Thinking about graduate school. Am I nuts?

[Veovis]

I'm not having any luck finding decent employment with my bachelor's degree, and my monthly loan payments are pretty astronomical, so I've been wondering whether I should go to graduate school and get at least an M.A.

Pros:


Delay my loan payments
Improve my prospects of finding a job
Do s'more learnin'

Cons:


Increase my total debt plus interest on previous loans
I'd have to juggle class and at least a part-time job. I don't know if I can.
A degree - even an M.A. - isn't a guarantee for a job.

I'm also not sure of what programs I can or want to pursue. My B.A. is in Spanish cultural studies (i.e. the culture of Spain), but I need to take into account, even though I hate to do it, what program would be the most... ick... marketable.


So much for doing what I love. :(


Here's a few of the programs at Portland State I'm considering:



TESOL
Poli Sci (not sure about this one - I reject bourgeois politics, after all)
ESL / Bilingual Education

Anyway, am I crazy for considering this? I have a history of setting myself up for failure, plus I don't even know if I have the willpower to do it. Advice?

[Ele'ill]

I don't even have my 2 year degree so my opinion is coming from that position- whenever I hear someone trying to decide if they should go back to school my first reaction is YES DO IT GO do whatever it takes cause I wish I was in their place. A friend is like one paper away from their masters degree and they're sitting on it which just blows my mind.

[The Young Pioneer]

Not crazy at all. I'm in a similar position. (Or we're both crazy :D )

Go for it. Don't limit yourself to Portland though, if you're going to get more loans for grad school anyway. You can take TESOL in many countries, and if that's what you really wanted to do with your career, being abroad from the beginning is the best way to go.

If it helps, I did a Poli Sci major undergrad, and it's not mind-numbingly irritating; I felt I learnt a lot. A few of my profs were even Marxists.

Best of luck to you, let us know what you decide. :)

[daft punk]

go for it, do what interests you the most.

[thriller]

I'll prolly go to grad school to defer my loan payments as well. You can also get paid to go to grad school if you find the right program at the right school. A friend of mine actually had two universities competing over him to attend grad school, both kept upping their compensation. Like Young Pioneer Liza said, don't limit yourself to Portland, if you can. Go for it, and who knows, maybe by the time you are finishing grad school a revolution will start and loans will become irrelevant (I always hope for this :D ).

[Highfructosecornsyrup]

The Portland job market is especially harsh, it's mostly service sector and there aren't tons of well paid, decent work regardless of whatever advanced qualifications you get.

Tons of people end up tempted into gradschool to escape unemployment/loan people - sustain a certain lifestyle past its due date - with vague hopes that it will somehow help them get a job afterward.

I think if you were to do it then a program like teaching EFL that would probably in the right vein, I'd aim at those specific qualifications and departments which offer some sort of internship or work experience which will lead directly or indirectly to a job.

My experience has been of getting an advanced degree from an absolutely top school in my discipline only to find myself leaving it off my C.V. in order to not appear overqualified - I've had no better luck on the job market than with my BA. Those from my program who did get jobs were those who used it via an extracurricular internship to gain a foothold in a thinktank or policyjournal or ngo which eventually grew into a low paid precarious position. Woohoo. Also a masters is a damn lot of work.

I'm sure a Poli Sci degree would yield certain unquantifiable results in terms of enriching your perspective etc. And being a marxist wont be a problem. But you'll want to make sure the Poli Sci department at PSU has a good record of placing people in PhDs (the only sensible thing to do with an advanced poli sci degree really), or that it has at least informal links with places that might give you a job.

Also if its just for your personal enrichment then think twice before investing so much money just to take a Social Science or Humanities degree. Through the internet you can get syllabuses from top programs in Political Science and simply get a library card. Graduate education is almost all individual study anyway.

[The Cheshire Cat]

I'm not having any luck finding decent employment with my bachelor's degree, and my monthly loan payments are pretty astronomical, so I've been wondering whether I should go to graduate school and get at least an M.A.

