I am currently going back to school. I got a catalog in the mail for the college rings and I thought, hmm, I never got a high school ring, wasn’t interested, never got a college ring last time (which is good because I didn’t graduate), maybe I’ll get one now.
They are really goddamn pricey! I was just looking at a plain band with a simple stone, and it’s $458. I mean, I know that’s not a lot in the big scheme of things, but do people really spend $500 on a stupid college ring? I’d rather spend $500 on another kind of ring that I like. And if I want to add diamonds (which I never would) or maybe change the metal it costs even more.
I’m not sure about the window stickers when I see them. Either it’s from some shitty school and I’m confused why they are boasting about it (“Ooh, you went to Bakersfield College. . .congrats I guess!”) or it’s from somewhere fancy and I think they are being a pretentious douche canoe. To me, you can’t win with a window sticker.
I’d skip the class ring and go buy yourself something awesome to celebrate. Hell, for $500, you and the boy could take a trip somewhere awesome and enjoy that instead.
I’m not buying one. I thought there would be some price ranges, and I could maybe get a cheap one, as a celebration. I mean, really. I pay them tuition AND I should pay a lot of money for the priviledge of wearing their stupid ring?
My Purdue window sticker got me out of a ticket for a broken headlight once. I was passing through Gary, Indiana on my way home and got pulled over after dark. I knew the headlight was out, but it just happened that day. After the auto places were closed, naturally. Anyway! He asked me about the sticker and what my major was… apparently he went to school for the same thing. I got a fix-it ticket and a wave goodbye instead of a citation. yay!
Best thing was, I didn’t even put it on the car. I bought a used car from another student and didn’t feel like scraping it off. I guess it might have screwed me if it were an IU sticker, though. =)
I had a college ring; it was a graduation gift from my father (we both attended the same school). I opted against the traditional look (big, kind of clunky, with a cabochon gem on top), and got a signet-style ring with the university’s seal on the top, made of white gold. I liked it a lot, and it was very distinctive-looking. At that time (1987), it was about $250.
Unfortunately, I lost it about 15 years ago. I recently looked into having a replacement made – Jostens made my original ring, and they have a similar style available now. To get something comparable is now about $800. :eek:
I am very proud of having been accepted (and managing to pay for) my undergraduate school, so I did buy a ring. It was *horrendously *expensive, but I knew from the beginning that I wanted it, so it wasn’t too bad, especially compared to the actual tuition at the school. I saved for it for the entire time I was in school, and at the time, it was the most expensive purchase I had ever made all on my own. I still wear it regularly, and I do get comments on it frequently, by people who either like the look of it, or who recognize the school name.
I didn’t want to be at my high school, and don’t ever want to be associated with it, so that was right out.
I attend remote classes for my graduate degree, and don’t feel any special bond or particular desire to announce my affiliation with that school either, so I’m not worrying about it. (I’m actually a bit peeved at the cost of the graduation ceremony regalia, honestly.)
If you want to be officially associated with your school, or for your kids/descendents/relatives to have a tangible and expensive memento of your education, then go for it - otherwise, you can get cheaper knockoffs online and no-one else will know any better.
In many professional circles, a college class ring is, while certainly not required, almost *expected *as part of a well-dressed man’s business attire.
But I agree they are expensive. I couldn’t afford one when I graduated, but got it ten years later when I had some money saved up.
And, you are buying more than jewelry. You are buying a relationship. Fifteen years after I got it, it suddenly became too tight. (I guess it shrank!) The company (Artcarved) no longer existed, but the company that bought them up (Josten’s, I think) resized it for me… for free! I was impressed.
Me too. I see a college ring on a man more than four years after his graduation and I think, “Hm, he must not have any skills or talents because he wants me to know that he went to that school. Also, he probably hasn’t grown up and moved on past college. Probably still tries to live like a frat boy on weekends.”
This thread inspired me…
I never wanted one in HS & decided after-the-fact that it was a mistake (probably the day everyone else got theirs). I did two years at one college & transferred to another school so I ordered one after not being there that long. By the end, I was so disgusted by the $%!&hole instution that I never wore it. I was thinking about doing something with it, either selling it at a cash-for-gold place or upgrading it since it’s been sitting in the ring box in my closet all this time.
I just called; it’s only $70 to make it into a grad school ring. I probably still won’t wear it, but at least I won’t be embarrassed to even own it anymore.
MIT graduates do, because our rings don’t look like anyone those of any one else.
I have a nice lump of gold, which was fairly expensive but purchased when gold was still $35 an ounce. Someone we just hired from MIT has a silver ring (which they didn’t even sell 40 years ago) because gold was too expensive.
However, considering what I paid 40 years ago, $616 (the price listed on Wikipedia for a 2010 ring) isn’t all that bad.
Srsly. If I really want something like it, I’ll go buy a ring I like - the ones they have are so tacky anyway - and then have it engraved. And then I’ll actually have a ring I enjoy! Cause it isn’t about the connection to the school. It’s about the recognition that I went back to school while working full-time. “Class of '15” would be just fine for me.
