So slow, those things that never come

[akahoshi]

I have done absolutely NO work this morning.  None.  Nada.  I have, however, spent the last 3.5 hours looking for a masters degree.  I live in a university town.  Said university is cheap.  However, said university (A) does not offer the degree I want (B) does not offer the schedule I want.  Course after course is advertised as "convenient for

Comments

[xtinethepirate]

I can see the pros for both, but while the first option is cheaper, it might cause you to end up realllllly disliking the degree and finding it hard to finish, you know? Hell, I'm having a hard enough time wanting to do my MA work when it's scheduled around my job/life and it's something that's relevant/interesting to me.

Is there an option three that provides the online-yness that you want while being cheaper? Because while I think that getting something that interests you / is relevant to your life is the better option, that much in student loans is pretty hefty. :/

Unhelpful comment is unhelpful, heh. My personal inclination would be to do what's more relevant, because it will interest you in the interim and be helpful to you in the long run. But hopefully you can find that somewhere without incurring a lot of student debt.

What program are you looking at, if you don't mind me asking? :)

[akahoshi]

I want to move away from the paralegal field and into a federal job (still in administration) for the FBI or Social Security Agency. In New Orleans (where we are thinking about moving) there are a lot of jobs with the office of the Navy- but they are desk-jockey jobs. So the program I want that Sisser and Mom suggested was a Masters in Public Administration, which is basically a masters in bureacratiness. I would also consider Management Information Systems, Masters of Management or Masters of Business Admin. These are all geared towards administration and bureaucracy and office jobs. USM's (local college) MBA is wicked hard. Evil statistics are evil. And it requires calculus as a pre-requisite. USM does not offer Public Administration or Information Systems. The courses they have that did apply to me require Thursday and Friday classes. I just can't take 2 days off work. So I could take english (creative writing) or political science (which I hate). And I don't know what the schedules are so I don't really know how to fit

[xtinethepirate]

Heee, obviously I'm biased toward an MA in English, and esp creative writing from you! My cousin did that at the University of ... Iowa, I think, and published the collection of short stories that was his thesis. So aside from more education is better, other good things can come from it. :D

But if it's not exactly what you want to do.... I mean, an English degree carries with it a lot of transferable language skills, but it isn't as specific as an MBA or Public Admin.

If you can make it work, and it's not spending more out of pocket and you can do something which you'd enjoy, it could be well worth going for it. I know a lot of jobs up here have a higher pay grade for MAs, automatically, even though it's the same work.

[akahoshi]

I think you're right about the English degree. In fact, mom said as much last night, that an English masters is nothing to scoff at. And my job is very writing intensive what with legal briefs and client reports and the like. And I have been thinking about what you and sister have been studying in terms of fandom and how I might could spin that into a creative writing curriculum. I also did the math last night on the local Uni versus Phoenix. Phoenix really is three times as expensive. And that's just hard to ignore. Are you getting your MA from Dalhousie? (did I even come close to spelling that right?)

[tir_synni]

I definitely vote against UoP. I was looking into it, and many jobs and schools look down on the place. The popular belief is that since it's so expensive, they're obliged to give you your degree, so you're not so much earning it as buying it. Is this true? I don't know. But it is insanely expensive, and it has a horrible reputation. It might be better to keep looking; it'll be easier for the degree to be taken seriously, and you might be able to find an online school at a cheaper price.

[akahoshi]

Yeah- the UoP does have that bad mojo. When my husband (before we were married) told me that that was where he was finishing his bachelors, I lectured him about accreditation and whatnot. He finished and got a teaching job no problem (he's a high school teacher)....but I am realistic about it- this is South Mississippi, and not the most...picky of job markets. I had wondered how the FBI or any other Fed agency might look at a UoP degree. So thanks for your input ^_^ it's helping me weigh these options.