What do women with advanced degrees want from life--and what do they get? Summarizing Harvard economics professor Claudia Goldin, Scott Jaschik writes at Inside Higher Ed,

Now two years out of college, my 24- year -old son is nowhere near being on a career track. I'm thrilled. In fact, as best as I can tell only two of his friends seems to be working in traditional jobs. One is in banking and after bonuses are distributed he may opt to leave that industry--before he gets laid off. The other works for a major advertising agency -- in our world that is considered a traditional job. My definition of a traditional job: benefits and paid vacations.

A few weeks ago I picked up an issue of People Magazine and read about Robin Roberts battle with breast cancer. I don't watch Good Morning America so I am not really familiar with her. I was struck by her story but I was also struck with how beautiful she looked with her bald head.

Lately, I've had a few depressing conversations with single female friends about their problems with dating and careers. All of my friends are smart, they are attractive to varying degrees (none are hideous or even merely ugly), and each one is talented. According to one friend, this means that she is at a disadvantage because men do not want to date smart women. Her proof is that a friend of hers (a guy) very sadly told her that he is the only one from his circle of guy friends who found intelligence to be a desirable quality in potential female partners. I was horrified to hear this, and immediately used my anecdotal evidence to counter his anecdotal evidence: all of my friends who are married are married to their equal, or even to women who are smarter than they are. My friend shrugged. I silently thanked my lucky stars that I found my husband.

Last Friday was one of my worst personal finance days in quite some time. One of those days when I had to laugh and then have a Bloody Mary and Fried Ravioli, to keep from crying. Obviously alcohol and carbohydrates keep the feeling of complete stupidity at bay. It was a case of minor miscalculation and yet the feelings of irresponsibility and knowing that everyone in my office is aware of my mismanagement and poor credit were slow to dissipate.

A quick recap is in order here, because I feel as if I failed to mention a minor, possibly insignificant detail. It’s just a little something that bears no importance. I got a new! fantastic! job!