My rainy day craft box

The time frame is definately something keeping me from the BA side of things. I feel like I've wasted enough time with no results! Business Administration is what I'm leaning toward but... ugh, it's purely practical and I have no love for the idea. I've never wanted to be a suit-and-tie guy, you know? On the other hand, it seems to be the only way you can make a decent living anymore. Without having to go through a BA program first, that is.

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rustie25.livejournal.com

I went for speech pathology originally because I was told I could get more money, and there were more job opportunities than teaching music (which is originally what I was going to do). I thought about being a psychology major (a dime a dozen) and social work (no money). You can see what drove my choices. They are all sort of related anyway. I went for special education because there are ALWAYS jobs open in this field. So it is definatly job security. But I do like what I do.
There is nothing wrong with making your job something where you work to live, instead of living for your work. A MBA wouldn't be a bad thing. *hugs* Whatever you decide to do, I am here for ya babe!

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So what made you decide against speech pathology?

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rustie25.livejournal.com

I didn't enjoy it. It was too scientific for my liking.

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kakita-shisumo.livejournal.com

I guess that depends on how much work you think you need to do on your fiction skills, and how much you need to be able to call yourself a professional author. A second BA in something "goal oriented," designed to get a decent job in some specific field that you'd enjoy working in (even if it's not being a novelist) is a good idea, assuming you can come up with such a field. On the other hand, if you really want to go for the novel-writing part, trying for your MFA means a lot of time spent working on nothing but your writing, and possibly with some pretty high-powered authors (did you know Whitney Terrel's on the UMKC faculty now?). On the third hand, unless you happen to be Stephen King, making a living as a writer is something of a joke. You can teach creative writing, or you can have a "real" job and just write on the side, but that's really about your only options.

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Well, I don't really have any illusions about becoming the next million-selling author. I know that like acting it will unlikely ever be a money-making venture in any real way. I'm prepared for that. It's a matter of purely emotional fulfillment.

I have a few "goal oriented" things in mind I could do a BA in. It's just a question of narrowing it down. And there's nothing stopping me from pursuing an MFA in writing at a later time. The fact that writing is such an uncertain profession I would imagine means you can sort of take your education in the field at a more liesurely pace.

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The key is knowing what you want out of your new degree. If it's about giving you more chances to get a better job down the line, then it could be an MA is a better option... as long as you're careful enough to choose one that has marketable skills. I hate to say these, but PhDs and masters in some of the humanities aren't worth all that much in the job market.
Same goes with your BA. Most of the people I know who are double (or even triple) majors did all the extra work while pursuing their main degree, so it only took them a few extra semesters. If you want a whole new BA it could very well take you a full 3-4 extra years.

Best of luck with the decision!

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Well, I'm thinking perhaps an MA in Business Administration. I can enter it without at the local University without having an undergraduate degree first, although I will have to take a few undergrad classes. It's versatile and can get me jobs. On the other hand, I don't really have any love for it. It's just something I'd be doing to get a job.

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when i was choosing my BA after highschool I went through the same kind of thinking...my heart's choice would have been philosophy or psichology, but I took on something that I still kind of saw a point in although not necessarily something I loved. (I've grown to love it, if that helps)

and in a way, I do regret not taking the market-oriented choices afterwards... money and easy way out sound more appealing now that they did a few years back

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So what did you decide on in lieu of philosophy or psychology? Anyway, I always thought I would never regret making the non-marketable choice but it's really biting me now. Life just didn't turn out the way I thought it would. If someone would have told me I could gain the sort of experience I have in theatre without majoring in it, it would have saved a lot of heartache. Nearly everything worthwhile I learned in theatre happened outside the institutional setting.

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Economics. I know it sounds like a stretch, but it has a nice combination of humanities and math... and it's a hell lot more marketeable. I screw up that last part when I decided to get a PhD in it, though (and in fields that are quite non-marketeable, I'm afraid). Do I regret it? yeah... at times. But not all the time,I guess!

