Letters to the Editor

• Tap into Your Inner "Who Gives a F- - - -" Attitude

  [Read the article: I have found hell on earth -- an "MBA program"]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  Dear LW -

  Ten years ago I was in exactly the same boat, except I was in law school and not b-school. To saw that I hated every. single. day. of those four days is not an understatement. The amount of work was suffocating. It is simply not possible to read 1000 pages of case law every night. The exams were brutal - 100% finals packed into one week. And the other students? Truly Type "A" sadists who would stab you in the back in order to to make sure that they got a higher ranking than you.

  These professional programs are so cruel because they take 200 people who were top of their programs, used to being "A" students, and then make sure that 50% of them (those at the bottom) have either a total nervous breakdown, or that their self-esteem is totally dismantled by the end of the program.

  And the debt. The debt makes sure that if you hate it, you stick to it, because the prospect of poverty is a real motivator, isn't it.

  Oh, the stress. Every morning I woke up with fingernail marks dug into the palm of my hands from clenching my fists all night. My jaw ached constantly from clenching it in my sleep.

  However, today I LOVE my job and find that I'm doing work that fascinates me. I work for the government and while sometimes I feel like my boss really is the devil, by and large I see that access to decision makers is one way to inject progressive thinking into archaic machinery. I honestly feel that I have been blessed to go from the Deep Abyss of Law School to my current status.

  I attribute this change in circumstances in part to luck, but to a change in my attitude. About halfway through my program I realized that the worst thing that would happen to me is that I wouldn't do law, and that I might be broke. So, I'll not the pursuit of filthy lucre motivating me to get up in the morning? Would it be so terrible if I never owned a car? If I declared bankruptcy? Seriously? Would that kill me? I decided no. The worst thing that would happen to me is that I wouldn't own my OWN LIFE.

  And then happenstance kicked in too. I had an interview with exactly the right woman. I told her I hated law school. That I hated when male interviewers would ask me if I wanted children. That I wasn't going to pursue law much longer and that it was time to do meaningful work. Oddly enough, I got the job and it changed my life.

  And I never did have to declare bankruptcy. I'm still chipping away at my loans, but we are also managing to own a small home in a decent area and have two kids. We have a car, but an older one. I earn half of what my law school colleagues earn, and own half of what they do. I consider this to be a badge of honor, because while they are working until 11 pm during the week, and often both days during the weekend, I am with my children.

  So Dear LW, please don't give into despair. Just look around and say "Fuck it, I don't have to be a corporate whore". The possibilities can be endless. Get your MBA and then go work for a non-profit doing fund-raising. Get creative. Go work abroad. Finish out your MBA, cause you're into deep now, and then use it to craft your own life. You'll cobble something together. All of the interesting people I knew in law school used their degrees in creative ways that were not limited to what those cheery arseholes in your class aspire to.

  Sorry for the opus, but I just want you to know that I was there. I felt like I was going to expire from the stress too. But honestly, most people don't, they survive. And you will too, if you just keep in mind that an MBA is not who you are, it's just this thing that you are doing right now. And it'll be over soon enough.

  Permalink Monday, October 23, 2006 06:09 AM