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Non-LIW Advice Needed...I feel so lost. WARNING - Very Long

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Namaste--

I''m so glad you can relate! Awesome, btw, that your BF is an engineer too
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Thanks for your story about the application process. I was able to get a statement of purpose out, but I didn''t ''feel it'' either. It felt more like BS than true feelings about why I wanted to pursue this field so your post really hit home for me. It may just simply be that Audiology is not what I''m supposed to do and that''s why it was so hard to put into words that it was.

I''m so happy that you''ve found something you love doing! I really hope that I can get there too.
 
Aud, I want to just send some hugs and just say that it''s ok to take some time away to figure out what you want to do! And I cannot stress enough that you shouldn''t even be thinking about graduate school until you know what you want to study. It is a big commitment and unlike undergrad you can''t just change your major easily. So I''d put it off until you REALLY know what you want. This is coming from someone in a PhD program who has seen too many of her classmates drop out because they realized they weren''t really into it after all.
 
bootsiekin--

The salary aspect is hard to separate in my mind. Everyone wants to make a good living and no one wants to put all this time/effort/money into obtaining a degree that isn''t going to provide it. I''m glad you went back for what you really wanted to do! It sounds like you''re really happy!

Thanks for all the suggestions, they are all things I''ve explored and dug into for more information. I really think with lack of certainty that jumping into anything (OT, PT, Optometry, anything of the sort that is so focused) would probably end up the same as Audiology and all the other fields that I''ve explored have.

I really think I need to find something that can be used in my different settings and situations that I''d have a hard time getting bored with.

You mentioned counselor, which is funny, because a lot of people tell me I''d be good at this, but it''s opposite of anything I''d ever want to do actually. I love giving advice to my friends and talking things out and that''s where this suggestions stems, but I only enjoy doing this with them because I care about them. I don''t think I''d enjoy or be comfortable doing this with strangers.

I''m trying to relax and just take it a day at a time while researching and listening to all advice that I''m given.
 
misskitty--

Thanks for the hugs and sharing your story with me! I''m so glad that things worked out for you! Who would have thought that after all the run around and different choices and paths that you''d end up where you are!? It''s really great.

I''m trying not to sweat it, and I''ve finally discovered that I''m definitely NOT alone. Thanks so much
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Porridge--

I hope that next year really provides a great view of what all your professional choices are really like and that you really nail down the one that you love the most!

I certainly could put off school for awhile, but my BA is good for nothing except prepping your for more advanced education. I couldn''t get any job better than what I can get without it so I''d prefer to not do this if possible. I really want to go on!

I''m just hoping that I''m way too stressed (for nothing) and that everything falls together next week when I talk with the Public Health Department chair about one of their tracks.

Fingers crossed....
 
jcarlycrew--

Thanks for the advice, I''m doing just that. I have set up meetings with all the options that I''m interested in so I can really get a deeper look at what my life could be like after the program, since that''s really what it''s all about , getting a career that I enjoy! It''s definitely tough, especially because schooling is required.

Here''s hoping it works out for me!

Thanks for your support and sharing your story!
 
HappyCat--

Thanks! I really am trying to look at the big picture and see how my decisions now will affect my future. I really don''t want that kind of debt (I hope you get it paid off quickly!) hanging over me, especially because I''m not sold on Audiology.

I''m trying to open my mind and heart and listen to it. Really hear where it''s telling me to go. Deep down, I know Audiology isn''t it. I''m certain I will be sending back an acceptance letter with a no thank you if one comes, and be relieved if I receive a denial. My heart''s just not in it.
 
wellinsm--

Thanks for coming out of lurkdom to respond to me! All of your suggestions have been proposed and I really appreciate the insight you provided into the school system''s realm of Audiology.

Cochlear implantation was really something I was going to want to do with the Au.D., but after hours and hours of observations, I just didn''t enjoy it, and it was a real bummer. My fellow observers (other students) were SO INTO IT! I felt like there was something wrong with me since I didn''t enjoy it, turns out there was, and this field is not for me...

