Leaving Early Consequences

[Allison_NaraPA]

As for omiyage:
Your Supervisor may most appreciate a sincere apology and your effort supporting the others involved during your transition. That`s the meat, and the omiyage is gravy.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Third, and this one is for the "old-timers", not the OP: has anyone noticed that the newbies seem to be getting more and more selfish / "entitled" recently?

Please don't group all of the 'newbies' together. There are at least some of us who are equally disgusted with the entitled, selfish, and spoiled attitudes of most 20-somethings out there.

This is true and not all of them are like this.
I have noticed a trend though... perhaps it's my age and I'm getting to my uphill both ways time

Yeah, I'm really not keen on being lumped in with histgirl on this one either. I'm a first-year in my late 20s and a travel junkie, sure, but I'm also a professional ESL teacher and there's no way I'd duck out on my kids' last week of lessons to indulge said addiction. That's really what kind of grates about the situation to me: if it was just sitting-around-twiddling-thumbs-time during exam week it'd be kinda different IMO, but leaving while you still have classes to teach is kind of bad form.

Still, hope the trip is worth the sacrifice (for all parties involved).

[Antonath]

Ode, please tell me that quote in your signature was chosen ironically...

[histgirl]

As you increase earning power, the value of money starts to become relative, and the value of your time costs much more.

This is a HUGE flaw in your argument. Currently, with the exchange rate where it is, a JET salary when converted to US dollars is $44K a year. That is better than the $40,584 a year average for the US as a whole right now (statistic from USA today, based off of 2010 Census data). So going into things with an assumption that you will increase your earning power over time is, as far as I can tell, naive.

But as Antonath said.... You've already decided to do this, despite the number of people that have shared opinions that it is a bad idea. I hope that, in the future, a contract will mean more to you than it seems to at the moment.

The average income of 25-34 year old college graduates is more applicable ($46k) or that of those with Masters ($62k). But don't worry about me. I wouldn't say such arrogant things without good reason. Got my sights on a part of the country least hit by the recession, into an industry sound but in heavy need of a young gen of talent, and with a healthy personal/professional network that makes me wonder whether I should bother to go back to school when I could get a decent $50-$60k job now... Still, with a good scholarship and the employment data being that 95% of grads accept offers within three months at $90k being the average starting salaries ($100k+ for my target industry), might as well go to school now.

Yes, I had already decided do this, was just trying to figure out the costs. Be people want to vent, so it's fine.

@Ode - absolutely. I wouldn't consider doing this until I found myself with the school/scholarship situation where it looked really attractive to forfeit the money at the regrettable expense of instruction and goodwill. I feel bad about missing instruction time (again, really only one week?), but it's hard to argue that thumb-twiddling, testing, and summer break time is a big deal.

@Antonath - of course, JET is about liking the kids! I love the JOB part JET. It's the ALTs that can't teach but stay in this job just because they don't have anything better to do and don't know what to do with their lives that are a waste here.

[Siyris]

As you increase earning power, the value of money starts to become relative, and the value of your time costs much more.

This is a HUGE flaw in your argument. Currently, with the exchange rate where it is, a JET salary when converted to US dollars is $44K a year. That is better than the $40,584 a year average for the US as a whole right now (statistic from USA today, based off of 2010 Census data). So going into things with an assumption that you will increase your earning power over time is, as far as I can tell, naive.

But as Antonath said.... You've already decided to do this, despite the number of people that have shared opinions that it is a bad idea. I hope that, in the future, a contract will mean more to you than it seems to at the moment.

The average income of 25-34 year old college graduates is more applicable ($46k) or that of those with Masters ($62k). But don't worry about me. I wouldn't say such arrogant things without good reason. Got my sights on a part of the country least hit by the recession, into an industry sound but in heavy need of a young gen of talent, and with a healthy personal/professional network that makes me wonder whether I should bother to go back to school when I could get a decent $50-$60k job now... Still, with a good scholarship and the employment data being that 95% of grads accept offers within three months at $90k being the average starting salaries ($100k+ for my target industry), might as well go to school now.

Yes, I had already decided do this, was just trying to figure out the costs. Be people want to vent, so it's fine.

@Ode - absolutely. I wouldn't consider doing this until I found myself with the school/scholarship situation where it looked really attractive to forfeit the money at the regrettable expense of instruction and goodwill. I feel bad about missing instruction time (again, really only one week?), but it's hard to argue that thumb-twiddling, testing, and summer break time is a big deal.

@Antonath - of course, JET is about liking the kids! I love the JOB part JET. It's the ALTs that can't teach but stay in this job just because they don't have anything better to do and don't know what to do with their lives that are a waste here.

