What degree do you have and what is your career?

[louse76]

Hi guys, I just graduated with my BA in Film (University of Central FL) and I'm 90% sure that I'm going for a MA in Mass Communication.

Two reasons why I'm going for a Master's Degree are because of the absolutely horrible job market and because it would be hard to get a job in my field without moving far away (and leaving my [and Zero's and Heather's] home).

So what Degrees do you have? Where do you work now or where have you worked? Is this something within your field of study? Would you have been able to get the job without your education?

Juuuust curious!

Plus, if anyone can clue me in to what I should expect from Master's level classes, that would be highly appreciated! There are 11 total in my degree program and I am considering taking 2 or 3 to start out with. I am used to a full load of 5+, but over the last two semsters (finishing up) I only had 3, then 2.

 

[tnr1]

I got a BA in Psychology with a minor in English...my jobs have been:

Special Ed teacher: working with severly emotionally disturbed 4th and 5th graders

Broker assistant (because I thought I wanted to be a broker at the time)

Manager at a bank

Human Resource Representative

Financial Analyst

Currently I am a Project Manager at Nextel Communications. (note..long way removed from the teacher I aspired to be years ago)

My degree was "helpful"...but I would say my career path had more to do with the contacts I made. Good Luck btw..my brother is getting a PhD in Economics at Johns Hopkins right now.

 

[big kat]

BA in Anthropology from Boston Univerisity. 4 of the best years of my life, anthro is so interesting! Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do anything related job-wise, and hope to get my masters someday in order to work in the field.

 

[louse76]

Contacts... yeah, I could use a few of those! It's not so great living in an area and not knowing so many people... and then the people that I know are really of no use in that area either!

 

[coco maui]

I have a degree in Middle School Science Education and I just took a job waiting tables

I taught for 2.5 years and hated teaching, too political and I spent most of the time disciplining the kids. Not for me

 

[vinceneilsgirl]

My story is a little different.

My parents are wealthy. However, they think that since they were able to become rich without having to go to college that it should be like that for everyone, so they refused to pay for me to go even though they could really afford to. I tried, like many people, to start college at 18, but if you're under 24 the federal govt considers you to be a dependent of your parents and counts their income against you when they figure out how much you can get for school aid. My parents make a total of $500,000/year...so of course I could get no school aid.

I bided my time until I was 24. I worked different jobs. Then, at 24 I was declared an independent person in the eyes of the federal govt. That is when I started college. However, I also did this in a very untraditional way...I did it through home school. This works better for me because I am one of those people who likes to work ahead and because I work a lot because of my activism...I need to make my own schedule.

So, I am currently a student at Kirkwood Community College, which is based out of Cedar Rapids, IA. I live in Florida. I'm a student in KCC's Anytime/Anywhere program. In August I will have my AA in Liberal Arts. I'm actually taking one course in a classroom at the local community college this summer, which KCC is paying for...its a Speech class.

In the fall, I will be starting at the University of Maryland through their distance program, which is called University College. I will be getting a BA in History with a minor in Journalism. This may not take me very long as UMUC is recommending that I attempt to test out of a bunch of things. Not to toot my own horn or sound arrogant, but I have a genius level IQ and with the exception of math I could test out of just about anything. So, I probably will.

Then, I am going to get my MA in History and my teaching certificate. I also want to get a second BA in Sociology. I'm going into a music, activism, and writing career, and I believe that all of these degrees will help me in my endevors.

And just to give you an idea...I'm so glad I waited to start college, because I get enough money to pay for school, books, remnt, bills, EVERYTHING with money left over! I can work if I want to but don't have to! I do work full-time in the summer because I don't get asmuch school aid in the summer...but I don't mind because the rest of the year I don't have to work unless I want to!

 

[cilla]

My mother brought my brother and myself up by herself and she was very poor, so I could not go to university for a degree.

I left school at 16 and entered the civil service examination here in the UK which I passed and became a civil servant. I married when I was just 20 and emigrated to Australia with my husband. Then my career went this way:

Fostered children in Australia for 11 years and made this my career there.

Ran the accounts department when back in England for a barristers chambers both for the chambers and for their own personal finance.

Got bored with that and am now a personal assistant for the top partner in a legal firm.

I would have liked to have gone to university, taken a degree and worked with mentally retarded children, or physically handicapped children, but circumstances prevented that. So I adopted a mentally retarded daughter and adopted a son who has epilepsy.

A note to all you youngsters, make sure that you go for what you want at the time you are young or else it will never happend. BTW I don't regret the way my life has turned out, and I believe it was meant to be as it is.

 

[jeeperscat]

I have an LLB (law degree) and I work at the head office of a chain of pharmacies doing absolutely nothing to do with law

 

[sammie5]

I have a BA in geography, with several years of graduate school at several different universities, in geography as well. I am an art dealer.

I use my university education all the time; reading critically, doing research (I do a lot of appraisals and consulting work), writing reports and proposals and so on. I also took a lot of cultural anthropology courses, because I loved them, and find that interest and knowledge very useful in working with indigenous art.

If I had not taken the geography courses, I would have gone into music. And interestingly, now all of my "spare" time is spent with music, as an amateur performer, and as a volunteer with music groups.

So when people ask, I usually say that you should take a university course you love, and then find a job that is suited to you, and often the two are not in the same field, but there are interesting ways that they are related. When I was a TA in first and second year geography courses, students would ask "what kind of job can I get with a geog. degree?", and I would say, "any kind of job you want, I work in a garden centre and an art gallery". It was a bit cheeky, as an answer, but its true as well.

