me, but hopefully, it will pay off, and I’ll get into the college of my choice.

What really motivates me is that I see people in pressing financial situations, and I see how they live from day to day, always hoping that more money will come their way. They have limited money, and thus they have to withhold some of life’s pleasures, or buy their kids one less set of presents a year. And it goes on and on. And I don’t want my life to be like that. The more I work now, the better a life my future family will have. You know, they say money can’t buy happiness, but in certain situations, I truly believe it can. There is nothing wrong with more money, and the more money one has, the less financial pitfalls he will encounter.
In the end all, I realize that life isn’t all about flamboyant dreams instantly coming true; it’s all about hard work, so that when you’re 40, you can honestly reflect on your life, and allow yourself a sense of pride. When that day comes, its time to bend open the wallet, and spring for a Carrera GT. Until then, its all hard work, but one should always keep in mind that if one truly works hard, that work will be rewarded down the line.

Originally Posted by Ron_H

Byron, I have found often that sometimes it takes personal investigation when dealing with beauracracies. in my case, one college to which I applied mixed applications from myself and someone with a similar sounding name. A phone call and persistence exposed the error which had resulted initially in a denial. I ultimately was admitted, but after much effort to communicate with the "authorities in charge" to clarify the situation; I agreed to re-take my college board a second time on their campus, and passe above their minimum requirement. Almost every day in my job I am involved in the same thing: probing the reasons for decisions made by "boards" and reviewers and changing their minds and decisions. It will continue all your life. Ask "why" and you shall probably be enlightened, or at least be able to deal with the "problem". Don't just walk away with your head down. Maybe someone messed up. Find out who and for what reason, and clarify it. Offer to meet in person with the Dean of Admissions. Offer to enter on probation. Offer to produce a better Statement of Purpose. Find alumni to sponsor you. But don't give up!!

Originally Posted by Byron_944

Thanks for the advice, Ron. I plan on sending a 'letter of intent' restating my interest in Princeton as my #1 choice for a college. Additionally, my college guidance counselor will call admissions to inquire what I may do to improve my application. I'm more than willing to travel to Princeton, and meet with the dean of admissions, but I'm worried of appearing to clingy, too pestering. I guess that all I can really do now is send that letter, and keep working hard on my senior grades. I put a tremendous amount of time into the application and essays, but it is mildly comforting to know that there wasnt much more I could do.

Originally Posted by icon

byron,
your post here is admitting defeat.
the letter and improving your application are both nice but which do you think they would be more likely to remember? letters? improved applications?
or the young man that took the time and effort to see the dean and state his case as to why he should be admitted to princeton?
clingy and pestering is nothing more than an excuse not to do what you know you should.

Originally Posted by penguinking

bump.

as for Byron - how is your situation going? any news?

Originally Posted by icon

good for you!
hope you get to go to the college of your preference!

Originally Posted by TheDon007

Good luck, and stay with it. My application was denied by many "top notch" colleges and universities, and whatever the case, do not get discouraged.

As one person told me years ago, you go to college to learn how to learn.

I had some partial tuition assistance, but since I would have to pay my own way my options were limited, which is when I went into the military. For me, serving our Country was THE turning point of my life, and I took my training through college, post grad, and into business. It is not for everyone, but it was perfect for me.

Best of luck with Princeton. Have you considered Dartmouth?

Originally Posted by VR4 Playa

so much to read, but I guess i'll throw in my .02, which isn't much since I'm still in college and won't hit the working world until this summer

Pretty much to sum up what I read... it's as simple as starting your own business or just plain not working for someone else... BUT as the saying goes "anything worth having is worth working for"

I, myself, do not have the "professional" major(i.e. law, medicine, business) that gets your the higher level of income flow instead I am simply a German major and could have the opportunity to live comfortably as a teacher or translator, but I chose this path as my old path was the more "respected" one of being a mechanical engineer before I changed schools and majors when I saw myself getting stuck in a middle to upper middle class job as my grades aren't necessarily stellar, which means I might not have even gotten a job out of school, since I was not "qualified" for an internship/co-op and experience and/or grades is the key to getting that first job(or just knowing someone, which in the who's who of the engineering field I didn't).

I now see college simply as a way to get in the door, to get to the front row though, you gotta pull strings and wheel and deal and i'm fortunate to have worked for my best friend's step-dad, a self-made millionaire who will hopefully still have an opportunity for me when I return to the US after my studies here in Austria are completed so I can learn at my own pace and eventually make it to the top, but at the same time I hope to not forget where I came from, which is a humble middle-class background... possibly one of the hardest to succeed as you have little motivation to move up when you seemingly have the basic needs in life and a few luxuries to go with it... contrary to those who started with nothing to become wealthy, as they knew that their life and well-being depended on putting everything they had into their success and well those who were born into wealth... well they're already there and unfortunately you see most of them not knowing how to manage their wealth or just making a mochery of the fortunes that their family worked hard to build up

An example is Paris Hilton... who will supposedly be in Vienna tomorrow and i'm definitely not looking forward to running into as she's an example of what's wrong with this country... the only thing I respect about her is that she's actually a smart business-woman and instead of just squandering her grandpa's fortune she has figured out ways to manipulate the public into buying her garbage whether it's beauty products, CDs, or movies to secure the futures for her most likely drug addict, suicidal, and alcoholic children that she will probably bring into this world in the near future