WWYD..career decisions...

[remyandhollandsmommy]

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[golfgal]

Well, how much do you like to do frivolous things like eat? Archeology pays NOTHING. Just something to think about.

History, if you want to teach then getting a degree in history is fine. If you plan on teaching high school you will need a more varied degree like Social Science but that isn't a big deal since they will be subjects the probably interest you with history, archeology, etc. Since you don't have a Bachelor's yet, that is 4 years, 2 years for a masters and another 2+ years for a PhD to teach at the college level. Do you have that much time to put into school full time. If you go part time, double that.

Not to discourage you from something you love, just giving you something to think about.

 

[Disney Doll]

Nursing is something you should really feel you have a "calling" for if you are going to do it, because there are times when it is a thankless job. The money is decent, but you won't be pulling down megabucks...you'll be earning a living, but you'll be working for it.

I think if your interest lies in history/archaeology, you should try and do something with that.

 

[remyandhollandsmommy]

If I decide on history, I have 18yrs to work on attaining my degree while my youngest grows up (I will be 48 by then lol). In addition to my DH's job I can continue my job as an MA while I pursue it so we won't be financially unstable. With RN, I would just continue what I am doing now, and after I grad from that it would be the same type of work just on a bigger scale you know.

 

[GoodFairies]

I wouldn't say archaelogy pays nothing GG. Like with most things, it mostly depends on who you end up working for. You could probably make a pretty decent living on an archaelogy B.S. working for State or Federal goverment. I would approach it this way: Are you willing to move or are you planning on staying in Florida? If staying, do a little research on what's nearby - state and federal government offices, and private industry - and check out what types of positions they are hiring for.

Now if you were interested in being the Indiana Jones type then that's obviously much, much more involved. You'd have to get a PhD and then a Post-Doc which equals NO MONEY.

 

[golfgal]

If I decide on history, I have 18yrs to work on attaining my degree while my youngest grows up (I will be 48 by then lol). In addition to my DH's job I can continue my job as an MA while I pursue it so we won't be financially unstable. With RN, I would just continue what I am doing now, and after I grad from that it would be the same type of work just on a bigger scale you know.

Ok but for a good paying RN job that means hospital work, nights, weekends, holidays, etc.

If you plan to this along with the kids growing up then go for the history degree/PhD.

 

[minkydog]

I don't know that nursing has to be a "calling"(I didn't!) but you certainly need to at least like the work. Nursing school is very competitive and VERY difficult. There is no taking a class here and there as you can. You're either in the program or out of the program. Training entails long days and nights of studying and it is really hard on families.It will just about take over your life. The kids up all night with an ear infection? Too bad, you've got 5 hours of class today; give them some Motrin and hope they don't cry all day while you're gone. You've got bad morning sickness and you feel like crud? Too bad, today's your surgery rotation; take a bucket. It's your anniversary and your partner wants to go away for a romantic weekend? Too bad, you have a huge mid-term Monday and if you don't make at least an 80, you'll be out of the program. I'm not trying to discourage you, but you need to know what is realistic.

Healthcare has for a long time been considered recession-proof, but that isn't necessarily so anymore. There are a LOT of new grads who can't find work, or can only find a job in a nursing home. Many have been unable to work as a nurse for a year or more, depending on where they live. Some parts of the U.S. do have a shortage and are hiring--but they're only hiring experienced nurses with a lot of experience. It costs a lot to train a brand new nurse and they aren't fully functional for about a year. Why should a hospital hire a new grad when they can get a nurse who's already been practicing and won't have a steep learning curve? A LOT of nurses are struggling to get and keep their jobs right now. As a new grad, and low man on the totem pole, you can expect to work night shift, weekends, and holidays.

I'd suggest that you continue to work as an MA. Take some time to figure out what you want to DO. Do you want to teach history, or do you just like to study history? There's a difference. Will you be able to get a job with a history degree? I'd hate to see you incur huge debt for a degree that might not pay you much. In the meantime, it wouldn't hurt to work on your core courses. Every degree requires English comp, Histories, Foreign Language, Biology, Algebra. You wouldn't even have to declare a major. Perhaps after a semester or two you will have a clearer idea of just WHAT it is you want to do with your life.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

You'll be 48, regardless eh? Do you want to be 48 and stuck in a dead end job, or doing something that you don't love, or 48 and looking ahead to something that matters to you.

You never know where a "degree that doesn't pay anything" will take you.

"Do what you love and the money will follow."

 

[Hillbeans]

Ok, here is the story..I went to college for medical assisting since most jobs in that career field are M-F 8-5pm and with the girls it seemed best so I can be with them every weekend and most of my work day is while they are in school you know? Plus the pay is decent and there is always that job security to think of lol.

