NYU, Take II
I've been on an MPA roller coaster for the past day or two (has it really only been one day??)... and considering scrambling to get my applications in on time. But Tex Goldface makes a good point-- I don't know if I really need this degree, and further, I should probably get a job in a nonprofit first before I do a faceplant into the master's degree and get myself in debt.I still have a few meetings to look into these programs this week, but alas, I think I need to slow down the MPA train and take a look at reality.
On a brighter note, I was just informed about NYU's School of Continuing and Professional Studies, which has interesting one-day courses where you can dive into a career for a day (Nutrition and Teaching are two I might want to check out). Most of the courses are a huge rip-off for what they are, but they look cool and informative, and seem smarter to pay than a degree I'm not sure about, eh? I'm going through the courses right now. Many start as soon as next month, which is cool.
This also means that I can take my time (as I should) and figure out what each of these careers is really about.
posted by amandascareer @ 8:48 PM
3 Comments:
I am a big advocate of trying out the job before getting the degree needed for the job. I think there is something very comforting about school - how can a degree not be a good thing? - and therefore people rush into it without really considering why they want the degree. That said, when I was telling my dad such a thing recently, he told me that life is about a lot of random (not always very thought out) decisions that lead you to something and that's ok too. Certainly that's how my parents found their (rewarding) careers.
I had some thoughts on event planning too. I remember when my brother talked about becoming a sports journalist. It sounded like there couldn't be anything better -a profession built around the thing he loves most in life, sports. My mom, however, was wary, fearing that by making his passion his profession, he might lose all of his enthusiasm for sports. You love to plan events and to bring people together, but maybe doing it professionally will make you not want you not to do it personally.
Hmmmm....nutritionist? Possibly worth looking into.
Just some food for thought: If you're going to look into degree programs, make sure you ask them about career services and job placement stats. No sense in getting a degree if you can't do anything with it afterwards. Also, a lot of time with professional degrees, they won't accept you into the program unless you have a certain amount of professional experience (this is true of many MPH programs, for example).
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