Rayzaa

I've seen a slew of posts to the same effect as yours and feel morally compelled to intervene and provide my thoughts, lest some people 'on the fence' be swayed by them into living a life of dissatisfaction and be perpetually troubled by the chilling question, 'what if?'. I disagree strongly with these clickbait posts which serve not to educate or edify but instead only to disillusion people. To be frank, with all due respect, your comment reeks of a flawed and closed-minded prioritisation of financial security over passion. In so doing, you overlook the very reason we are pursuing public policy/IR in the first place, as opposed to medicine or investment banking. Moreover, you neglect the fact that $60k is only a base salary and those who work hard will likely within the next decade or two reach the $100k+ mark. Your argument may resonate with some people - especially from developing low-income countries - but should definitely not serve as a ground for someone to summarily give up on their hopes and dreams, as cheesy as that sounds. Yes, you may be far more financially secure throughout your 20s and 30s if you work as an 'honest plumber' or 'lowly dockworker'. And yes, the pay after graduation for public policy and international affairs jobs is less than ideal. But if you look at the issue from the other side of the coin, you'll realise that you're effectively wasting your best 20 years on something that does not provide you with spiritual content. I don't know about you, but to me that's scary. Some people aspire to be the change they want to see. We are okay and in fact perfectly content to live in less-than-ideal situations if that permits us to effect change in a world which is so worryingly bleak. We are fortunate enough to profit from modern technologies and have access to the insights of the best thinkers in the world. Without detracting from the indispensability of plumbers and dockworkers in society, we are blessed with such vast opportunities that it is our imperative to make use of them to make the world a better place. As such, we are not so much concerned with financial security as we are with a desire to be able to say with conviction when we are old and grey and full of sleep that 'I have lived my life to its fullest'. It is doing what we love, not what makes us feel secure, that drives us. I can say with certainty that I would be far happier helping create a reliable source of clean water for Nepalese communities or empowering Pakistani women, than I would be working as a dockworker for 20 years with countless hours of tough physical labour. By the time you reach 40, you may have a husband/wife and children to care for and simply cannot afford to go to school and work overseas in developing countries. You may develop back pains or cancer or Parkinson's which inhibits you from doing what you want. Life catches up to you fast, dude. Although you purport to have an ostensibly good understanding of finances, you fail to evince any understanding or appreciation of life itself. Notwithstanding, the rosy picture that I paint is inevitably subject to some caveats. Some people, after graduating from these top schools, do indeed struggle to find jobs. They might be forced to work in the private sector in order to repay their debts, or might be stuck in a boring desk job. They might be forced to live in a crammed apartment with cold water showers and noisy roommates. Expectation and reality are, after all, dichotomous constructs. However, the majority do go on to do something meaningful and impactful. It is a risk, but it is necessarily a risk that the ambitious must take. No one ever made a difference by being the same. So I think the message we should take from this post is not the disillusionment and unabashed bias of the writer, but rather the disjointed message to proceed with caution before taking on a $100k debt. This is a huge sum, and should not be hastily dismissed. But if you work at least 5-8 years in a good job beforehand then it's definitely repayable if you get a decent job afterwards. Where I live, it's not uncommon to live an hour away from the city centre in order to save thousands of dollars in rent. Be fiscally responsible, but don't be overly protective like the writer. The human mind is notoriously fickle, so please think carefully before making a decision. Read books. Talk with people in the field. Know that the life of a policy maker is not all sunshine and rainbows. It's bloody hard work. But most importantly, know that this is really what you want to do. And if it truly is, then you will make the most of the opportunity and will unfailingly do what you set out to achieve. Those with the greatest histories and motivations are the ones who invariably climb up the ladder and end up the highest irrespective of their background, as Kofi Annan and Malala demonstrate. And the world needs exactly these people in the current times of turbulence.