College Major?

[mluyckx]

@jship079: Hats off to you (no pun intended).. I'm afraid of heights.. yet I jumped out of planes and rappelled out of choppers during my service.. go figure ;-)
@bigvan & kamikaze: yep.. most guys in IT I run into have no degrees in IT. No wonder I come across crappy database design all the time :rofl: And no offense btw..lots of guys do excellent work !
@ Fr.Tim: Which seminary did you attend ? I noticed the collar.. so I'm thinking reformed ? Lutheran perhaps ?
@Baron: my best friend, Th.M and associate pastor is a home brewer ;-) Oh yeah, and I just gave him some cigars for Christmas. Should have bought him a pipe

 

[baronsamedi]

my best friend, Th.M and associate pastor is a home brewer

Now that's my kind of preacher man! Turning water into wine (or beer, whatever he prefers) is a Godly talent!

 

[reichenbach]

Started off with aspirations of studying political science. Did well in the intro classes but couldn't stand the idea of spending the rest of my life around people trying to be the one shouting the loudest. Landed in the English Dept because I love solitary contemplation, analysis, theory but hated numbers which cut off something more lucrative like engineering. Graduated with a BA in English and Literature and a Minor in Creative Writing. After graduation, went the English major life route of restaurants, bartending, book stores and house painting until I started my current job as a research tech for the Horticulture Dept with Cornell.
Starting to gear up for grad school application at the end of this year though to get on track to make something of degree and first love, Literature. I want to study either crime fiction, gender studies or Irish studies but the deeper I get, the more all three make sense together.
PS. I always asking for advice, so if anyone has any insight into any of that, I would very very much love to hear it. Thanks.

 

[bigvan]

Mick, no offense taken!
Reichenbach, this may be a stupid question, but to what does studying crime fiction, gender studies (?!) and/or Irish studies lead?

 

[pipeinhand]

BS, Information Systems, MA, Political Science, PHD, International Relations: Middle East focused.

I speak/read, French and German, speak Farsi, Arabic and with Russian mixed in.

 

[reichenbach]

It's not a stupid question, bigvan. It's not very apparent. I'm hoping it leads to being a college prof one day or else it is going to lead to a lot on scribbling in a smokey basement under a bare light bulb. All are burgeoning fields at various levels of establishment and I find each one interesting. It's like a diversified academic portfolio and all three topics could be classified as interdisciplinary, which is a further diversification. Crime fiction is underrated, Masculinities is understudied, and Irish Studies would be a lens for studying both. As an Irish-American Catholic male, I'm pretty conflicted and Celtic Noir is a fascinating niche, a real gem within Crime Fiction (particularly Ken Bruen). I just finished the first draft of my first personal statement, so I'm full of it right now, haha.

 

[arinbjorn]

I'm five months away from graduating a radiographer program, conducted in a Level 1 Trauma Hospital. In other words, I take x rays, and I go to school in a really big hospital =)
I take x rays 40 hours per week, every other week. The off week is spent in academics, in a classroom that was once a storage room back by the old nursing students used to live. There are 8 students, including myself, in the class =)
Being involved in regular x ray, portable x ray, surgical cases, fluoroscopy... it's been a really fun ride. All I have to do is pass my ARRT exam, and if that goes well, try to find a job...

 

[buckley01]

I have a Technical certificate in Culinary Arts, A BS in Business and 1/2 a masters in Non Profit administration. All this has me underemployed in hospital food-service. Hmm-mm, I would like to start a brew pub someday.....till then I am content to home-brew, collect pipes and be really popular at church potlucks. My wife has a masters in education and is a Teacher. I have two girls in college. One is studying to be a Vet Tech and the other is in Elementary education.

 

[woodsmansbriar]

Currently at a technical school in Texas for a two year degree in Agriculture Technology, then hopefully onto Texas A&M for a four year degree in Forestry. From there is unplanned.

 

[modernchicago]

Major: Architecture, Minor: Anthropology

I Practice Architecture, and currently sell more pipes than I draw buildings (my profession has been devastated by this economy)....But when I do draw, I smoke a Preben Holm Fancy Matt freehand sitter and Iwan Ries Three Star Blue.

 

[sherlock]

Reichenbach Good luck. I think you and I are on pretty much the same career path, although my interests are a little different.

 

[reichenbach]

And good luck to you as well, sherlock. Different interests indeed, but if you have received any good advice about pursuing graduate studies or if you have any tips yourself, I would love to hear it.

 

[bigvan]

jship, I used to work for a student loan lender, and friends would ask me "my kid is about to graduate, what should he study?" Knowing how deep some people got into debt, I'd usually say "tell him to get into the trades."

 

[sherlock]

The best advice I got was from the head of the English Dept. at my school. She told me "Fifty percent of English Ph.Ds never get full time faculty positions, so if your going to pursue a Ph.D in English make sure it something you love."

 

[baronsamedi]

Hey buckley01, you should talk to uberam3rica. He's studying culinary arts right now. You could probably help him avoid some pitfalls!
Of course if anyone dreams of handling dead people (I'm sure you're all dying to know lol), I'm a fully licensed Funeral Director and Embalmer here in Texas.

 

[profpar]

@ModernChicago.: When I was an undergrad back in the 70's, I devoted as much of my non chem courses and electives tovthexstudy of anthropology. At one point I thought I might pursue it further, perhaps even do an ethnography. Ended up pursuing chemistry full tilt.

 

[modernchicago]

hey profpar - It's pretty amazing...after a while everything makes perfect sense.

Regarding chemistry vs. anthropology - what are your thoughts about cooked meat and an evolutionary spike?

 

[bbauer]

@Baron- I know this probably sounds crazy to some people but I thought about maybe getting a summer job/internship at a funeral service/morgue. I am a biology major and I feel like it would be interesting and helpful to see things from the other side of the hospital/health field. Plus if i want to get into medicine or something like that I need to be able to handle the good and the bad. Who knows, maybe im just crazy. I dont know if jobs/internships like that are available.

 

[mattb]

A BA in communication studies with a minor in construction management.

 

[baronsamedi]

bbauer: the funeral industry can be a bit cliquish, but I know more than one guy who got in the door by washing the funeral home's cars. I got in by working at a crematory. It's easy to train crematory operators to run the retorts and later make removals at hospitals and the ME's office. Once you get that down, they will let you go along as the second man on house removals. If you can make it that far, often they may offer to help you get school or an apprenticeship. Different states vary in requirements. In Texas, you can work at a funeral home unlicensed, but there are some things you can't legally do unless you're in mortuary school or started an apprenticeship after school. Not to say there isn't plenty of work out there. Just wear a dark blue or black suit and a white or off-white shirt to your interviews. Mortuary services will often allow facial hair, but funeral homes will want you clean shaven 99.9% of the time.