85K in 2004 would cover more than "just rent and other expenses" or I'd eat my hat. It was a different time, with different costs, and a much less inflated market. The author even calls it "about as much as you could possibly earn right out of college."
MIT is obviously about the prestige and academic opportunities more than the money.
If you're saying these aren't great options for a college senior in 2004 you need to talk to a lot of college seniors to get some perspective. Your comment sounds like "this college student hasn't made millions of dollars or groundbreaking research, I don't know why you think he's any different than the average kid."
Shit, 85K as a college grad TODAY still puts you solidly into the upper ranges of your demographic.
If you think that's "just cover rent and expenses" money, how do you think the people you buy coffee, food, or anything else from live??
The author also doesn't seem to discuss what he did the 8 following years, which seems baffling.
> I didn’t know which traits I ultimately wanted in my career, but I appreciated that MIT would offer me more options for the career capital I generated.
So which traits did you build?! Tell me up front why I should listen to you if I wanted to build a career (it's not cause you had two nice offers coming out of college - that's why I'd listen to you if I was a high school senior).
> If you think that's "just cover rent and expenses" money, how do you think the people you buy coffee, food, or anything else from live??
Since 2000, mostly through consumer debt. Wages have been stagnant in the face of increased cost of living; you can get financing for literally anything these days. Walmart dropped their layaway program in favor of pushing credit cards. Aaron's will rent you furniture for low monthly payments that add up to 5x the retail price. You can even take out a loan specifically to go on vacation.
$85k was worth a lot more in 2004 than it is now. It's still a king's ransom in rural/middle America but it doesn't get you far on either coast anymore if urban proximity is a requirement.
Back then, Seattle/Redmond was much, much more affordable. In 2004, the Case-Shiller Index for Seattle was 125, while the national index was 140 (!). Today Seattle has a 250 index while the national index is 195.
In other words, Seattle housing went from pretty well below-average to wildly more than average in ~15 years.
So $85k in Seattle in 2004 then would be roughly like $160k in Columbus today.
A single person in Seattle can comfortably live(not own a home, mind you) on 85k assuming they don't have any massive debt obligations- not to mention we're talking about Seattle in 2004.
MIT is obviously about the prestige and academic opportunities more than the money.
If you're saying these aren't great options for a college senior in 2004 you need to talk to a lot of college seniors to get some perspective. Your comment sounds like "this college student hasn't made millions of dollars or groundbreaking research, I don't know why you think he's any different than the average kid."