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Going back to school?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by SixToe, Dec 10, 2009.

  1. Mystery Meat II

    Mystery Meat II Well-Known Member

    Law, possibly, though at 35 that boat has long since sailed for me.

    Mayhap something new media related. Don't know if I have the smarts for an MBA, but I know people going that route.

    There's always trucking school!
     
  2. Stitch

    Stitch Active Member

    Don't get a Master's degree to teach at a high school or grade school. A longtime teacher I know said that a lot of younger students get Master's and are the first one's laid off. They can't get another teaching job because they would make too much according to the union scale.
     
  3. Stitch

    Stitch Active Member

    You don't need to be smart to get a MBA. Plenty of corporate idiots I grew up with have MBA's and they made it through.
     
  4. EStreetJoe

    EStreetJoe Well-Known Member

    At age 40 I'm becoming a paralegal.
    Not the big money that lawyers make, not as much schooling either, but it's still good work, decent pay if you get in the right place.
    http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos114.htm
     
  5. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    I'm not going back to school until I've finished paying off my student loans and gotten enough money saved up to pay for it entirely in cash, so probably about five more years. I figure I've got some time to narrow it down. And then, it will either be me or my wife but probably not both. The key is job security and portability. We want to be reasonably confident we can get a job living almost anywhere.

    Some options we've considered:

    Me getting a masters in English. The pro here is that every community college in the country needs adjunct professors to teach Comp 101 and the like.

    Me getting a law degree. I almost did this after I got done with journalism studies, but I couldn't justify the extra debt and we needed me to take a job right away.

    Her getting a teaching degree. Again, the key here is portability. Everywhere needs teachers (although granted it can be cyclical with the economy).

    One of us getting a degree in French. This is more the vanity option for if we felt financially secure enough to have some fun. You can make very good money as a private language tutor, and with the internet it can be a very portable job.
     
  6. Lugnuts

    Lugnuts Well-Known Member

    Good for you! I'm also doing something else 'out there' and far, far away from sports journalism.

    What do you plan on doing with it?
     
  7. Fredrick

    Fredrick Well-Known Member

    Devil, how did your wife become a speech patholigist? How much schooling it it take? Teaching people 1-1 sounds much more fun than the classroom. The health profession sounds the way to go.
     
  8. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    Four-year degree and then a Master's degree. It is not a quick fix, but I think she makes $33-$35 an hour now or something like that.
     
  9. Piotr Rasputin

    Piotr Rasputin New Member

    I think it's wise to do something far from daily sports journalism . . . .

    Whenever journalists, current and former, and soon-to-be-former, are asked "what will you do now that (you're willing to acknowledge that) journalism is in major trouble?" the answers are often similar.

    - Teach elementary or high school kids
    - Go to law school
    - Get a master's in journalism, and try to teach tomorrow's journalists

    The problem is, none of these professions have the longterm viability we think they do. Teaching has already been discussed in this thread, law firms aren't exactly avoiding layoffs (and the brass ring of "Same hours as journalism, but for a LOT more money!!!!" isn't a fait accompli even if you get through school and pass the bar).

    And teaching journalism in college? That's the fallback/fantasy/escape hatch - whichever term you prefer - for many, many print jockeys seeking a way out. Those gigs are getting snapped up left and right.

    I should have been an anesthesiologist.
     
  10. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    This is what I'm doing right now. Several of the paralegal people at my school have seen my resume and told me that a lot of the skills I've learned in the newspaper field are transferrable to paralegaling.
     
  11. J-School Blue

    J-School Blue Member

    The Ultimate Grad-School Blue plan is a master's of library science. If you can land the right job, it appears both very comfortable and very stable. Plus, the programs I've looked at focus on information systems and some interesting aspects of First Amendment advocacy - plus quite a bit of web stuff - which would be helpful qualifications for other jobs I could see myself happily doing, even if I don't land the Perfect Old Librarian gig.
     
  12. Hackwilson191

    Hackwilson191 Member

    You want recession proof? My wife job beats all and is a good field -- FDIC. Her office has grown from 12 to 45 in the last 2 years.
     
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