Not much!! Right out of college, I wanted any job I could snatch up, so I became a paralegal. That lasted for four months until I was absolutely miserable. Then I worked as an assistant archivist. It was an okay enough job, except that there was no room for mobility. I pretty much hit a brick wall. So I quit and began to focus on applying to grad schools. I applied to six grad schools. So far I've heard back from three (all acceptances). Waiting to hear from the other three. Waiting to hear about funding from the three I was already accepted to. I'm going for Library and Info Science (or the program closest to that, all ALA-accredited). My focus will be on digital library studies and the preservation of information. I applied to the schools best known for that focus (which just happen to be ranked as the best by U.S. News for Library & Info Science overall). And I applied to UT as a safety school in case I receive no funding whatsoever (which is a likely scenario given the state of the economy). I've got my fingers crossed. They really don't prepare you for how brutal it can be after school to find a job. They spend too much time in high school prepping you for those standardized tests that don't really prove anything. They really don't prep you for making decisions that will greatly affect you for the rest of your life. If I could do it all over again, I probably would've gone pre-pharm or something. I never thought grad school would be an option for me, so I just went with something that interested me. And now I'm paying for it. I need a sugar daddy.
I have never heard or thought about Library and Info Science before in my life. That's an odd interest you have fer sirius. Is there even a pretty good job market for that? Why not go for Law School? Or maybe something in Education so you can teach college kids?
Yes, there's a job market. I think Education is one of the most worthless degrees... I would never go to school specifically for that. A lot of people who teach don't have Education degrees. Law school is NOT for me. I get so sick of people asking if I'm going to go to law school. No, I'm not. If you have ANY doubts about going to law school, I don't think you should go. A lot of my friends were pressured into going to law school and absolutely hate it. I worked as a paralegal and got a glimpse into the legal realm--It's not for me. I took an International Law class in undergrad, and my professor who was a lawyer practicing in law, begged our class to pick any other profession... something more honest, like robbing a bank. Law school isn't for everyone, and it's not for me. It's a huge commitment, and there's nothing in the way of funding your education. Why not go to school for Library & Info Science? It's a natural extension of my previous professional experience, something that I enjoy. I think you're thinking of Library & Info Science in the very traditional sense, and it's become something much more than that over recent years, particularly in the digital realm. The digitization of information has become increasingly prevalent in institutions. You're not limited to JUST working in a library with a Library & Info Science degree, unless you're going for something specific like Young Adult librarian, which I am not.
PoliSci here because it interested me. Wish I could go back and do a different degree. But don't think PS is easy. You write a ton. And on top of writing you have to actually read serious works, analyze them, learn to do scholarly research and then write logical, though provoking papers that address a wide range of issues, some of them incredibly obscure. I've written 20+ page papers formulating new American foreign policies to Nigeria and discussing Texas spousal rape laws. I know it is a liberal arts degree, but Political Science is not an easy major. The problem with PS is the application of the degree.
that is what I am planning on doing. I'm a polysci/international affairs major with an east asian emphasis. I think that would be fun and interesting. I don't understand why most people just usually consider a liberal arts degree easier. Poly Sci/ history/english/etc require a **** ton of analysis, reading and writing extensive papers, it is hardly "easy." I'm not sure what makes that easier than math among other things.
It's a lot of writing and reading, but it's not difficult. I had to take two upper level PS classes and was dumbfounded that anyone thought it hard. All you had to do was actually read the material and be able to write a coherant sentence. Most of the political science majors in the class were too lazy to do the former and rather poor at the latter. I, the lone engineer in the class, just did the work and got an A. It's easy, but to do well at it you have to really be interested in the subject matter (or disciplined enough to slog through it regardless). Consequently, it can be challenging to get through - but it's not hard in my opinion. For the record, I am not trying to belittle the degree, just giving my two bits.
Coherant? Anyway, yeah, it may be easy when you only have one or two PS classes to juggle, but when your remaining classes all consist of PS or History classes, it's very daunting. It also depends on the professors you get, and if that's your primary focus, you're not always going to get the easy ones.
Very cool. There is a lot of money to be made in international law. It definitely is one of the more interesting areas of law to study/practice.
lol. Computers can check our spelling, but they cannot help us become coherent. I guess my point was in the use of the term "hard". Hard for me isn't "Holy hell I have a lot of work to do," it's "Holy hell I have no idea how to do this work". Again - not trying to offend; I don't have a dog in this fight and, frankly, rather enjoyed some aspects of traditional "political science".
I would agree that it might not necessarily be hard, but it definitely isn't easy. My point is that if you're going strictly for something "easy", Political Science probably isn't the way to go.
Marketing majors still have to take financial & managerial accounting, finance, and some other tougher classes. Nutrition was a good recommendation for a easy major in my opinion.
i totally disagree w/ this post - education is not 'worthless' at all and in today's economy, probably puts you in a better position to land a job right out of college than most. and an education degree is not required to be a middle/high school teacher, but if you are teaching elementary school you must have a degree in elementary education. if you are teaching middle/high school you get a degree in the subject you want to teach and then its another year a half or so to get your teacher certification. getting teacher certified isnt as difficult or as much of a workload as getting a masters, but its definitely a lengthy process w/ lots of hoops to jump through.
Sorry, 'worthless' was not the best word choice. I don't think it's a worthless degree, just not a very valuable one (not that my degree choice was much more valuable ) My point is, if you get an Education degree, you're pretty much pigeonholing yourself to teaching. Where as with another degree, you at least have the option to teach.
I was a history major and it was complete cake. I graduated with a 3.95 GPA. Degrees like history and poly sci may be time consuming, but there's nothing that requires a high level of brain power. Degrees like biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, etc are the ones I consider to be "hard." Put in the time, and I'm convinced any person at a university can get a liberal arts degree. I don't feel the same about a chemistry, physics, or an engineering degree.