Thanks for the luck and sharing your story!
 
4ever--

It''s great to know that I''m not alone in this. There really is a lot of pressure out there these to know exactly what you want to be, and it''s hard. That''s something I''m trying to keep in mind, many people do change jobs after they graduate and flow through a variety of things within the realm of their education. This sounds more calming to me in that my degree (like in Public Health) wouldn''t keep me so restricted to one specialization. If boredom were to set in, I could float around to other things and really stay on my toes.

Thanks for reminding me that I''m not stuck doing anything for the rest of my life, it took some of the pressure off.
 
Definitely, Maybe--

I''m glad you enjoyed my post. It seems a lot share these feelings of indecisiveness. I took your advice and asked some people who know me pretty well about the options I''m looking into.

They agree that Public Health sounds like a good fit and it''s made me feel more confident about proceeding with this option. I''m really excited to meet with them next week to discuss the different tracks and concentrations. I''ll keep you posted, thanks for the advice!
 
dragonfly411--

Thanks for sharing your story! I''m 22 as well, so seems like were at a similar time in our lives. I''m glad you love what you''re doing, I really want to find that!
 
jjdav--

Thanks for chiming in!

I loved reading about how Australia handles pursing education! I never knew that. It was nice of you to pay for school since you went on a different track than your parents wanted, but really, it comes down to what you want to do, you are the one doing it after all!

I agree, I need to find something that I like and I''m good at so that I can keep a leg up on others within my field.

Thanks!
 
Amanda.Rx--

Thanks for the support. Your post really hit home for me. You said "your job or career doesn''t haven''t to be your passion-- you get a job/career to make your life comfortable and pay the bills. Although a great deal of your time will be spent at a job, you can find a passion in something else." This really stood out to me. Though I don''t plan on having or want children, I see what you mean about your career not being your priority in life. I''m definitely the kind of person who DOES NOT want my job to define who I am. This really opened my eyes and also helped me to come to terms with choosing something that will be stable, supportive, and something I can enjoy and has inspired me to find passion in my life, and not just in my job.

Thanks so much!
 
supergirl10--

I have considered OT and PT. I really think that they both have similar qualities of SLP that I didn''t care for and don''t think they''d be a great fit for me. I hope you''re able to get your debt paid off easily. Thanks for sharing your story.
 
vetrik--

It''s nice to see my perspective but 7 years further down the road! Seems like so many people struggle with finding their calling and deciding what''s going to make them happy long-term.

Grad school is certainly not something to jump into with uncertainty which is why I think I''ve eliminated Audiology as an option for me. It''s too specific, long, expensive, and stressful for not loving it.

I hope Public Health plays out...

Thanks for sharing your story and good luck with your upcoming bundle of joy! Come back and let us know all about him/her!
 
purselover--

Thanks for sharing your story. I know titles aren''t everything, and that''s the most minor of my inner struggles. It is absolutely the most important that what I do makes me happy and feel fulfilled and not what impresses others, I never meant to insinuate that.

Thanks for the support!
 
neatfreak--

Thanks for chiming in and sending hugs! Thanks for the advice. Sometimes it takes someone else laying it out for you to really see how it is. I don''t want to be someone who starts a program and doesn''t finish it for sure. That''s why I''m trying to find something I''ll really enjoy. If something doesn''t come together before applications are due, I''m certainly not going to force it. I''m not pursing grad school just to do it, I really want to find something I''ll enjoy. This is why I''ve altogether ruled out pursuing a PhD or clinical doctorate at this point and am only exploring 1-2 year Masters programs (under 50 credit hours).

Thanks again!
 
All--

Just wanted to provide a generally update.

I had my meeting with Gerontology on Tuesday and the lady was SOOOOO nice! She spent over an hour with me and discussing the program and where some graduates have gone to work and do over the years. Ultimately it boils down to that Gerontologists aren''t licensed at this point in time and many of the job opportunities are available to only those with some sort of state license. Most of the jobs say "RN licensure required or licensed for social work, etc." all for the purposes of billing insurance. The lack of licensure has made me decide against Gerontology. I really want something with a lot of job opportunity and this field doesn''t have that.

