Oppo, I need guidance.

"WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe" (wesbarton89) 08/19/2015 at 15:22 • Filed to: None

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I’m looking at going back to school probably next year. The question is, what do I major in? I’m thinking possibly an English major with a concentration in either Professional Writing or Creative Writing, and a minor in Journalism, but I’m not 100% sure.

Those are my first picks, because I love to read and write. I also say Journalism as a minor, because I’d like to delve into Automotive Journalism. I know that it isn’t absolutely necessary, but it would certainly not be any harm to me. I’ve already delved into it a little bit with my blog, and maybe that can help out some, I don’t know. But, I’m not super mechanically inclined, so automotive technology is kind of not an option. I can always learn, but the uni I’m looking at doesn’t offer it anyways.

I also thought about a minor in Film as well, and with that, I could really exercise the creative part of my brain. But I’d have a difficult time finding any jobs around here for that.

I’m decent at Science, poor with Math, and very fluent with anything related to English and Writing. I’m pretty good with Art and Design as well. I’m much more of a creative person, than an academic one. I also don’t mind stuff like Psychology, Philosophy, and stuff like that. Knowing how we think and work really fascinates me, but I’m not so sure about a career in it. I also enjoy History, and I’m pretty good with that. But my brother has a Masters degree in History, and still works a dead-end job.

I’ve been doing call center health insurance work for almost 4 years now, with a slight gap while I was at another job that didn’t work, so I came back, but as it stands, not only do I want a college degree to allow a better chance at getting a job, and be able to pay my bills and mortgage without struggling every month. I want to set a good example for my daughter, who’s starting school in a matter of two weeks. Well, it’s technically called head start, which is the stage before Pre-K, but is still considered school. I tried my hand at college right after high school, and didn’t really fare so well, but I didn’t have quite as good of a reason to make it as I do now.

So, suggestions for majors on the more creative side of the spectrum?

WiscoProud > WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe 08/19/2015 at 15:32

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What are you looking to do career wise and what kind of degrees are required? The issue with creative degrees is that natural talent is still needed. Sure it can be honed and fine tuned, but it can't be created. If your dream job doesn't require a degree, you're better off saving the money and only taking the specific courses you need.

nermal > WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe 08/19/2015 at 15:32

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Are you employed now? Does your company offer tuition assistance? If so, do whatever they will pay for. If not, suck it up and get a kinda crappy job at a company that offers a good tuition plan - The going rate seems to be $5,250 / yr that you can get.

WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe > WiscoProud 08/19/2015 at 15:39

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Well, I’d like to think that I do have some natural creative talent. I’ve written poetry, dabbled in short stories, and I’ve done a lot of drawing in my day. I’m in fantasy land a lot of times, and I just like to make things, write stuff, draw stuff, that kind of thing. I’m 26 years old now, and at this point, if I didn’t have creativity, I think I’d know. I’m not trying to come off confrontational at all, so I’m sorry if it seems that way. You do raise a good point.

I could only take the specific courses, that isn’t a bad idea. I’d just like to do something writing related I think. Particularly on automotive stuff, to be more specific. I can do it without a degree, but I’d have more pride with the degree, and it would show a little more that I take a more serious passion with it.

WiscoProud > WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe 08/19/2015 at 15:44

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I didn’t mean for it to come off as you didn’t have talent, I meant it as since you have talent already, you might not need a creative degree.

I can certainly understand the desire to get a degree (have one myself), just don’t pick a school that will bankrupt you with student loans, since writing, for the large part, doesn’t pay particularly well. I don’t know where you live or anything, but if cost is a concern (which it should be if you’re paying for it) then I would recommend a small state school or something similar. You're older than a normal freshman, so while the party school may seem great at first, it will likely get tiring .

WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe > nermal 08/19/2015 at 15:47

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Yeah, I’m employed currently. They don’t offer tuition assistance. Lots of other discounts. But I have a job interview tomorrow somewhere else that may offer it, so we’ll see. I’ll also apply for financial aid.

WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe > WiscoProud 08/19/2015 at 15:53

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Oh, ok. I see what you mean. Sorry for misunderstanding.

I don’t plan on a party school. I’m engaged, with a three year old daughter, so that’s the last thing on my mind. I went to a small community college before, and it just wasn’t all that great. My plan is to go to another local state university. I’ll probably apply for financial aid, but I’ll avoid loans if possible. If I can get a PELL grant, that will help substantially. Otherwise, I’d go on a payment plan and pay myself. I live in MD right now, so there’s not much to choose from, but it is what it is. And I didn’t figure it paid well, but right now I’m only making $9.25 an hour after nearly four years of employment at this job, and with 8 years of customer service experience in general, so anything would be an improvement financially.

WiscoProud > WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe 08/19/2015 at 15:59

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Being older with a kid will help you a lot with grants. I didn’t go to college until I was 21 and my last couple of years I qualified as a non-traditional student which doubled my grants. Good luck with the search.

WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe > WiscoProud 08/19/2015 at 16:15

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That’s good to know. Thank you. I figure going to college while my daughter is in school during the day will be a little easier as well. I’d probably take early classes, and then try to work from early afternoon until evening, so I can be home at night. I figure that’ll be best.

Textured Soy Protein > WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe 08/19/2015 at 16:22

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I work in technology staffing. I have an English degree. The two are completely unrelated other than the fact that now when I apply for staffing jobs where they’re looking for a bunch of experience and a degree, I can answer that I do in fact have a degree.

I got into this field before I finished my degree. I started college right after high school, stopped, got a staffing job through random happenstance, then went back to school part-time while working.

Honestly I think getting an English degree is a high risk proposition. There’s nothing that really guarantees you’ll get a writing job, and a lot of writing jobs suck. That wasn’t even really my plan when I chose my major. I was a misguided 19 year-old who was really good at writing papers about books I may or may not have actually read. My plan was to get my piece of paper through the easiest possible means and worry about that pesky getting a job stuff later. Not a very well thought out plan.

I got my first staffing job totally randomly and was decent enough at hustling that I’ve built out a pretty solid resume.

The best advice I can give you based on both my staffing experience (right now I’m actually the director of career services at a tech school so you could say I’m professionally qualified to give this sort of advice) is that before you spend money on a degree, pick a career field that you want to get into, research what education you would need to get into that field, and then find the most affordable way of getting the education. Maybe the field you like needs a degree, maybe not.

You absolutely do not want to go into debt to get a degree where you’re not sure what kind of end result you’ll have from said degree. I was lucky in that my family could afford to pay for my school, and that I stumbled my way into a career that I’ve been successful in. But I’m very much an exception to the English degree trend. I’m sure there’s far more of them working at Starbucks than in my line of work.

WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe > Textured Soy Protein 08/19/2015 at 16:37

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That’s amazing advice. I appreciate that. One reason I say English, is because my uncle has been an English teacher since 1958. He’s 80 years old and still teaches part time. He has not been without employment for almost 60 years now, and has taught English at the high school and college level. He was also a principal for some years. He and I are close, and when I took his college classes, he pushed me harder than any of the other students in his classes, didn’t take it easy on me at all, and has taught me most of what I know. I hold my English and Writing to especially high standards because of him. It’s a little rusty from being out of school for 5 years, but I try my best to be good at it.

Like with you, I could get the degree and get into something completely unrelated. Only time will tell. I think you’re right as far as being an exception, as is my uncle. But he’s vastly overqualified, as he has a Masters in English, Education, and a Bachelors in TV and Radio Production. But you can never have enough education.

Textured Soy Protein > WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe 08/19/2015 at 16:51

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Your uncle got his degree so long ago and built up his experience based on opportunities that were available a long time ago, not the realities of the present-day job market.

I got into this field because I took an entry-level job with a terribly low base salary but high commission potential, and took a good long time to ramping up to a level of making an acceptable amount of money. It was very much a sacrifice at the beginning.