Well, health care is NOT my passion..I mean I am good at it (graduated with a 3.98 yea lol) and it comes easy to me since I am most deff a "people person". I think to deal well with patients you have to be one and my patients love me (not bragging, they are constantly telling my doc that I am just the nicest girl lol..maybe its a southern thing lol). Anyways, I had plans to continue my education to be an RN because as I said its easy, there seems to be a shortage of them and the money is REALLY good due to that. But like I said it is NOT my passion.

History is. My original career plan when I was a teen in high school was to major in history with the hopes of one day becoming an archeologist and a professor on the college level. But as often happens I made some poor choices, got married after hs, got preggo with Rem and lost my scholarships since I had the girls to support. Now with having kids I just didn't feel that a career as an archeologist was feasible with travel and all. Plus its a very involved major.

Well, I can't seem to let the idea of it go and had some thoughts on what I should do. I can continue with the RN thing and forget history OR continue working in the doc office as an MA and start working towards my history major..I mean it will take years of "as I have time" classes to graduate and I can take my time since the girls are young. I guess money is the real factor...I can have college loans for the RN or history but NOT both..what would you pursue? Would you forget the dreams or go with the practical choice of RN?

I got my feet wet in nursing recently - really barely wet as I only got my CNA, but I found it not for m .

I think if you can get a 9-5 job as a MA and still have nights/weekends with your kids while they are young you should go for it. You could always take a class in history which would be 1x a week. Getting your RN will be a huge time commitment and I honestly don't think there are a lot of 9-5 nursing jobs - just the nature of the industry. At least as a MA you work during pretty normal daytime hours if you work in a Dr. office.

 

[abdmom]

I'm on the other side of the fence as the previous posters. I have a Ph.D. I graduated in my early thirties and had kids almost immediately. Postdoctoral work is for the young and childless. If I'd wanted a teaching job in a university or college, I would have had to be prepared to move anywhere. I couldn't, because dh was also an academic and we moved for his job. I ended up teaching K-12, which is great, but I could have done that with about 8 years less education. I stopped teaching when my dh died so that I could look after my children. I am looking again now. I'm now overeducated for most jobs. I really wish I'd gone for something where there are more positions commonly available, like nursing or xray tech or even medical assistant.

 

[Art 1]

Did you hear the report today concerning the future of RN's in Florida? Go for the RN.

History is also my passion. I spend time on it each day as a hobby.

 

[minkydog]

Did you hear the report today concerning the future of RN's in Florida? Go for the RN.

.

Anyone who thinks they want to be an RN today needs to check out allnurses.com and go to General Discussions. Then look at First Year Graduates board. I think you will have your eyes opened.

 

[npmommie]

Anyways, I had plans to continue my education to be an RN because as I said its easy, there seems to be a shortage of them and the money is REALLY good due to that. But like I said it is NOT my passion.

If I decide on history, I have 18yrs to work on attaining my degree while my youngest grows up (I will be 48 by then lol). In addition to my DH's job I can continue my job as an MA while I pursue it so we won't be financially unstable. With RN, I would just continue what I am doing now, and after I grad from that it would be the same type of work just on a bigger scale you know.

First,I have to say a couple of things.........nursing school is not easy, it is extremely demanding, time consuming, emotionally and physically exhausting!
yes it is worth it in the end, but easy is NOT a word I would use to describe nursing school.
second thing, working as an RN is not the same as working as a medical assistant "on a bigger scale"
Just had to put that out there.
the other thing is if you plan to go to nursing school like someone else said, its a rigorous program, you can't take a class here and there.
even if you decide on history, you can't start taking classes and take 18 years to finish.
once you matriculate in a program at a university you will have x amount of years to complete it.
just something else to think about.

I say if you really don't want to be an RN don't go to nursing school. You will not be happy
Like someone else said do what you love and money will follow.
good luck!

 

[barkley]

Well, how much do you like to do frivolous things like eat? Archeology pays NOTHING. Just something to think about.

History, if you want to teach then getting a degree in history is fine. If you plan on teaching high school you will need a more varied degree like Social Science but that isn't a big deal since they will be subjects the probably interest you with history, archeology, etc. Since you don't have a Bachelor's yet, that is 4 years, 2 years for a masters and another 2+ years for a PhD to teach at the college level. Do you have that much time to put into school full time. If you go part time, double that.

