As a high-achieving high school student, Max McVety (top) had plenty of postsecondary options, but only applied to one college. The money saved by starting his education at WCC comes in handy as he travels the world as an internationally-ranked Magic: The Gathering player. One tournament win earned him $10,000 and his likeness on a game token (bottom). (Photo by Lon Horwedel)
While Max McVety was attending Washtenaw Community College in 2011-13, he had two primary goals: Transfer to the University of Michigan and play in one professional tour event for the popular trading card game Magic: The Gathering.
Missions accomplished. And exceeded.
For his college plans after high school, McVety had just one option. His only application was submitted to Washtenaw Community College. He knew he ultimately wanted to study engineering at Michigan, but wanted to save some money along the way. WCC transfers more students to the University of Michigan than any other community college.
“I knew my family would help out with college costs as much as possible, but that probably wouldn’t cover the full cost,” he said. “So attending WCC was good for both me and my family.”
The low cost of attending community college was further reduced for McVety, who earned a WCC President’s Honor Scholarship for academic achievement. That covered full tuition and provided a $300 bookstore credit each semester.
After completing a set of prerequisite courses at WCC, McVety transferred straight into the Michigan College of Engineering and earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in 2016. Just one year into his mechanical engineering career, McVety proudly claims to be free of all student debt.
According to data from the Federal Reserve, U.S. student loan borrowers aged 20 to 30 years have an average student loan payment of $351 per month on a standard 10-year repayment plan.
Avoiding those payments has helped McVety travel the world competing in tournaments in places like Miami, New York, Atlanta, Toronto and Montreal. His performances there have earned him entry into the coveted Pro Tour stops in Honolulu (twice), Vancouver, Nashville and Milwaukee.
As this issue of On The Record was being produced, McVety was on vacation from his job as a Design Engineer at Yazaki North America in Canton to make an expenses-paid trip to Kyoto, Japan to compete as an internationally-ranked player at the invitation-only Magic Pro Tour event with a $250,000 prize payout.
“Early on, all I wanted was to play a single Pro Tour and I never actually thought I’d even make it to that first one,” says the 24-year-old McVety. “Japan is my sixth, which is a number I had never really considered.”
Magic was first published in 1993. Creator Wizards of the Coast claim nearly 20 million players, which includes WCC students who frequently play games on the first floor of the Student Center.
McVety says he possesses personality traits that are beneficial to both his engineering career and Magic playing, calling himself a laid-back person who doesn’t sweat the small stuff except when it comes to math, physics and Magic. Then, he says, he dives into the details “probably to an unhealthy degree.”
“Tests were always my favorite part of engineering school. I found that no matter how well you understood the topic at a high level, without a solid mastery of the mathematical details you weren’t going to do well on the test. So those were what I focused on the most,” he said.
“I find it’s the same with Magic. The game is extremely complicated, and there is plenty of room to explore it from a high-level theory perspective. But in the end, the actual plays you make at a tournament affect your results so drastically that I choose to focus on the details of gameplay more than anything else.”