I''ve seriously been considering Public Health. After talking to the general advisor about all the different tracks (there are five departments within PH that you can apply to) and about the application process. The five departments are Community and Family Health, Environmental and Occupational Health, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Global Health, and Health Policy and Management. The general information available about each department has helped me narrow it down to three (I''ve eliminated Community and Family Health and Global Health).

The one I''m liking the most right now is Epidemiology and Biostatistics (I''d do the MPH in Epidemiology only). There are many things within this field that you can contribute to and the possibilities are endless. Ultimately, I''d really love to work for the government and have always wanted to move up to Georgia from Florida. The CDC is located in Atlanta and the areas around Atlanta (25-30ish or so miles) are soooo lovely! I''d love to work in Health Policy for the CDC and relocate. I''m really excited about this option (S also wants to move north when we''ve finished school to Georgia and Atlanta would have a ton of opportunity for engineering).

The appointment I have for Thursday is with the Epidemiology department director!
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Wish me luck! Any of the 3 could play out well for me I think and I''m working on setting up meetings with the other 2 departments as well for further information.

I''ll be keeping you all posted!

You have no idea how much all the support, hugs, and advice means to me!
 
1. So I guess my question for you all is how exactly did you decide what to do with your lives?

I''m a lawyer and like many lawyers, I just kind of "fell" into it. I always had great grades and my dad said I''m as stubborn as a mule and very opinionated, argumentative and convincing.. it didn''t sound like a bad idea and frankly the prestige and financial security appealed to me. My undergrad was is psychology and if I hadn''t been accepted to law school I would have pursued a masters.
2. Do you love your jobs?

Sometimes I do and sometimes I don''t. I love it in theory and even like doing it day to day most of the time. That is mostly because I''m now in house counsel at a bank with good hours. Prior to my in house position I was at a large firm where I first practised securities law and then banking law. The pay and perks were great but the hours and stress sucked so I kissed big firm life goodbye. Now I have great life work balance and when I leave work I really DO leave work.. my blackberry won''t start buzzing at 5am because of the opposing counsel in London England, etc.
But I am pretty family oriented so I''m a little bitter that getting to where I am took most of my twenties. I always thought I''d have two kids by now lol

3. What do you do and how did you get there? I think I answered this in 2.


4. Anyone had the student loan/extreme debt realization and how did you cope?
Yes. I didn''t think about it when I was accumulating the debt and frankly it wouldn''t have made sense to stress because I had no choice. But now it kind of stresses me out especially when I start thinking about wedding expenses, getting a house and having a baby. I hope to be pregnant soon after my wedding which should be in September/October and when the baby is born I plan to take at least a year off (I live in Canada where we get one year of mat leave and the gov pays 55% of your salary ). However I''ll still be in debt and I feel it''s unfair to my SO to bring so much debt into the marriage. But I just keep chugging along and paying my debt. I pay more than the minimum because I really want to be debt free.
5. Did you pay for school yourselves?
My parents paid for undergrad (it was 5-6K per year at the time) but I worked and helped as well and I paid for law school with student loans and a line of credit.
 
katica--

Thanks for you response and sharing your story! The debt is definitely a good portion of my concern for graduate school, but even more than the cost to achieve the degree, it''s also about enjoying my job. It''s nice that you''ve had the chance to see both sides of the spectrum and have gotten settled into a position that you can enjoy as far as leaving work at work. I don''t plan on having children myself, so work coming home SOME of the time would be okay with me, as long as it didn''t affect quality time with my honey. Good luck with the wedding planning and thanks for reading my post!
 
1. So I guess my question for you all is how exactly did you decide what to do with your lives?

It took me a while to figure out what I really wanted to do with my life. I graduated from undergrad with a BA in English and a BFA in theatre. I spent my first year out of undergrad in the corporate world calculating retirement benefits with a team of actuaries. That was so not my thing. Then I went to law school for a year, on a full scholarship. Also not my thing. I quit law school, worked as a personal trainer and then a religious school administrator, and decided to become a HS English teacher. Went back to grad school for my first master''s so I could get my teaching certificate, and here I am.