I'd like to know where you got those numbers, because of my graduating class from college (2010) over 50% are unemployed right now. Of my brother's college graduating class (2006) over 40% are unemployed right now.... and in each of those groups, the ones that are employed are lucky to hold jobs that are full time... and of those full time jobs, I know of maybe 20 people that make more than 30k a year. And each of those groups of students come from 2nd tier Universities.... one step below Ivy League.
As for advertised income jobs upon graduation -- don't take those too seriously. I worked in a College admissions office and I know exactly how numbers and percentages are tweaked to make such favorable statistics. I won't say it's outright false advertising, but it is most certainly intentionally misleading. I hope for you that your chosen field of supposedly great income possibilities is not a pipe dream.

[histgirl]

I'd like to know where you got those numbers, because of my graduating class from college (2010) over 50% are unemployed right now. Of my brother's college graduating class (2006) over 40% are unemployed right now.... and in each of those groups, the ones that are employed are lucky to hold jobs that are full time... and of those full time jobs, I know of maybe 20 people that make more than 30k a year. And each of those groups of students come from 2nd tier Universities.... one step below Ivy League.
As for advertised income jobs upon graduation -- don't take those too seriously. I worked in a College admissions office and I know exactly how numbers and percentages are tweaked to make such favorable statistics. I won't say it's outright false advertising, but it is most certainly intentionally misleading. I hope for you that your chosen field of supposedly great income possibilities is not a pipe dream.

You're right, there's a lot of underemployed people right now.

2009 was one of the worst, a sad 80%-plus people who graduated in my program weren't employed full-time in their field. I was one of the few who got a coveted full-time position at a starting salary much higher than the national average for that role. Luck barely factored in, but by being proactive, taking risks others didn't, and seeking the opportunity where it existed, success followed. Nothing in life is easy and few things are obvious. Building a professional network is something anyone can do regardless of ivy-pedigree. I understand colleges massage their data, or they don't give it at all, (another reason to talk to industry experts, not school), but in the end, 80% of my grad school peers could fail too, and I know what it takes to not be one of them.

But if you want to continue this conversation, I'd rather pm, since this is a far tangent from the OP.

[Jax]

I feel bad about missing instruction time (again, really only one week?), but it's hard to argue that thumb-twiddling, testing, and summer break time is a big deal.

I've been lurking in this thread for a bit now and wasn't going to say anything until this comment. You came here for answers to specific questions, not critique... but anyway....

I'm sorry, but that's an awful attitude to have. That one week of instruction time is really important to your students and employer and I think it's really selfish to take that away from them for travel. Are you going to miss class? Because if you are, then I don't believe you truly feel bad otherwise you would not be leaving. If your graduate program was starting before your contract finished, then that I could understand, but travel?

[jim]

The OP's arrogance and levels of delusion about graduate prospects really astound me. How could someone like that even get accepted to the programme? When so many good candidates get knocked back this isn't exactly a heartwarming tale.

I graduated from Business School in 2008 and my class were all told we could be looking at salaries if 60/70k per year (in pounds) after our Masters. Utter, utter bull and only a handful of my former classmates are earning even half that.

[OdysseyOfNoises]

I'd like to know where you got those numbers, because of my graduating class from college (2010) over 50% are unemployed right now. Of my brother's college graduating class (2006) over 40% are unemployed right now.... and in each of those groups, the ones that are employed are lucky to hold jobs that are full time... and of those full time jobs, I know of maybe 20 people that make more than 30k a year. And each of those groups of students come from 2nd tier Universities.... one step below Ivy League.
As for advertised income jobs upon graduation -- don't take those too seriously. I worked in a College admissions office and I know exactly how numbers and percentages are tweaked to make such favorable statistics. I won't say it's outright false advertising, but it is most certainly intentionally misleading. I hope for you that your chosen field of supposedly great income possibilities is not a pipe dream.

You're right, there's a lot of underemployed people right now.

2009 was one of the worst, a sad 80%-plus people who graduated in my program weren't employed full-time in their field. I was one of the few who got a coveted full-time position at a starting salary much higher than the national average for that role. Luck barely factored in, but by being proactive, taking risks others didn't, and seeking the opportunity where it existed, success followed. Nothing in life is easy and few things are obvious. Building a professional network is something anyone can do regardless of ivy-pedigree. I understand colleges massage their data, or they don't give it at all, (another reason to talk to industry experts, not school), but in the end, 80% of my grad school peers could fail too, and I know what it takes to not be one of them.

But if you want to continue this conversation, I'd rather pm, since this is a far tangent from the OP.

Regardless of how proactive you might be, regardless of whether some sort of glittering career awaits you back home, your arrogance, lack of humility and your self-indulgent nature is really alarming. You seriously need to get some perspective.

[jarrod]

Wow. She gets it, I am sure, and no one here supports her. Whatever. Drop the bullying.