Degree or no degree.

I recently got an opportunity to cover all sports in my area, it is for a fairly new publication so the pay isn't great to start but I will be contracted within the next 6 months. My boss wants me to work for the magazine full time but I had planned to go back and finish college. I know these opportunity's don't come around very often and as and I am new to the industry I am seeking advice on what I should do. Thanks in advance for your reply.

 

Based on the problems with your post, I'd say pick school.

 

Disagree. If you can make a living writing for the magazine, do it. It will give you a chance to find out whether this is what you want to do for the long-term, and you will learn things doing the job full-time that you could never learn in a classroom. If you find out this is not for you, at least you won't have wasted your time and money getting a degree in a field you're not interested in working in for the next 30 to 40 years. You can go back to school at any time.

 

10 years ago I'd tell you to go to the job. With the newspaper business being what it is, I'd say stay in school.

 

Having a degree certainly won't hurt you, especially if at some point you tire of the business — or the business tires of you.

 

Stay in school. You don't want to go out and start working and realize you want to go back to school. You can always freelance for the publication.

 

So you get to cover all sports and be contracted within six months? What does that mean?

I'd worry about the publication if they hired you as a staffer. This sounds mean, but your writing needs work. There were far too many errors in your post for you to be a credible writer.

 

Follow your heart. If the magazine takes a dump you can always go back to school. If you're young and you think the magazine work would be a fun experience, give it a shot. If it seems like it's going to be a sweatshop and you're just doing it because you think it's a rare opportunity, don't do it. You may end up being a college grad working at Subway in a few years, but that beats being a dropout working at Subway.

 

When will you finish your degree? Can you take a couple classes and work full-time at the pub?

School will always be there. The job? Probably not ... especially with what's occurred in our industry. Gaining experience is critical.

 

A college degree won't make you any smarter than the average homeless guy on an interstate off ramp, but unless you want the road of life to be a fucking obstacle course, finish school ASAP.

 

The experience of college meant more to me than the actual degree. This is coming from someone who was a non-traditional student and graduated at 26. School will always be there, but there is no point in wasting your youth on a dying business.

 

Someone has already said this, but judging by the writing in the post, either he's going to wash out before the end of the probationary period or the place is so bad that he'll be embraced.

Go to school.