Deciding on a major and other school stuff.

[icarus]

Visited the University of WA today.

I decided to do the group tour with my school, because that would make me go. I tend to "get busy" and not make time for such important things.

I learned that I've been misinformed on a variety of fronts:

- On the positive side, UW has pledged 30% of their incoming transfer slots to community college students. Woo-hoo!

- The academic world is flooded with college-level teachers right now, and the tenure track is being replaced with "temp" teachers who are without benefits, work part-time and often divide their teaching between several colleges. There is a demand for secondary education, but I will not teach children, mainly because they irritate me at best, and walk all over me at worst. My reasons for school are various, but one of these is a lifestyle change: I want out of the standard workweek/two weeks vacation. I'd rather work harder 9 months of the year and then spend the summer writing/doing retreat/translating. That I happen to gravitate towards/love teaching/have experience teaching is a real plus.

- It seems the requirements for my school's AA degree is four classes short of the general distribution requirements for UW.

- I have to send my high school files back to my school, and have them at least send my school transcript in a sealed envelope. Previously I was told to just bring them in. This is not good for me, because my high school doesn't exist any more, and my high school transcript is a mess.

Oh, the courses are great.

Science encompasses Biology, Physiology, Geology, Physics.
I had two years of French and four years of German, including 2 months as an exchange student.
Art and music classes up the yin-yang.
English courses that included the rise of the novel, Beowulf, the Bible as Literature, Chaucer, Russian Literature, Shakespeare.
Class sizes so small it was virtually private tutoring.

But.

My little school was dying, and didn't have enough students for a 12th grade my senior year -- I was the last student actually (the prior year there was only three of us).

So I did a second 11th grade (taking different courses then I had the year before, as a lot of classes could be taken at either the 11th or 12th grade level). Then I finished 12th grade early the following year. There are letters in my file to indicate that the school did not, for financial reasons, have a 12th grade, and that I was a student in good standing. Then there's another letter indicating my brother and I were enrolled in the same year for 12th grade.

But the transcript for 12th grade just... stops. After the winter quarter there's no indication that I graduated, no listing of final grades, nothing.

That notwithstanding, I'm writing my personal statements, and in order to do that I have to narrow down my major/minor.

I have three directions I could take.

1 - One could be to say "fuck the career" and do what I love. In which case I'd go for Sanskrit and Tibetan and Buddhist studies, working it out as I go.

Really, UW's not the place for Tibetan - Naropa University is. They have a program with an internship with the Nalanda Translation committee, which *sighs* is awesome. (There's also programs at Harvard, UVA, UofM, University of Madision....). Frankly, if I were to do that, I'd be best off going to Kathmandu University in Nepal, though there's no Financial Aid, etc., and all of these colleges are expensive. This would be the end of me and wildernessguru, though I've checked with him about his willingness, if it were possible, to move to Colorado if I went to Naropa. He was iffy.

2 - Another could be to go for the English Master's, gamble on the future job, and enjoy the rich opportunity to read and feed my writing addiction (and maybe write, yes? Write, write? *pants*). This could dovetail with publishing Buddhist stuff and be quite worthwhile, and I could minor in Sanskrit at least.

3 - Another could be to go for the TOEFL/TOESOL. I have Laubach's Training, the WA Refugee Assistance Program training, Service Learning, and Tutoring to prepare me, and it seems to be the crossover point where my Asian Studies and English language meet. It's also meaningful. On the other hand, most of the jobs for this are in other countries, or at least that's my understanding. (Though a minor in Sanskrit/Buddhist stuff would make more sense.)

I think #3 would be the easiest sell to UW, and I could change my major later since they're so inter-related.


(Oh, and there's my fallback, #4 - complete the nine courses for the Paralegal certificate at Edmonds and work the same kind of work I've always done, with greater job security and 20% more pay.)

*much head-scratching here at Icarus central*

Comments

[whimseywisp.livejournal.com]

I like option 2.
Good luck w/ making the decision :).

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Writing! *snickers* I have no clue what to do at this point.

Icarus

[cheshyre]

But the transcript for 12th grade just... stops. After the winter quarter there's no indication that I graduated, no listing of final grades, nothing.
Can you get in touch with anyone who used to work there to write a letter explaining the situation that can accompany your transcript?

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's better than that - I simply need to include a letter with my transcript to help them read it. (Thank you cordelia_v.)

Icarus

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I pick #1 - Boulder. It would suit you. I've actually wondered if you'd considered Naropa before. Plus, IIRC, WG is Mr. Outdoorsman and into the equipment aspect, is he not? Again, Boulder is a wonderful choice for that - not just skiing, but rock climbing, hiking, biking. A hugely physically active place.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I happen to know someone who's on the board at Naropa, but that's not an entirely good thing -- I've really pissed off the Buddhist community as a whole. Phil's a great guy, but there have been some really ugly politics over the last few years.

WG's not excited about Boulder, actually. He says the place has become very trendy, and wonders what he'd do for work there. Still, this is all looking down the road at this point.

