Wow, that really is a small percentage... So it truly isn't possible?

By applying, you increase your odds from 120/10,000 to 120/4000.

If you don’t apply your odds are 0/10,000, so by applying you increase your odds from 0/10,000 to 120/4,000, in your example.


The only way to guarantee you won’t succeed is to not try. You don’t win the lottery by not playing.
We all have the jobs we have because we applied for them.


But even if you don’t make it into MIT, that really isn’t something about which you should worry too much.
As was mentioned, the current policy regarding higher education in America is to saddle you with an insurmountable and inescapable debt if you need to rely on student loans, which are fairly hard to get for foreigners anyway.

Maybe money is of no concern to you, but consider what you have at the end of your studies: A Bachelor’s degree or maybe a Masters or etc.
That’s nifty, but it closes as many doors as it opens.
Your best bet for getting into the industry is to start in small companies and work up. There is very little risk in this approach, and virtually guarantees your career in the industry.
These small companies tend not to hire graduates from big schools as they generally assume they can’t afford their requested salaries, plus people from larger schools tend to feel entitled and close the doors to smaller studios by themselves.

When you finally do get into the industry it isn’t as if you will suddenly get that huge wage you thought you would. Like everyone else, you start out small. Depending on how long you spend in school, you could be close to 30 and still be a newbie with a newbie salary. A guy with your same age could be making tons more than you just because he spent all that time on-the-job getting work experience while you were spending all that time getting book smarts. If you are 28, he would have had the same salary as you when he was 23 or 24, and now that he is 28 he is far ahead of you.



If money is a problem for you, then you need to seriously consider that you will never be making a large amount of money straight out of the gate. You aren’t going to graduate and then take a $150,000 job right off. You will have a huge debt and a crap salary.

You can eventually work into a job at $150,000 per year or more, but so can that guy who has much more job experience than you, and the fact is he is likely to always be promoted ahead of you, so in that sense your degree didn’t really open any doors that weren’t already open.

Of course exceptional cases always happen, which is why you should apply anyway if that is what you really want.

But again, if you don’t get it, who cares? Getting into the industry sooner is more valuable for your career.

Honestly, I’d say the best way to go is to get into the industry as fast as you can, then pursue higher education while working. Those degrees can be helpful in the far far future, when you are closer to 45 or so (but even then it isn’t clear how helpful they will be, at least in this industry), so the smartest way to play it is to get the work experience first and then the degrees.

L. Spiro

1. I had a scholarship to go to my local state university,
2. and even then it was stressful to maintain the GPA.

1. Excellent, so go with that, then.
2. Yeah, well, everything is stressful.

I went to college 20+ years ago....

I went to college 20+ years ago....