As someone who is starting a new career to pay my bills, including my massive student loans, I totally agree. On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 10:27 PM, Deb Fuller <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Hi Alex, > > On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 9:53 PM, Alex Augustine <[log in to unmask]> > wrote: > > I imagine that the certificate is generally > > disregarded when other applicants have a full MA. So is it worth it for > me to pursue a certificate obtained through four classes and one internship > at $2,570 each ($12,850) or should pass on the opportunity and find a full > time job until possibly getting into a full graduate program in the fall of > 2013? It is terribly depressing to think about having to wait a full year > from this point to apply and only HOPE to get into a grad program that > doesn't even start for another year and half. I'm not sure what to do, > especially since getting into another grad program is no guarantee. > > This will probably make me unpopular but in this crappy economy, go > for the job. Museum jobs will most likely pay you LESS than what you > will make as a teacher. Pile student loan debt on top of that and you > will never be debt free. I see no reason to rack up $30-$50K in > student loan debt to go into a job pool where many salaries are well > below that. Read the back threads from grads who are shocked to still > be making $8/hour as a tour guide with their MAs in museum studies. > This is due to a variety of factors that I won't go into now but it's > a fact of the profession and it probably won't get any better any time > soon. > > Furthermore, an awesome job becomes markedly less awesome when you can > only afford to share a group home, eat ramen noodles, and drive a > beater after a few years. It starts to suck even less when all of your > friends have moved on from that stage and have gotten their own > apartments, go out to eat once in a while and drive newer cars and you > are still living like a starving college student. > > Networking, volunteering, and experience is what gets you jobs in the > museum world. I assume you want to go into museum education given your > education background. Museums really need teachers with classroom > experience as many museum educators do not have this. Go work in a > public school system and get as involved as possible. Keep > volunteering as well. Get involved in technology in education as that > is where a lot of opportunities are. If your school district offers > any kind of tuition assistance, put that towards museum ed classes or > workshops offered by museums. > > You can work museum Summer camp programs in the Summer for more > experience and extra money or volunteer on a more full time basis. > Save your money and go back to grad school part time while you are > still working so you don't incur student loan debt or minimal debt > that you can pay back quickly. Look for scholarships and tuition > assistance. It might take you 5 years to get your degree but that's > okay. When you graduate, you will have 5 years of teaching, > volunteering, as well as your time the Guard and that puts you up a > whole bunch over recent grads. > > I'd also see if you can use your vet's preference and see if you can > get a federal job working in a museum. Most entry level positions do > not require MAs and your preference will leap-frog you over most other > applicants. Just keep volunteering and be sure to put that down on > your resume as well. Then once you are in that system, the Feds will > help pay for your tuition (well, so they say. ;) > > And who knows, you might like teaching. It's different when you have > your own classroom. You might be able to set up a museum in your > school and run that or start a local school-museum partnership. There > are lots of opportunities out there if you look for them. > > Good luck!! > > Deb, working the corporate job to save up for the MA herself (and > volunteering and working part-time on the side) > > ========================================================= > Important Subscriber Information: > > The Museum-L FAQ file is located at > http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed > information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail > message to [log in to unmask] . 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