I love literature. I love reading it, reading about it, talking about it, critiquing it. Teaching HS was the best way to be able to do all of those things on a regular basis.

I also love summers, and not working during them.

2. Do you love your jobs?

Yes.

3. What do you do and how did you get there?

High school English teacher. I taught at a community college for a while, loved that, too. I''m in Illinois, so I needed to jump through many hoops to become certified, but now I have two education-related master''s degrees: MA in teaching, MEd in reading and literacy.

4. Anyone had the student loan/extreme debt realization and how did you cope?

Yes. I paid for undergrad myself, and my first master''s myself. My employer paid for my entire second master''s. I cope by paying it off one bit at a time, month by month.

5. Did you pay for school yourselves?

Yes.
 
Haven--

Thanks for your story! It sounds like you had quite a journey to get where you are today! At least law school didn''t cause you any debt for that year! It''s so good to hear from people who found something they love after having jumped around and trying different things.
 
Aud I''m in health policy actually and just something to consider but IMO many of the more interesting jobs with potential for growth require PhDs, So you might want to do some more research into exactly what you can do with an MPH only.
 
NF--

Thanks! That''s one of the things I want to talk with them about when I meet with her on Thursday. A PhD isn''t out of the question for the future if that''s what I end up needing, but for right now, I don''t think it''s a good idea until I''m sold on something like you''d mentioned before. Do you mind me asking what your background is in, what you do, and how you got into it? I''d appreciate any feedback you have since you do what I''m considering.

Thanks!
 
Audball (love your name!) -

I''m much older than you (42) but maybe I can offer a completely different perspective. When I was your age I was already married with a baby! I never went to college - I knew I just didn''t have the discipline. So I went to secretarial school on a scholarship that paid 1/3 of the expense. While my situation is completely different from yours - maybe my crazy life will give you some hope/perspective.

1. So I guess my question for you all is how exactly did you decide what to do with your lives?

Honestly, I didn''t. I took the secretarial school scholarship because I knew I needed to do "something" and figured that was a good place to start.

2. Do you love your jobs?

Most of the time, yes. I love being able to figure out a technical something that nobody else can figure out!

3. What do you do and how did you get there?

Right now I''m the system administrator for a global Sales Force Automation system with over 6,000 users and 5 million records - I manage a team of three people who set up new users, inactivate people who left, change what they see in the system, and clean up others'' mistakes (not what you thought you''d hear, right?)

After secretarial school, I went on the interviews they sent me on and took the first job that offered - secretary in a hotel. Worked there for 3 years - kinda liked it and got good at it. 2 years into the job I met my husband - and by year 3 I was married with a baby. LIFE INTERRUPTION! My husband was in the Army and we moved to Japan for 3 years. The first year I decided to take time off to spend time with my daughter since we could afford it and I knew I couldn''t do it in the States. Ten months of that and I about lost my mind - I needed to go back to work. So I took a secretarial job there. The first year was great - I worked for 4 people and was constantly busy. One by one, those people left and weren''t replaced. So I was a secretary to NOBODY for a year (your American Red Cross donations at work - hopefully by now they''ve stopped that silliness). During that time I begged for things to do. One of the managers there was a programmer and the job he was doing had nothing to do with that, but he had a wealth of knowledge he shared with me - little stuff like how to keep the computer running smoothly and ways to tweak WordPerfect to make it do what I wanted it to do. I found I really liked it. So when I returned Stateside, I went back to the same hotel (comfort zone!) armed with new knowledge and got that office running efficiently. While I was there I took a WordPerfect class offered by the company, and as I was watching the instructors I realized I kinda liked what they did. So I asked them about their jobs and they were excited to share with me. I figured - what could be better than teaching others how to more efficiently do the job I''d done for 7 years! So I moved to the corporate headquarters and traveled the country teaching a customized version of WordPerfect to hundreds of hotel salespeople and assistants. Did that for 3 years. The person who maintained the customization left, and I took on her role. I became the go-to person and second-level support for this program. A year and a half later, the entire company switched to Microsoft Word, and my job became obsolete. A friend of mine worked on another system and helped me get a job with them (my current department). I worked as part of a team of 6 for 2 years - then came 9/11 and the travel industry took a nose dive. That team of 6, through layoffs, became a team of 1, me. I did the job by myself for over 6 years. Almost 10 years later and I''m still in that department - a bit older, quite a bit wiser :) So I went from being a secretary making very little to someone whose name is known throughout the company as the expert on a global system. And I did this in 20 years (with the exception of the 3 in Japan) all with the same company! Turns out that I probably would have ended up in the same place (salary-/position-wise), degree or not! Most of the people I work with have degrees in something other than hotel management - I know people with business, social work, psychology, human resources, engineering, English, and poli-sci degrees/certificates who are working in the hotel industry because the bug bit them!
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So what I''m trying to say is... you may not have any idea right now what you want to do. That''s okay. You''re young. You have time. One day it will hit you, I promise.