Icarus

[srichard.livejournal.com]

As someone who is very likely smack in the middle of changing her field, my thoughts are that you have to do what you can be passionate about, if you're thinking about academia. Even if it's flukeworms. If you can find love and enthusiasm enough in flukeworms, you'll make it. If you can only kind of be interested in something much more important, you won't.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Okay, I must know: what are flukeworms?

LOL. I am the sort of person that becomes passionate about everything I'm involved, to tell the truth. But I love writing and Buddhism, have no doubt about that. The ESL has been an outgrowth of both, because I end up teaching Asians English.

Icarus

[cordelia_v]

I have a response to all this (no surprise: it's part of what I do for a living). But it turned out to be just too long to post on lj (I was afraid I'd type it all out and then lose it when posting, if lj screwed up). So, I've emailed it to your yahoo account.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Wow! This is fantastic. Yeah, this helps a lot. Let me think this over and I'll respond this evening.

Icarus

[dphearson.livejournal.com]

The academic world is flooded with college-level teachers right now, and the tenure track is being replaced with "temp" teachers who are without benefits, work part-time and often divide their teaching between several colleges.

Yup. When I was training for the Msc, I saw plenty of Ph.Ds cycling through assistantships that were only for 1 academic at most. And getting benchwork (that is a research or development position at a private company for those who are chemists of biologists)os damn, damn, damn tough. And remember, this is in the the 'pratical' sciences.

What has support me through out this suck-ass economy are my forecasting and modeling skills; I am able to label myself a QA person or a stats person. And I have taken continuing education courses in the latest statistical modeling theories. The days of labwork seem so far away.

Will I ever go back to teaching? Dunno. I was not wise for a 23 yr fresh out of college trying to take on High Schoolers. I think I am traumatised for life.

Now, to your choices: I will not speak about what is good for you and wg; that's you and your heart. However, from a practical standpoint, here is what you could do:

#3 and #4.

Remember, I have the sheepskins proving that I am A dult. Yet I am doing what I want, despite this economy. What the sheepskins give you is training and flexibility.

So, sell #3 to the Uni, and see if you can take those courses online or at the community college for reduced cost. The paralegal skills can support you and help with your Tibetan/Buddhist interests, and you can pursue doing what is in your heart.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Hi, I got your voicemail late. I'm really extremely difficult to reach by phone, and impossible to reach at the last minute (as wildernessguru's sister has discovered to her chagrin).

I could never teach high school kids. *shudders* I have bad memories of having to control my brothers' friends when he and I were home on our own all the time, and I have no illusions about what that would be like.

Besides, I don't really like kids. There's a reason I've never, ever wanted to be a parent.

Also, there are developmental issues with kids that are at odds with my motives for wanting to teach. I want to help people get a leg up in their lives, but kids are not at that point - they're too busy growing up to really be able to be ready for the 'leg up' so to speak.

Okay, I'm pretty clear on what I don't want to be doing. But the rest? Hmm.

Icarus

[ursula]

What happened to the "be a professional writer" option?

(I have longer comments, but my net connection tried to eat them this morning. Will post them when I can.)

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

At this point the degree seems to have little to do with becoming a writer. It's a matter of writing the stories and submitting them. The only angle that seems to matter as far as what degree I go after is journalism, and I've decided that that's not the life for me.

Icarus

[ursula]

Fair enough.

Now that I've sorted my net connection out, here's the original comment I wanted to post:

I don't see either law school or a career as a professional writer on this list. Academic English is not the same thing as creative writing and it's not necessarily even the same thing as taking creative writing apart and seeing how it works. It has its own rules and ways of thinking and preoccupations that are often completely unrelated to the way writers put things together in the first place. This means that an advanced degree in English doesn't have all that much bearing on being a writer; and the job market is terrible. (I can hunt you down a whole slew of details if you like; since I'm an academic in a different field I hear a lot of stuff about the general academic job market.) Plus, the life of a professor is not nine months on, three months off; it's nine months teaching and three months desperately trying to publish (to get that tenure-track job, or tenure, or promotion, or what-have-you.)

You could teach community college, or private high school. Teaching community college has its own set of challenges; it's less likely to give you the summer off, but on the other hand the interest in ESL would probably help you sell yourself.

Or you could be a professional writer. If you want a job teaching creative writing you're better off publishing than doing advanced degrees . . . I do know people who make a living as writers, and could hunt you down contact info., if you're interested. This isn't the most secure solution, but it's not actually any less secure than starting your own business.

Or you could do the law degree (instead of paralegal) and think about teaching law, as well as actually being a lawyer. This needn't entail selling your soul: hesychasm is doing a dual degree in law & religion at Duke at the moment, & I know someone else who's in Canada, studying law as it applies to indigenous populations. My guess is that the academic job market for lawyers is rather better than the academic job market for English teachers; and the job opportunities for unemployed law professors are a couple million times better than the job opportunities for unemployed English professors. This wouldn't necessarily give you time to write; but neither would teaching community college. In fact, given the way that prepping classes & taking classes eats one's "free" time, I suspect that 9-5 or 8-6 jobs are better for would-be writers than teaching jobs, despite that loss of the fabled summer vacation.

Or you could move to France, where the unemployment rate is horrible but summer vacation is mandated nationwide ;)