Pros:


Delay my loan payments
Improve my prospects of finding a job
Do s'more learnin'
Cons:


Increase my total debt plus interest on previous loans
I'd have to juggle class and at least a part-time job. I don't know if I can.
A degree - even an M.A. - isn't a guarantee for a job.
I'm also not sure of what programs I can or want to pursue. My B.A. is in Spanish cultural studies (i.e. the culture of Spain), but I need to take into account, even though I hate to do it, what program would be the most... ick... marketable.


So much for doing what I love. :(


Here's a few of the programs at Portland State I'm considering:



TESOL
Poli Sci (not sure about this one - I reject bourgeois politics, after all)
ESL / Bilingual Education
Anyway, am I crazy for considering this? I have a history of setting myself up for failure, plus I don't even know if I have the willpower to do it. Advice?

Your nuts because your acutally in doubt:) Ofcourse you must go study more, one should always study as much as possible.

You could consider go studieing in Cuba, because as far as I know it is nearly free... and ofcourse its CUBA, which is a big pro on itself. You could also consider some European countries because the costs for studies are often verly low, if money is a big problem.

[Sam_b]

Not at all. I am a Postgraduate student currently applying for PhD study.

It's hard work, though.

[Franz Fanonipants]

if you want a job its not a bad idea.

but it basically is a job and you should treat it as such.

[o well this is ok I guess]

Make sure you check with the funding packages schools offer.
If you're ok living the low life you can actually pay off a portion of your student loans during the time.

[Veovis]

My main dilemma is whether I'd keep a full-time or a part-time job while studying. I can get away with a part time one because my rent is rather cheap and I don't eat a lot, and furthermore I'm not sure I could juggle classes plus a full-time job. Do people actually do that?

[Franz Fanonipants]

i don't know a lot of people who can do full time employment and g-school (in any kind of sane timeframe), thats why there are assistantships. they're bullshit and the hours are often just under what it takes to be counted as a full time employed student (so you can't get gov't or private benefits) but they also count more or less as a paid apprenticeship if you are in a decent program. if not welp enjoy running scantrons through shit and making p. decent money for super easy work.

[o well this is ok I guess]

My main dilemma is whether I'd keep a full-time or a part-time job while studying. I can get away with a part time one because my rent is rather cheap and I don't eat a lot, and furthermore I'm not sure I could juggle classes plus a full-time job. Do people actually do that? You could probably stay full time if you only ever took 3 classes a time per term. But that's shite.
Again, it all depends on how much you think the school is going to pay you.

[Franz Fanonipants]

that also depends on your program. the course load for my department is such that they don't recommend taking more than three courses a semester.

[black magick hustla]

i mess around with girls from the internet, drink a lot of beer, get ripped, and talk about atoms its prertty cvool imho

[Franz Fanonipants]

i mess around with girls from the internet, drink a lot of beer, get ripped, and talk about atoms its prertty cvool imho

manchildlife.txt

well except for the get ripped cus i am literally blazed like 80% of the time

[Human Lefts]

Increasing your income is a side effect of furthering your education. The main benefit it your increased ability to think. The more I study, the less I know and the more I criticize. At first, I wanted a good paying job so I could afford things that at the time I thought were important such as a "nice" house, a good car, etc. The more I studied, the less I cared for those things to the point that I call them decorations. Happiness became very cheap, so money isn't a factor anymore, although I have the potential to be making some money; however, I understand that their is a need for some basic things like food and medical care. I follow my academic interests as mediated by my values and opportunities. That's what counts. So, find what you like and focus on that. Everything else will fall into place.

[[email protected]]

If you're looking at grad degrees, make sure the TAs are unionized, otherwise expect to be exploited. I have no respect for many of the so-called "Marxists" in university management, whose politics stop at their business interests and who've been amongst the most ardent union-busters I've ever met. I speak from experience.