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You get a do over with your career...what would you choose?

missy

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Could be the same career you have now or a different one...what would your first choice be if you could do it all over again?


calvinandhobbesoffice.jpg
 
My dh says I would have made a great risk management specialist. Because no matter the situation I always see the problems better than anybody else he has ever known. LOL. I am taking that as a compliment :)
 
I would finally go to med school but it is too late now. Whatsoever, I am not unhappy with my current profession.
 
Wildlife Biologist.


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My dh says I would have made a great risk management specialist. Because no matter the situation I always see the problems better than anybody else he has ever known. LOL. I am taking that as a compliment :)

+1

Over the years several people have told me this.
But none of them is your DH. :mrgreen:
 
Oh Missy, you’ve opened a can of worms for me…….

Long story short worked on corporate finance for several years, quit to take care of DS (I HATED my career so it was no loss), blah blah blah ended up accidentally tutoring a few kids and loving it, applied and got accepted to a Masters of Teaching degree but have been told that it’s better to be a speech therapist as there is a huge shortfall in Australia, now torn between a very expensive masters degree (that will only take 2 years) and a Bachelors degree in speech pathology (4 years). I’m in my early 40s and worry that I’m too old for the bachelors.

If I do teaching I would love to work in the public system for at least a decade to give back but I think speech pathology will be very rewarding too. I just don’t know what to do, if I can do it at all. What if my brain doesn’t work anymore???
 
Oh Missy, you’ve opened a can of worms for me…….

Long story short worked on corporate finance for several years, quit to take care of DS (I HATED my career so it was no loss), blah blah blah ended up accidentally tutoring a few kids and loving it, applied and got accepted to a Masters of Teaching degree but have been told that it’s better to be a speech therapist as there is a huge shortfall in Australia, now torn between a very expensive masters degree (that will only take 2 years) and a Bachelors degree in speech pathology (4 years). I’m in my early 40s and worry that I’m too old for the bachelors.

If I do teaching I would love to work in the public system for at least a decade to give back but I think speech pathology will be very rewarding too. I just don’t know what to do, if I can do it at all. What if my brain doesn’t work anymore???

Could you already work in speech pathology during the 4 years?
 
Could you already work in speech pathology during the 4 years?

A big chunk of the course consists of placements (unpaid) so it's not all class time but it will take 4 years to be fully qualified and be able to work in my own right.
 
A big chunk of the course consists of placements (unpaid) so it's not all class time but it will take 4 years to be fully qualified and be able to work in my own right.

That sounds good. However, from what you write... you would like to teach, right? Then go for it! It's what your heart tells you!
 
That sounds good. However, from what you write... you would like to teach, right? Then go for it! It's what your heart tells you!

I would but I have a few friends who are teachers who have left the profession and who tell me don't do it so I am wondering if I am fully of starry eyed naivety.......

Have never done a science based degree so the speech therapy would be so interesting but that said there is lab based work and I wonder if my 40ish year old brain can cope going back to school with the 18yr olds!
 
I would but I have a few friends who are teachers who have left the profession and who tell me don't do it so I am wondering if I am fully of starry eyed naivety.......

Have never done a science based degree so the speech therapy would be so interesting but that said there is lab based work and I wonder if my 40ish year old brain can cope going back to school with the 18yr olds!

Speech pathology is entry level Master's degree here in USA. What is the entry level in your country?
 
Speech pathology is entry level Master's degree here in USA. What is the entry level in your country?

Bachelors, that's the degree the kids get if they study at university after high school.
 
My dh says I would have made a great risk management specialist. Because no matter the situation I always see the problems better than anybody else he has ever known. LOL. I am taking that as a compliment :)

This is my DH! He can be a debbie downer but if you need someone to over-analyze something he is perfect for the job! I always
say it takes him forever to make a decision (due to over-analyzing) but when he does, its almost always the right/best decision. At first
I thought of it as a curse but now I appreciate his ability and wish I was better at it.

I would definitely take it as a compliment @missy. Like I said, at first I thought it was a curse but have realized over the years that
it has saved us/me from making bad decisions. I now appreciate the quality and try not to rush him.
 
I would but I have a few friends who are teachers who have left the profession and who tell me don't do it so I am wondering if I am fully of starry eyed naivety.......

Have never done a science based degree so the speech therapy would be so interesting but that said there is lab based work and I wonder if my 40ish year old brain can cope going back to school with the 18yr olds!

Omg this! I was accepted into a masters of teaching at the end of last year with full placement accelerated so I could already teach now. But I had a baby so.. and teachers don't get paid nearly enough for the amount of work that they do. It would take me about at least 5-10 years after the masters to earn somewhere close to what I'm currently getting. It's a hard choice. Also have you looked at other unis? Deakin has a masters of speech pathology 2 years but that's in Melbourne.
 
I have never thought of doing anything else, perhaps in a different industry rather than pharmaceutical, and remain as a quality and risk management specialist.

DK :))
 
In another life perhaps I would have pursued my interest in law, especially corporate law. I think I would have had the aptitude for it and it would have been an extremely interesting career. Or perhaps academia and research - I flirted with the idea but ultimately gave it up for something that pays a bit better! But I loved research and studying.
 
I would but I have a few friends who are teachers who have left the profession and who tell me don't do it so I am wondering if I am fully of starry eyed naivety.......

Have never done a science based degree so the speech therapy would be so interesting but that said there is lab based work and I wonder if my 40ish year old brain can cope going back to school with the 18yr olds!