Looking at things pragmatically, answer me this: if you combine your current experience with an English degree, what doors does that open for you?

WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe > Textured Soy Protein 08/19/2015 at 17:03

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That’s a good point. You’re very correct.

What doors open? That’s a good question. Honestly, I don’t know if it does. I mean, in my last couple jobs, being call-center based customer service, they require a lot of documentation and notes, and I have to be able to get my information off clearly and succinctly. I have to be concise, but able to communicate enough information for other representatives, and for quality assurance. Being able to communicate through writing this way is pretty important, so I have that to my advantage, but that may be slightly reaching as well.

Over the last few years, the writing, reading, and English stuff has more or less been a passive hobby just so I don’t get too rusty or fall behind with it. I mean, when I was in college before, it was just general studies, but I took a lot of English and Writing courses, up to the 200 level, and did well with them. I also took honors level English courses in high school and did well with those also. Job-based in general current experience though, with an English degree? Not really much at all, I suppose. I’ll have to rectify that.

WiscoProud > WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe 08/19/2015 at 17:09

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You may want to look at schools that have an education program. The college I went to had an early education degree and as a result, we had a student run early childhood center on campus. I don't recall what the cost was, but I don't think it was as high as normal.

WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe > WiscoProud 08/19/2015 at 17:12

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That’s definitely a good thought. I’ll look into that.

Phyrxes once again has a wagon! > WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe 08/19/2015 at 17:22

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The Mrs. has a masters in fine arts that she totally doesn’t use as she didn’t have the connections or the means to afford an agent to do art full time. It’s something she would like to get back to but it takes some serious drive to make it work as gainful employment.

Certainly look into the options that you have as a nontraditional student.

Textured Soy Protein > WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe 08/19/2015 at 17:45

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All those skills you’re describing are very general. Try to drill down to what sort of actual job those relate to. “I communicate things and document stuff” isn’t really much of a job description, ya know?

In my case, I just so happened to be in a field that while it was easy enough to find an entry-level job in a company that hires people without degrees, many of the more-experienced jobs require some kind of degree, and they’re not too particular about what exactly you majored in. So it ended out working ok with my career progression.

I’d suggest checking out job boards and finding descriptions that both: a) want something resembling the experience you have so far and b) require a degree. This is a good starting point. Pick a category, then change the location to your city.

If there’s nothing really appealing that uses the experience you have so far, then you’d have to consider starting from scratch. It’s not the end of the world if that’s what you decide. Everyone I deal with in my job is someone who is looking to change career paths by getting a degree. More often than not they have no experience in the field they’re studying. But these are more career-focused degrees than English. For example, there are plenty of entry-level IT jobs looking to hire people who are just coming out of an associate’s degree program in IT. English...not so much.

Short-throw Granny Shifter is 2 #blessed 2b stressed > WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe 08/19/2015 at 18:48

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Keep in mind that when pursuing a writing or journalism major it’s not enough to just go to classes. You have to do some work or interning in your free time so that you have a decent portfolio by the time you graduate.

I have several friends who went Journo or writing. It’s tough but they love it.

RockRam > WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe 08/20/2015 at 10:20

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Artists like your self keep the world going round. What I would do is major in a sustainable field. Any of the STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering, Math) will do but are so expensive. The next up is a general business degree (Business Admin). This is much cheaper in some cases and pretty much guarantees an entry level job anywhere for advancement in the future. Since writing is your passion, I’d do it on the side. I’d have multiple blogs and guest write as much as possible in various interesting topics for a broad and deep portfolio and resume build.

I'm doing similar to this now. I got a pretty technical degree a year ago with a mix of engineering and business (Supply Chain Operations Management). I got an good entry level job but my passions are exercising, helping people and cars. I started blogs for these topics and hopefully with Google ads and affiliating, they will be making some revenue after a certain amount of time. Passions will always be there, but I like the safety of a degree that can guarantee job security. You never know, a recession is always right around the corner and I want to be ready.