About life's turns, it never does, I guess. And maybe you'd have been miserable your whole life wondering "what if"
Also, I can assure you (from personal experience) that if you had majored in something else, you'd probably have drifted away from theater, being absorbed in other things.

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Aye, very likely I suppose. I guess it's a guessing game of which regrets you want to live with more :(

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I thought this might make you smile ...

hang in there!

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It does make it all seem more reasonable, in a bizzare, crazy way :)

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deathbytamarind.livejournal.com

Edukashun!

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mellifera.livejournal.com

I'm all for it, hon. I can wait to go back. It'll be a lot harder for me to get in anyway. I'll have to wait until I'm a resident.

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meggmoon.livejournal.com

You should go for the Masters. From everything I've heard from the "real-ish" world, it doesn't matter so much what your BA is in, as long as you have it. So a Masters, if nothing else, would qualify you for a higher pay rate. If you're not going to study something you love, then I would think that's definitely what you want.

Also, you could look into Arts Management. If you're thinking about going into Business, you may as well go into the arts side of it. Also, Arts Management programs are still relatively new and there are very few folks working in the field who have degrees in it. This would, you'd think, make you really hire-able. (This coming from the girl with the certificate in Arts Management.)

Plus, in 10 years or so when you have buckets of cash, you can start your own theater and know how to run it.

Anyway, that's my two pennies.

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Very few folks working it it... but are the job opprotunities there? Is it a field that looks to have substantial growth with an employment demand in need of supply?

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Sorry to chip in, but I'd like to add something... my guess is that to become a manager in Arts you have to know the right kind of people, and probably be in some very specific geographic area to get a work in the field.
My guess, not an informed opinion, though.

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there are pros and cons to both and really when it comes down to it, it depends on what field you're in. i know there are quite a few fields, i.e. CS and Education where a masters might actually not help you when it comes to getting a job, they have a tendency to pass you over when looking at your resume. yeah you can demand more pay, but that would be reason not to hire you, if they can hire someone with a bachelor's for less. whatever you decide i support you 110% :)

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Well, right now I'm thinking of going for something that seems "safe": a Masters in Business Administration. You know, something that will give me the skills to enter the elite world of well-paid cube-sitters. What's your thoughts on that?

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BA is a safe field i would think, although i know two people with bachelor's degrees in BA and neither of them are working in that field. i have thoughts but they float around a lot and i can't always catch em :P

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But they are working, right? That's the thing that counts.

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yes, they're both working, ha ha.. one of them is actually my brother, he's working as a substitute para with the school district in mac until an opening is avaliable and then he'll be offered the job full time. the other is my friend that lives in houston, he started a new job, but i forget where, ha ha. he's been working as an accountant which isn't what he go to school for, but eh it pays i guess. you could apply with the local school district as a para, if you get on full time you'll get benefits. it's the same thing my mom does or you could probably apply as a substitute para or teacher. just an idea. good luck hon :)

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Beth you don't seriuosly want all those murdered children on your conscience, do you?

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i think h&r block hires people for their call center during tax season (most tax software companies do. i can thank hubby for that knowledge, ha ha). you can check their site www.hrblock.com, click on our company and there should be a link in there somewhere for jobs/careers..if nothing else, it'd be something extra. tax season for hubby's company usually runs from oct/nov-apr. sorry i'm not more help.

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Umm... I work AT the H&R Block call center :P Employment there is actually rather sporadic, with layoffs happening sometimes only weeks after people have been hired.

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hahaha ok,i tried. i thought of it cause john was talking about how his company was hiring support this week :)

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sorry, forgot to answer the original reply....
probably not, i'd somehow end up being an accessory to murder *L* ... levi did find out that he didn't like working with elementary aged kids, so he requested to not be called for those sub jobs...he really likes working with the middle school kids though, i'd have thought those would be the worst of the bunch.

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Did you know Angie Showalter? She was a year ahead of us. Anyway, she taught middle school now and didn't like it. I think she's subbing now and likes it better. I don't know, there was a time when I aspired to teach, but I don't know if it's for me. Everything I see tells me you really have to love it in order to do it.

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