If my 60ish brain was able to cope with going back to school with 20-somethings, your 40ish brain certainly can cope with 18 yr olds!!! It's a little weird at first, and there are some hilarious differences (it's strange listening to people that have never paid rent, bought a car, had a child etc. chatting about stuff!)
 
Have never done a science based degree so the speech therapy would be so interesting but that said there is lab based work and I wonder if my 40ish year old brain can cope going back to school with the 18yr olds!

Your 40 yr old brain will leave those 18 yr olds in the dust. I started my Bachelor's at age 30 and my Master's at 41. I was wondering what it would be like being 30 in classes with mostly HS grads. It didn't take long to realize the huge advantage of being older with much more life experience and no interest in partying and all the distractions typical of 18-20 yr olds. I was an annoyance to my much younger classmates because my grades were so much better it messed with the grading curve.

My advice is to take one or two classes to see if you like the program and to gain confidence that you can do it rather than enrolling full time right off the bat.
 
I have the best job of my life so far but probably never would have gotten it if it weren’t for the speech therapy I had as a child.
 
I always wanted a law degree so I could send formal nasty letters to people. :lol-2: (I'm referring to bullies or those who take advantage of others.) Law would have been perfect for me -not the criminal or accident kind, but corporate or environmental. Maybe in my next life....
 
Oh Missy, you’ve opened a can of worms for me…….

Long story short worked on corporate finance for several years, quit to take care of DS (I HATED my career so it was no loss), blah blah blah ended up accidentally tutoring a few kids and loving it, applied and got accepted to a Masters of Teaching degree but have been told that it’s better to be a speech therapist as there is a huge shortfall in Australia, now torn between a very expensive masters degree (that will only take 2 years) and a Bachelors degree in speech pathology (4 years). I’m in my early 40s and worry that I’m too old for the bachelors.

If I do teaching I would love to work in the public system for at least a decade to give back but I think speech pathology will be very rewarding too. I just don’t know what to do, if I can do it at all. What if my brain doesn’t work anymore???

I'm not sure what its like in Australia, but here in Canada I see many students your/our age in my undergraduate classes and a few of my graduate students are in their 40s. They usually do really well because they are so motivated. And they enjoy it a lot. So its not too old at all!
 
I'm a professor at a research-intensive university. It's hard to imagine another job I'm more suited to or that has the perks this job has. I'm very fortunate. My profession can look all kinds of different ways so I can "change careers" without having to really change careers -- right now I'm envisioning what the next (and last) 20 years of my career will look like for me and I am contemplating a shift into upper administration for a new challenge.

But a whole do-over... maybe law. I think I would have been a good judge.
 
My dh says I would have made a great risk management specialist

lol! I am a Risk Manager! If given a do-over, I’d stay in the same job/industry, but I would have spent more of my early years learning some of the things that hold me back now.
 
Dietician is my interest altho I'd have made a dandy jewelry bench.
(Hope that's the right term!)

Others say I'd have been a good nurse or paramedic. I'm good when the bloods flying and cooler heads prevail.
 
Omg this! I was accepted into a masters of teaching at the end of last year with full placement accelerated so I could already teach now. But I had a baby so.. and teachers don't get paid nearly enough for the amount of work that they do. It would take me about at least 5-10 years after the masters to earn somewhere close to what I'm currently getting. It's a hard choice. Also have you looked at other unis? Deakin has a masters of speech pathology 2 years but that's in Melbourne.

I looked! My previous degrees were law and commerce (mistakes of my youth) so no dice. The finance component was good enough for me to get an offer for the Masters of Teaching (I qualified as having enough maths for the key learning area of Mathematics) but there’s definitely not enough science (well none at all) in my degrees for them to let me into the Masters of Speech Pathology.

Thank you for listening to my first world problems everyone! I actually haven’t been accepted for the Bachelor of Speech Pathology yet. Still waiting for offers with the younguns :lol-2:
I shall keep you all updated in another thread when I get some news. It’s really helped to get it off my chest and not subject my poor family and friends to my constant fretting!
 
I wanted to be a mounted policewoman ie on a horse ( my father was dead set against me going into the police force) or a watchmaker ( I was told there was no future in manual watches) or a paramedic ( I was told there would be too much blood and heartache ie people I couldn’t help).
Instead I did finance and had an interesting career finally getting into compliance for financial planning. I have a gift for reading huge amounts fast and remembering it so I was a bit of a bore reciting legislation verbatim. I particularly liked being a client advocate, I was very very good at it, helping many people get large amounts of compensation after being treated wrong. Hee hee.
 
I looked! My previous degrees were law and commerce (mistakes of my youth) so no dice. The finance component was good enough for me to get an offer for the Masters of Teaching (I qualified as having enough maths for the key learning area of Mathematics) but there’s definitely not enough science (well none at all) in my degrees for them to let me into the Masters of Speech Pathology.

Thank you for listening to my first world problems everyone! I actually haven’t been accepted for the Bachelor of Speech Pathology yet. Still waiting for offers with the younguns :lol-2:
I shall keep you all updated in another thread when I get some news. It’s really helped to get it off my chest and not subject my poor family and friends to my constant fretting!

To be honest, it wouldn't be a bad thing to start all over again. I got into teaching and was approved to teach biology, chemistry and general science. But the condition was that my degree was less than 10 years old or that I'm actively using them in my current role which I'm not. My 10 year cut off was last year so now if I want to do it I'll have to do bridging courses. I feel like a lot has changed in a decade so it's probably good to be up to date with everything. I had a lot of credits for my master's which was good but I felt like I missed a lot of content. All the best and I'll have my fingers crossed (I know you'll get accepted anyway).
 
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