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Post by Angel Kaida on Mar 6, 2009 14:01:18 GMT -5
Be happy for me!
Here is how it looks:
Next year, I'll still be here at the university. I'll graduate with a BA in classics.
Second year: I'll stay at the university and live in the house I'm currently in (my house scholarship lasts 5 years), taking a science and math load and paying less attention to my grades since I won't have to maintain the other scholarships. I'll probably need to take out loans for this, but I think it's a good plan to take one more year at this good school since my housing and food are taken care of.
Third year: I'll go home to ND and work, trying to a.) pay off the student loans from the fifth year at university and b.) save up some money; also, I'll volunteer at my little brother's school or at the high school in my hometown, attempting to improve existing programs/add college prep programs and maybe informally shadowing some teachers. Depending on my schedule, I'll maybe take some CC classes in science and math, or maybe do some Latin translation work.
Fourth and fifth year: I'll try really, really hard to get into Teach For America or a similar education-related program. If I fail or, if I succeed, thereafter, I will see about taking a few more years and getting a B.S. in bio and maybe a teaching certificate in Latin.
How's this sound? I'm pretty happy about it. Any advice on how to make this happen would be really appreciated.
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Post by malicious_bloke on Mar 6, 2009 14:06:37 GMT -5
Volunteer work is a pile of arse, IMO.
Get a part time job during your studies, pay off as much of your student debt as possible early on or it will bite you in the arse later on.
By the time I got my bachelor's, I had paid off more than half of my student debt (I needed to get a job anyway, had a young family to support aswell). It makes a massive difference though, I know people I graduated with who are struggling to make ends meet because their student loan payments kicked in and they have trouble paying off that much.
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Post by Angel Kaida on Mar 6, 2009 14:11:47 GMT -5
Volunteer work is a pile of arse, IMO. Get a part time job during your studies, pay off as much of your student debt as possible early on or it will bite you in the arse later on. Well, I can't really get a job; I'm in Michigan. There aren't any. Plus, the student debt will only be for the fifth year, since I have scholarships taking care of everything else. I even have some money saved up from them, though it's becoming depleted now. I might even be able to get my relatives to do the loan, which would be even better. I like volunteer work! Especially if it helps my brother. When I'm doing work for money, I tend to be driven to frantic madness by the laziness/incompetence of people around me, and volunteering would allow me to kind of get over the anxious overzealousness that plagues me in paid situations. Plus, as I've mentioned, I have social anxiety problems, and I think this would be a good way to help me get over it. And that particular kind of volunteer work would probably help me get to Teach for America, which is something I'm really hoping to do. So I look at it as completely self-interested volunteer work. |
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Post by Paradox on Mar 6, 2009 17:10:08 GMT -5
Volunteering is good! It's always good to help other people.
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Post by Sandafluffoid on Mar 6, 2009 17:16:44 GMT -5
Where's the year abroad?
But that sounds like a good plan apart from this, of course long term plans never go according to plan so until I see otherwise I will consider this an excersise in futility.
And I agree with Maliscious, if you see a job, any job go for it, it can only do good. Yeah I can see the VD jokes coming a mile off everyone.
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Post by Vene on Mar 6, 2009 18:06:49 GMT -5
AK, if you find anybody hiring in Michigan, let me know. Not because I need the work, but because I want to know if its even possible.
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Post by dantesvirgil on Mar 6, 2009 20:13:49 GMT -5
I agree that long term plans are an exercise in futility, actually. I can sit down and tell you a giant pile of my five year plans--none of them worked out. But I ended up doing stuff I loved anyway. So, don't adhere too closely to a "plan", or you'll be setting yourself up for disappointment when something happens to make you change it. That being said, here's what I think about it.  First, I'd go that 5th year. The economy is going to be shitty anyway, you might as well stay in school and improve your odds later. I can tell you right now that extra year I used to tack on an extra degree has paid me in full (I have a B.Science in Economics and a B.A. in English). It is definitely worth it, and it takes so little effort--you've already put in most of the work, stick it out and rack up a second one. It helps you manipulate yourself into multiple fields. Never a bad thing. Second, volunteer where you can. Anyone who thinks volunteer work is worthless hasn't sat on any hiring committees lately. I have, and I can tell you it makes all the difference in the world, because it gives you two very valuable things: experience and the appearance of dedication. You get the training. You demonstrate that you have passion that you don't just measure in paychecks. That tells me as an employer that you are dedicated to doing a good job, and I don't have to dangle carrots in front of you to get you to do the right thing. That's probably going to jibe with your sense of capitalistic rewards, but employers want people who want to do a good job for a good job's sake. They're looking for dedication. Volunteering demonstrates work ethic. The pay comes later. Incidentally, you might check and see if Americorps is in your area. After your 5th year, you could do a year of Americorps or Americorps/Vista. The pay is shitty, but it's hands on experience, and once you put in the hours, you get some of those 5th year loans paid back for you. At your age, it'd be a good intermediate step if the job market is still shitty. |
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Post by Angel Kaida on Mar 7, 2009 9:30:08 GMT -5
First, I'd go that 5th year. The economy is going to be shitty anyway, you might as well stay in school and improve your odds later. I can tell you right now that extra year I used to tack on an extra degree has paid me in full (I have a B.Science in Economics and a B.A. in English). It is definitely worth it, and it takes so little effort--you've already put in most of the work, stick it out and rack up a second one. Well, sadly, I won't actually get another degree out of the deal. I took so long in choosing a major that I don't stand a chance of completing another one, especially the one I want; I'll just be learning more stuff. Hopefully the credits will transfer if I ever do go back for the B.S., though. Mostly, I did some stupid things in high school and now my science knowledge is nearly nil, and I feel like it's kind of a duty to myself to have at least a basic grasp of chemistry and physics. Plus, I was really good at math in high school, and I am really angry at myself that I did so badly in calculus when I came to college. Plus, I discovered in my bio class that I might, tentatively, actually like chemistry. Who knew? Yeah - the general futility of long-term planning is something that hit me almost as soon as I came up with this one. But the point is really to be heading somewhere reasonable, instead of to be going nowhere at all. I don't mind getting derailed and going off to do something else, but I do mind the feeling that I'm sort of just getting through this year and then I-don't-know-what. So far, the only plans I've ever made for my life haven't worked out, but pursuing them helped prepare me for the unexpected but much better thing I did instead. *shrug* |
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Post by trike on Mar 7, 2009 19:21:12 GMT -5
Heck yeah Classics majors! I just found out there is a way for me to graduate this year too. No five year plan as of yet though, I want to do americorp and then eventually make my way to grad school, but who knows where I'll end up.
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Post by MaybeNever on Mar 8, 2009 0:44:09 GMT -5
My five year plans mostly center around expanding Russian heavy industry and the economy, as well as internal reorganization of the proletariat. But they're still good to have.
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Post by antichrist on Mar 8, 2009 2:33:14 GMT -5
5 year plan?
I barely have a 5 day plan. Whenever that "where do you see yourself in 5 years" interview question comes up, my honest answer would be, "well it depends on what life throws at me".
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Post by dantesvirgil on Mar 8, 2009 9:30:34 GMT -5
Hm. How much would be in the way of a second degree, AK? All your GECs should transfer. Is it that you'd need more than a year of core subjects to pull off a degree in it?
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