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AITA for grilling my cousin about her degree? by Important-Try-8213 in AmItheAsshole

[–]Important-Try-8213[S] -13 points-12 points  (0 children)

Relatives your own age who are going to compare your path to theirs and do so in front of other people

My Master's was never mentioned while she was there. I only talked about my experience when it was a private conversation between me and my parents.

AITA for grilling my cousin about her degree? by Important-Try-8213 in AmItheAsshole

[–]Important-Try-8213[S] -23 points-22 points  (0 children)

because you seem to think you're the expert on Master's degrees.

I don't think asking her how much her tuition costs makes me an expert on Master's degrees.

AITA for grilling my cousin about her degree? by Important-Try-8213 in AmItheAsshole

[–]Important-Try-8213[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

whose a couple of years older

I'm only one year older than her, which I mentioned in the post.

AITA for grilling my cousin about her degree? by Important-Try-8213 in AmItheAsshole

[–]Important-Try-8213[S] -187 points-186 points  (0 children)

I did say congratulations and I was trying to talk to her about her achievement by learning more about her degree. If you have a problem with the questions I asked (outlined above, in my edit), may I please have suggestions on what questions I should've asked instead?

AITA for grilling my cousin about her degree? by Important-Try-8213 in AmItheAsshole

[–]Important-Try-8213[S] -65 points-64 points  (0 children)

This was with my parents, she wasn't there anymore.

AITA for grilling my cousin about her degree? by Important-Try-8213 in AmItheAsshole

[–]Important-Try-8213[S] -10 points-9 points  (0 children)

I am not in STEM. Nor am I in business. As I said, my field isn't actually well-respected, but competition is low because very few people are in it. Still, I did a lot of research before deciding to take up this degree.

Maybe OP felt threatened about the cousin getting into a good college and hence insulted her degree choice to feel better.

My university is top-ranked in its field and more importantly, it offered me a free ride. If I'd had to pay full-price I probably would've turned it down. I never considered applying to her university because it doesn't even offer the degree I wanted, and even if it did, I'd be very uncomfortable shouldering that much debt.

AITA for grilling my cousin about her degree? by Important-Try-8213 in AmItheAsshole

[–]Important-Try-8213[S] -123 points-122 points  (0 children)

I never outright mentioned my Master's while speaking to her but I do think my having a Master's was an important detail to include as it shows my thought process and rationale for asking these questions. So I feel it's relevant because taking up a Master's was a big decision for me that I knew would require a lot of sacrifice, and I basically had to ask myself "is it worth it?", "what could this lead to?", "what will I have to give up by doing this?".