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You Won’t Believe What School Was Like With Celebs and Ultra Rich Kids—Spoiler: It’s Not Your Average Lunchroom Drama!

Ever felt like you’re living in a totally different galaxy than your classmates? Well, buckle up, because this tale from a Columbia MFA student perfectly captures the cosmic clash between wallets and worlds. Picture this: while her rich peers dropped stacks of cash on bookstore treasure troves like it was stardust, she was over here counting pennies and snagging just a couple of (cheap!) books to survive. And then came summer plans—a constellation of lavish vacations sparkling in the distance, while the real-world star of this story had to head back to Texas to work. Oof, talk about a planetary tug-of-war between privilege and hustle! Makes you wonder—are we all just orbiting different suns when it comes to money and opportunity? Maybe today’s astrological vibes want us to look closer at those invisible divides hiding behind casual conversations. Ready to dive deeper? LEARN MORE

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“I went to Columbia University for graduate school, and most of my classmates were rich. Most of them were lovely people, and money wouldn’t come up in class so much, but it was usually in nonchalant conversations and outings that I noticed a difference. For instance, when we’d go book shopping, my rich classmates would drop hundreds of dollars at the bookstore (we were all in a writing MFA program) and leave with a huge stack (mind you, these weren’t required reading books; just books for fun). Whereas, I was constantly budgeting and living on my own with no help, so I would buy one or two (cheap!) books.”

“Another conversation where this was apparent was when we discussed summer plans between first-year and second-year, and everyone detailed all the lavish vacations they were about to embark on and how they NEEDED a break. When they asked what I was doing, I said, ‘I’m going back home to Texas to work for the summer.’ One of their responses was, ‘Ew!’ Yeah, man, some of us have to work to earn a living.”

—Anonymous, 37, Texas

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