Going back to school?

I really thought about returning for music education. Would love to run a high school marching band. I actually had an offer to take one over a few weeks into a school year, but needed to decline it because there was no guarantee I could keep the position going into the next year, even if I took every education class asked.

Wasn't the principal's fault. He's an outstanding man, and given any better circumstances, I would have taken it.

In hindsight, it was the better to stay in journalism (at the time). What are most school systems trying to cut at every ghost of a chance? The fine arts.

I want to make some sort of change. I work for a pretty good group of people, but the job itself makes me want to go out and play in traffic (in addition to other goings-on in my so-called existence). But what? And will the time and money spent pay off? I've been around just long enough to know that nothing is guaranteed, but at some point, it's counterproductive.

 

I'd love to be a teacher but all the teachers are being laid off in my state.

I'd get a marketing degree and specialize in SEO and online marketing.

 

For those considering law school, read this lengthy article (if the link will allow you to access it)

http://www.law.com/jsp/nj/PubArticleNJ.jsp?id=1202436271998&src=EMC-Email&et=editorial&bu=New%20Jersey%20Law%20Journal&pt=New%20Jersey%20Law%20Journal%20Daily%20News%20Alert&cn=NJLJ%20Daily%20News%20Alert%3A%20December%2014%2C%202009&kw=GOING%20TO%20LAW%20SCHOOL%3F%20PROCEED%20WITH%20CAUTION&slreturn=1&hbxlogin=1

Going to law school? Proceed with caution
A J.D. used to mean a first-class seat on the gravy train. Now? Not so much. Critics say law schools have a duty to warn.
By Karen Sloan
The National Law Journal
December 14, 2009

The first part of the article:

and some selections I think are worth nothing:

 

The key is in the assumptions.

First, don't lose wages. Work and go to school. Sure it sucks, but this is life and not a party. Sometimes you have to do things that suck to get ahead.

Second, don't pay so darn much for tuition if you aren't going to be a top-notch student. Either be an elite student or be a cheapo who doesn't mind taking a low-scale law job someday. Don't get caught in the middle.

 

If you're still in journalism though, how do you balance going back with your work schedule? For example, I work consistently on three days - all day Wednesday, and three hours on Thursday and Friday. This normally takes up about 10 hours, so the other 20 to 30 can get assigned throughout the week, at odd, random times. If I just claim, "Well, I can't work any more Tuesday and Thursday nights, I have class for a degree that will allow me to quit this job," then I imagine this will hasten my exit from the newspaper business.

 

In all advice ever given on any thread in this board, I think it can be assumed that the advice is prefaced with an implied "Get out of newspapers first."

 

heh, Well-played sir.

 

Online degree.

 

Joe,

There is, of course, a lot of truth to that article.

But the problem isn't law school as much as it is A) the people who are going to law school and what their expectations are out of it, and B) the lowest tier law schools. Given what I see every day, I'm actually surprised the dissatisfaction rate isn't higher. There are simply too many people who absolutely don't belong there - kids straight out of undergrad still partying every weekend, a guy in his late 40s who literally doesn't know how to sign on to his Westlaw account because he's so unfamiliar with computers, the students - young and old - who skip as many classes as they can each semester. Almost all of whom are taking on at least 50K in debt.

Many of them think they just need to graduate and pass the bar to get a job. Any of us who have worked in journalism know that's at least unrealistic and probably crazy, but when you're 22, you don't know any better.

And this is at a school that floats in and out of the top 100, i.e. not even close to the bottom of the barrel.

When I suggest law school as an alternative to journalists, it's with a couple of assumptions: 1. You'll be serious about it; and 2. You won't do it if you have to go to Joe's Mail Order Law School.

And the fact remains that if you are very serious, you can walk out of school in three years making 100k. Even from a school like the University of Toledo, in which a third of my class started with full scholarships.

What other career move offers you that option?

When I was considering going back to school, I talked to someone on the board who'd left journalism and gone back to school to get his MBA at what most would consider a lesser MBA program. He acknowledged the flood of MBAs, etc., but said if you approached it seriously and hustled, you'd end up with a nice job, even from a third tier school. He had done so. It's the same exact thing with law school.

 

Jim is right that you can still get a good job with your JD. But don't go to law school because you want to avoid a bad job market or because a JD seems like a nice degree to have. Do it because you want to be a lawyer. Yes, having a JD can open doors outside of being a lawyer. But if being a lawyer sounds unappealing -- and you should definitely talk with practicing lawyers to find out what happens in their day-to-day lives before going to law school -- then don't do it. If you are thinking of going for a JD and aren't sure you want to be a lawyer when you are done, then have a specific plan for what you want to do. A good friend of mine got his JD and will never appear in a courtroom or work for a law firm. He wants to be an athletic director at a D1 school. He decided his best path was to get a JD, go into NCAA compliance and work up the ladder from there. He is a quasi-lawyer, but he knew exactly why he was going to law school.

 

I wish I had my own Mail Order Law School

Joe

 

Completely agree, PopeDirkBenedict, and I've said similar things before here.

You won't succeed if you don't genuinely like the law. You just won't. I love law school and the material, and there was still a night I stood in my kitchen at 11 p.m., having just returned from one of nearly 100 late first-year nights in the law library, and admitted to my journalist wife that this might have been a mistake. It was just so much work. Why had I given up a great job and good pay to put myself and my family through this?

If I didn't love it, I just wouldn't have had the commitment necessary to put in the work. I'd have slacked, like so many people, been in the middle of my class, and had no shot at a great job.

But there are a lot of similarities with journalism. A lot. And there are so many things you can do with a law degree.

If you're primarily someone who loves to write and loves to dig, you might very well enjoy it.

If you're in it primarily because you like going to games, you probably won't.