College, college everywhere....

[eurydicebound]

So I went on Thursday and did the whole advising thing for the evening degree program. It was actually kind of fun, as I've gotten to know my adviser (aka Emily, the best academic rah-rah person ever) and she's been with me since I first thought "so, how does one go back to school anyway?" I have classes picked now, though I won't be registering until I've proven I had measles and I get my financial aid award (oh please, let them grant me something).

Something we talked about, though, that I had not looked at closely before (or had, but only indirectly, because it did not bear too much thought at this stage): grad school. At one point I was giving thought to law school, but I think I'm not really going to be driving to needing to take on frightening amounts of debt to get a career that will support me. If the way things are going at my current job is any indication, I won't have a ton of issues getting a nice career path lined up either with my current employer or elsewhere in a couple of years. *knock on wood* There's still a certain appeal to the study of IP law, that much is undeniable, but I don't know if I'm sufficiently in love with it to make the sacrifices it would demand. It would be grand and glorious and awful and terrifying, and I'm just not sold on it.

A second option I'd thought about was Library and Information Science. I think I'd actually be a pretty good librarian, but it's a hard gig to get. I'm really more interested in web and community and whatnot, but from what I can tell, the offered Masters degrees there don't cover those things. The IS is more like database admin, network architecture, etc. Which is way too much IT in my IS.

The last option, and one I had not really discussed or thought much about, is an MFA in English/writing. There is apparently such a concept as a low residency masters program, where you have to be on site for a couple of weeks at a time twice a year and everything else is done remotely. It.... could actually work. I wouldn't be doing it for money... I'd be doing it for love (and to refine my craft, but mostly for love). Is love enough of a reason to go to grad school? Is it the only reason to go to grad school. Damned if I know. Sigh.

Oh, and also, if things play out right, I could be out with my degree in as few as 5 quarters. If they don't, it'll be nearly two years. If I take the time to go the extra two years, I will likely be improving my odds of grad school considerably. I don't know yet which I'm wanting. So... yeah. Thoughts. Not sure about direction. Not even sure I'll go that far in my schooling. Not to mention it seems like an MBA of some variety dealing with brand analysis or marketing or whatever would go a lot further, if be a lot less palatable to me. I'm not sure I could live with the process. if an MFA is for love, an MBA would be... well, a lot less love, that's for sure.

Ah well. Such are the ramblings of a woman about to go back to school again. :)

Comments

[elissa-carey.livejournal.com]

Well, you could study law without the intention of becoming a lawyer. There are related/support jobs, like legal assistant, that definitely don't require as much time in school as a lawyer. :)

I was looking over classes and things last night while waiting for Alex, and that reminded me that I need to talk to an advisor at Drexel about the best options for me to take to transfer. I have a good idea, but it's always better to get confirmation.

[anaka.livejournal.com]

It's not the practicing law I object to. It's the 100k of debt and having to give up my day job to do it right, along with having the kids probably have to live with David so I can cut expenses. Granted, they'll be teenagers by then, but somehow I still don't think it's necessarily the wisest choice of action.

But yeah... if I wanted to be a paralegal or something, I could do that. I like what I'm doing now better than that, though.

[oldmangrumpus.livejournal.com]

A second option I'd thought about was Library and Information Science. I think I'd actually be a pretty good librarian, but it's a hard gig to get. I'm really more interested in web and community and whatnot, but from what I can tell, the offered Masters degrees there don't cover those things. The IS is more like database admin, network architecture, etc. Which is way too much IT in my IS.

Well, since I'm there now, I can tell you all about that. And it can cover those thing (though there has been some restructuring) if you want it to.

And please don't go to law school.

[anaka.livejournal.com]

Do tell. And why not law school, just to assuage my curiosity? :)

[oldmangrumpus.livejournal.com]

Well, that covers a lot, but

1) The IS in MLIS is not like DBA, it's more like social science. Really bad social science. My guess is you don't want to major in IS.

2) Here's a pdf of i-School IT offerings (http://www.ischool.washington.edu/courses/schedules/Info-Tech-Course-Descriptions-Feb2008.pdf); perhaps this will help.

3) The i-School MLIS is divided into "decades", basically, a set of classes whose intro is class that ends in a zero; so, 510, 520, etc. You are not required to declare a speciality in any one decade, though it's quite common that people do. (510 is IS, 520 is Reference, 530 is metadata and cataloging, 540 is IT, 550 is Law and Legal issues, 560 is education and children's librarianship, 570 is Research, and 580 is bleech Management)

There's also the Infomatics program, but I admit vagueness as to what they do.

This barely scratches the surface, and I don't want to spam your LJ. Contact me for more information.

And as for law school, I don't know anyone whose soul wasn't crushed by the experience, nor anyone who stayed in the law once they started.

[brannonb.livejournal.com]

You should introduce me to your awesome adviser. Also, if you want to know about job prospects in the Library and IS field, that's what Ed's degree is in, and he'd be happy to talk to you about it, I'm sure. Let me know and I'll hook you up.

[anaka.livejournal.com]

I would be happy to do so, on both counts. :)