 

[cla517]

I had a double major in communications/english. I am a paralegal. It really does use my degrees, but had you asked me when I graduated, this is not what I expected to be doing. I really like my job. Unfortunately, I work for the state, so the money isn't fabulous.

 

[deb25]

I have a BA in Elementary Education and an MEd in Educational Leadership from the University of South Florida.

At the Masters level, 3 classes is considered a full load. My degree program had 13 classes. With working full time, it took me 2 years to complete my degree. If you need the GRE to get in, I recommend one of the computer study aid programs to prepare.

 

[blondiecat]

AA in Accounting and am going back to school for my BA soon. All of my working life(since I was 15, now 41) I had always worked waiting tables and eventually went into retail sales at a pharmacy.

At the pharmacy I became the Senior Pharmacy Tech. this was before they were required to have a degree. I got so burned out doing that. So I quit my job and went to school full time for a degree in Accounting. Now I work in a CPA firm as an Administrative Assistant and I love it. One day I will be able to sit for the CPA exam and become a CPA. That's the plan anyway.

 

[dawnofsierra]

Since I'm a registered nurse, my carreer options are quite unlimited at this time. When I first graduated, I worked with a temp agency where I was sent to various facilities to fill in for nurses as needed. Then I worked in labor delivery which I really enjoyed, but I cared not one bit for working in the hospital. I'm currently doing private duty pediatric nursing. I've been in this position for years and absolutly love it! I am presently seeking various options for returning to school for my Masters to accomplish my goal of nurse practitioner.

 

[graykittenlove]

Well I'll have my Bachelor's in Accounting at the end of this year...finally. I started college right out of highschool then decided after a couple of semsters that I wanted to make more money than I could working part time so I started working part time and going to school full-time. It's worked out pretty well all in all even though it's taken 10 years to finish up the Bachelors.

Right now I'm begining to research Masters Programs but really haven't decided which way I'll go there. The plan is to get a Masters degree, mainly because work will pay for it and I'll have all my debt paid off, then maybe start Law School. But we'll see, life has a way of surprising a person.

Currently I work in an accounting related position at Sprint...reconcilations but would love to go into General Ledger, it just requires too many hours of overtime for it to be practical right now with school.

 

[sweets]

I didn't really think my education thru. I have enough credits in Nursing to become an LPN, but I despise working in that field. I finally graduated with my BA in Theater with a concentration on Directiing. It was where my Muse sent me. I've been working for a major bank on the East Coast for the past 20+ yrs.

I use my degree in my part time avocation. I am the newest Director for the NJ Festival Players. Every year we produce the NJ Renaissance Restival and I was recently appointed Director of our Fairy Tales. I have a cast of 8 and 2 shows.

Sandy

 

[vinceneilsgirl]

Originally Posted by Cilla

My mother brought my brother and myself up by herself and she was very poor, so I could not go to university for a degree.

I left school at 16 and entered the civil service examination here in the UK which I passed and became a civil servant. I married when I was just 20 and emigrated to Australia with my husband. Then my career went this way:

Fostered children in Australia for 11 years and made this my career there.

Ran the accounts department when back in England for a barristers chambers both for the chambers and for their own personal finance.

Got bored with that and am now a personal assistant for the top partner in a legal firm.

I would have liked to have gone to university, taken a degree and worked with mentally retarded children, or physically handicapped children, but circumstances prevented that. So I adopted a mentally retarded daughter and adopted a son who has epilepsy.

A note to all you youngsters, make sure that you go for what you want at the time you are young or else it will never happend. BTW I don't regret the way my life has turned out, and I believe it was meant to be as it is.

I hope that you don't feel bad that you didn't go to university. Education can come from life experiences and you have lots of those.

Ok stupid question...what's a barrister?

 

[cilla]

Originally Posted by vinceneilsgirl

I hope that you don't feel bad that you didn't go to university. Education can come from life experiences and you have lots of those.

Ok stupid question...what's a barrister?

No I don't feel bad about it, although I would have liked to have gone to university, I have studied many subjects (including people) and I have experienced many things.

Sorry about the barrister bit, I forget that we are in different countries. A barrister is a lawyer, but not a solicitor. A solicitor goes to a barrister for advice, help etc. A solicitor is not always allowed to stand in court in the UK, depending what the case is e.g. murder, big fraud, child abuse etc.

 

[vinceneilsgirl]

Originally Posted by Cilla

No I don't feel bad about it, although I would have liked to have gone to university, I have studied many subjects (including people) and I have experienced many things.

Sorry about the barrister bit, I forget that we are in different countries. A barrister is a lawyer, but not a solicitor. A solicitor goes to a barrister for advice, help etc. A solicitor is not always allowed to stand in court in the UK, depending what the case is e.g. murder, big fraud, child abuse etc.

You can still go to University if you want to.

Ok that explains the barrister part. But is there a difference or something between a lawyer and a soliciter? I'm confused!

 

[cilla]

Originally Posted by vinceneilsgirl

You can still go to University if you want to.

Ok that explains the barrister part. But is there a difference or something between a lawyer and a soliciter? I'm confused!

Over here both a barrister and a solicitor is a lawyer. It is much the same in comaparison as a doctor and a specialist, the barrister being a specialist. But they are both doctors. Does that sound confusing?

 

[vinceneilsgirl]

Originally Posted by Cilla

Over here both a barrister and a solicitor is a lawyer. It is much the same in comaparison as a doctor and a specialist, the barrister being a specialist. But they are both doctors. Does that sound confusing?

Not when you explain it that way!

OK I want to know something....I heard that marajuana is legal in the UK. However, a friend of mine who just got back from visiting said that it isn't, but that you can legally drink at 16. Which one of us is right?