Your in a city with a great startup culture. Staying in school in that city and thereby staying exposed to that great startup culture for 3+ years could very well be worth what debt you will accrue in the meantime, and if your smart enough to do well at neuro-science, you will probably get out of that debt in short order.
Ask HN: Is it worth $60k and four years?
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Re: Ask HN: Is it worth $60k and four years?
#12Don't be in such a rush or you'll miss the best parts of growing up. You've got to stop and look around to find out what those things are.
Re: Ask HN: Is it worth $60k and four years?
#13"Legitimate interest" just isn't the same as passion...you can already see the years of unpaid lab work and anticipate the academic tedium (leading to a series of $30k a year postdocs well into your thirties.) My advice: pick a major you actually have passion for not one that you believe people expect you to have.
Re: Ask HN: Is it worth $60k and four years?
#14Hey man, I am in a similar boat and am balancing an 18hr/wk job, school full-time at Umass (business major), and just launched a health related startup. My overbearing passion is health - more specifically neuroscience so I thought I'd chime in.
I think, intuitively, we conclude that the ideal situation is to be a full time entrepreneur. However many people in the tech-field don't agree with that notion (DHH) and have been very successful in spite of adhering to it. Being strapped for time when working on my startup demands that I be efficient. I don't have the time to waste on superficial/cosmetic features. If I can't get to the meat of the matter quickly then I won't get anywhere. I have been able to use that pressure so I can speed through my school assignments and get to what I really love - which is working on my website.
It's not that I'm afraid to leave college and go full time into my startup but instead that it's my belief that doing so would be too easy. It would be too easy to quit school and spend all my time on my startup, I'd rather earn that right of going full-time when the time comes. Not to mention being faced with the alternative of spending the rest of my days in corporate America is a huge motivation for me to get out of there.
All I can say is my life is hectic as hell. Full time uni, 18/hrs a wk working, a startup, and maintaining a social life. I'll admit I don't have time to shoot the shit, I can't play video games, and the only reading I do is that which has a practical application to my business. But I can honestly say that not only is it possible but I think that I am slowly discovering that it is (counterintuitively) optimal.
Good luck,