Apologize for the ranty nature of this post, but in the wake of 'get ur fkn ass up and work' everyone is talking about how having wealthy parents gets u ahead, but I wanted to highlight that having well connected parents also gives u a head start in my experience. Here are some examples I have encountered:
2 of my good friends from college are from one of the wealthiest zip codes in the country. While their parents aren't the richest in town, they rub elbows with like high profile manhattan socialites. My friends, god love 'em, spent the better part of four years getting stoned on their parents' dime. Somehow they both ended up with six-figure positions at like renowned media companies right out of graduation. I am not saying they didn't do any hard work to earn those accomplishments, but you have to have connections to even get an interview at one of those places.
Another person I know has wealthy and well connected parents, and not having to work as an undergrad makes a huge difference in how you budget your time. Combine that with upper-class parents who helped her interview for several internships in her field of study, and she was a shoe-in to whichever grad school she chose. And i am definitely not saying she didn't work hard to achieve her goals, it takes a lot of studying and mental fortitude to be admitted, and then get through grad school.
If my tuition was paid in full, I would be considering more graduate-level opportunities, but that is just not reality for me and the closest thing I had to a connection was an ex whose parents worked at an ivy league, they got me an interview for an internship, but like 2 days after things fell out with said ex, I got an email that they were considering other candidates. Purely coincidental I'm sure…
All in all I may be a little bitter about it but I have climbed the ladder at my company and while I'm not making anywhere near 6 figures, it feels good to work hard and earn success. And while it may be true, I don't wanna hear 'money can't buy happiness' from someone who also uses 'summer' as a verb.