How many burgers do you have to flip?

Parents Forum
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<p>This is my classic answer to my S when we are discussing his needing to apply for scholarships: “How many hours of burger flipping would it take to make that?”</p>

<p>For the sake of argument, let’s say a burger flipper will make around $7/hour (there are taxes, etc … don’t make me calculate min wage - taxes), let’s just be neighborly and agree that about $7 is about right. </p>

<p>$1000 = 140+ hours ( more than 7 weeks of 20 hrs/week) …wow, that’s alot of burger-flippin’. </p>

<p>“Now, how long did you say that scholarship application was going to take?”</p>

<p>;)</p>

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<p>But you’ve got to remember, there are more ways to make money than burger flipping, some more riskier than others. Creating your own online business, online poker, or what I hope to do - work in the admissions office.</p>

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<p>That might pay $10/hr.</p>

4

<p>Agreed barron, but I’m just trying to make the point that there are enjoyable jobs out there. Well much more enjoyable than flipping burgers atleast ;).</p>

5

<p>We told DD the time she spent on her NMF essay was the most she would make per hour in a long time.</p>

<p>BUT she was already a semifinalist, so we knew the odds were good.</p>

<p>If the odds of getting a given scholarship are small, you need to reflect that. we call that “expected value”.</p>

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<p>Hah…my S works as the fry cook at a concession every summer and he absolutely LOVES it! It beats the heck out of me why…it’s at a race track and is hot, dusty, and very busy. He told me recently that he intends to work there as long as he lives in the area and there are many adults, even teachers, that work there during the summer too. He has no intention of writing scholarship essays :(</p>

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<p>The thing is, you can count on that $7.25 for every hour you flip a burger.</p>

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<p>And someone gets nourished (in a diluted way) from flipping a burger. As for the essay…</p>

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<p>

Similar message from me to DD2. I asked her to just go through a sample test during the summer before taking the PSAT as a junior. When she griped I told her she could get a summer job instead that earned $120K (possible full tuition available to NMFs). For some reason she took the sample test. ;)</p>

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<p>in a similar vein, ds as a freshman signed a lease on an apt for his sophomore year in his collegetown, against our advice, then joined a fraternity that needed him to live-in as a sophomore…said he couldn’t find someone to assume his lease. </p>

<p>I said, Gee, it hurts me so much that every single penny you earn next summer is going to pay that apt that you are not living in. so sad.</p>

<p>he found someone to sublet the next day. what a coincidence</p>

11

<p>Motivators. Nice analogy with the wages/application time. Any arguments from him about wasting an hour of his life can also be countered- potential for huge rewards and that kind of time routinely wasted in useless activities.</p>

12

<p>I don’t think burger flipping happens that often, nowadays, sadly. Staff microwave and defrost instead of cooking real burgers at restaurants. At this rate, truly flipping a burger would make more than $7/hr.</p>

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<p>Burger Flipping gets you $10/hour at In N Out Burger. When a new one opened by my home, over 2,000 people showed to the interview days. But that’s actually flipping burgers and not defrosting like firelight said. :)</p>