I am now selling cars to pay back my student loans.  I have two BA's, interned with the National Park Service, and worked part time in a museum for four years.  After years of looking for full time work, it finally got to the point where I had to make a decision to do what I love or pay off my massive debt.  I agree with Elizabeth and Deb on this one.

 

Sarah

From: Elizabeth Walton <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, May 7, 2012 9:52 PM
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Aspiring Museum Professional School/Career Questions

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)

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