4. Anyone had the student loan/extreme debt realization and how did you cope?

Luckily, my school was only 6 months so my student loan was $3,000.

5. Did you pay for school yourselves?

Yes. Since I was still living with Mom & Dad at the time I paid that off within a year.
 
Sparklesparkle--

Thanks for sharing story! It is nice to see it from a different perspective and see that sometimes what you''re supposed to do finds you. This is what I hope that my perfect career falls into my lap with a little drive and preparation!
 
So my meeting with Public Health/Epidemiology is tomorrow! I''m pretty excited and hope it plays out well. I''ve got my list of questions all ready and am psyched! Ahhhhh, wish me luck!
 
thanks for keeping us updated and good luck tomorrow! I hope you get all of your questions answered and this leads you to where you want to be.

Which part of Florida are you from? I have lived in FL my whole life and am now also starting to think about moving north one day. For some reason North or South Carolina is in my head right now... we''ll see my whole family (and BFs) is in FL and I like to stay close. :)
 
Definitely, Maybe--

Thanks for still following! I hope the meeting tomorrow goes really well. *fingers crossed*

I, myself, am from a very small town about 1 hour east of Gainesville, FL (called Interlachen, most have never heard of it), but have lived in Tampa since June of 2005 for college at USF. This is where I met BF. He isn''t from Tampa, but across the bay. He grew up in Madeira Beach, FL which is in the St. Petersburg vicinity, so his family is close by. We both were born and raised here and where we end up will end up on who gets the best jobs offers where probably. I think we''re in complete agreement that Florida is just getting hotter and hotter every year and that a bit north would be more pleasant year round. We''re pretty open, but love the affordable cost of living in the nice areas outside of Atlanta in Georgia. South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and maybe as north as Kentucky if jobs are good. No further than that for sure though. I''m not terribly close to anyone in my family (except my sisters, and we''re all split up around the state now anyway) so his family is more of a concern. But his Mom is who he/we''re closest too and she spends 6+ months a year in Georgia and only Dec-Apr in Florida (she''s a CPA, tax season with the clients...) so she''d still be close. And any of those states would be a quick flight home if need be. The areas are all beautiful up there so I can see why your mind is floating....
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Date: 2/13/2009 5:26:49 PM
Author: audball
Porridge--


I hope that next year really provides a great view of what all your professional choices are really like and that you really nail down the one that you love the most!


I certainly could put off school for awhile, but my BA is good for nothing except prepping your for more advanced education. I couldn''t get any job better than what I can get without it so I''d prefer to not do this if possible. I really want to go on!


I''m just hoping that I''m way too stressed (for nothing) and that everything falls together next week when I talk with the Public Health Department chair about one of their tracks.


Fingers crossed....
Click to expand...
Thanks audball, I''m keeping my fingers crossed for your meeting tomorrow!
 
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