Not to discourage you from something you love, just giving you something to think about.

i don't know how marketable a credential/certification (whatever an individual state calls it these days) in history or social studies will be in the coming years-but i think it may become very limiting.

the reason i say this is b/c if you look to the way high school curriculums are being tweaked and changed, some of the coursework that was commonly a given in the past is now being reduced in favor of what are considered more college prep or vocational course work. heavier in math, science and technology, less history, social studies and the like. it seems like history/social studies are being given less emphasis b/c unless a person is going to pursue a college degree with a heavy emphasis in that area they won't have much in the way of general ed. requirements in that subject matter so the high schools opt to focus on the college prep type coursework that all majors will have to deal with (english, math, science).

one thing i've seen with the public schools in our area is that the teaching staff that teaches the handful of required history and social studies coursework are almost universaly primarily credentialed in another subject matter, and they've just gotten the certification for history and social studies somewhere along the way (i'm guessing to make themselves more marketable)-at dd's high school the social studies courses are taught by a counselor (teaching degree in addition to his masters in counseling), and the actual traditional history classes by one of the buisness technology teachers.

i say 'actual traditional' b/c so far one required history course dd had to take was not in a traditional classroom setting-the school bought a state approved software program that comes bundled with workbooks on the subject matter, and the kids do the entire course on a p.c. so no credentialed teacher is required to teach the course. the program tracks student progress and performance. from what the counselor told me, with coursework like history where the subject matter does'nt change and performance is generaly measured by student memorization of dates and facts, the schools are exploring using these automated programs as a cost savings.

 

[Art 1]

Anyone who thinks they want to be an RN today needs to check out allnurses.com and go to General Discussions. Then look at First Year Graduates board. I think you will have your eyes opened.

So are saying a degree in history is better?

 

[golfgal]

i don't know how marketable a credential/certification (whatever an individual state calls it these days) in history or social studies will be in the coming years-but i think it may become very limiting.

the reason i say this is b/c if you look to the way high school curriculums are being tweaked and changed, some of the coursework that was commonly a given in the past is now being reduced in favor of what are considered more college prep or vocational course work. heavier in math, science and technology, less history, social studies and the like. it seems like history/social studies are being given less emphasis b/c unless a person is going to pursue a college degree with a heavy emphasis in that area they won't have much in the way of general ed. requirements in that subject matter so the high schools opt to focus on the college prep type coursework that all majors will have to deal with (english, math, science).

one thing i've seen with the public schools in our area is that the teaching staff that teaches the handful of required history and social studies coursework are almost universaly primarily credentialed in another subject matter, and they've just gotten the certification for history and social studies somewhere along the way (i'm guessing to make themselves more marketable)-at dd's high school the social studies courses are taught by a counselor (teaching degree in addition to his masters in counseling), and the actual traditional history classes by one of the buisness technology teachers.

i say 'actual traditional' b/c so far one required history course dd had to take was not in a traditional classroom setting-the school bought a state approved software program that comes bundled with workbooks on the subject matter, and the kids do the entire course on a p.c. so no credentialed teacher is required to teach the course. the program tracks student progress and performance. from what the counselor told me, with coursework like history where the subject matter does'nt change and performance is generaly measured by student memorization of dates and facts, the schools are exploring using these automated programs as a cost savings.

I would say I have to disagree. Since the social studies requirements cover a large range of classes, history, geography, sociology, Economics, Psychology, etc. I don't see these getting cut back that much. Our state still requires 4 years of social science to graduate yet only 3 years of math and science. The biggest problem is that there are a LOT of people with a social studies degree so competition is fierce, thus the need for extra areas of concentration either in another subject area or with coaching, etc.

 

[barkley]

I would say I have to disagree. Since the social studies requirements cover a large range of classes, history, geography, sociology, Economics, Psychology, etc. I don't see these getting cut back that much. Our state still requires 4 years of social science to graduate yet only 3 years of math and science. The biggest problem is that there are a LOT of people with a social studies degree so competition is fierce, thus the need for extra areas of concentration either in another subject area or with coaching, etc.

it's interesting how it's so different state to state.

here social studies is an endorsement an existing teacher can add but it's not something you can have as your main certification, and you can only get it if you have certain main certifications.

to get an endorsement to teach one of the social studies courses a person would have to either have a history or english certification-but the bulk of the teachers who get these endorsements have gotten their degrees in english b/c english teaching certifications are in higher demand b/c those teachers are eligible to 4 additional different endorsements vs. the history teachers who are eligible to 3 (the schools can get more bang for their buck and hire an english teacher who can get those additional endorsements and teach in 5 different subjects).

even then it does'nt seem like our state holds social studies coursework as a high priority-the state only requires 2.5 years for high school graduation. .5 of that is required to be in washington state history (the software taught class), and 1 year of u.s. history (rumored to may be going the way of software). that only leaves 1 unit of "social studies" and most kids opt for either geography of intro to psychology, with the psych. class taught by a counselor (with the appropriate endorsement) and the geography taught by an english teacher with an added endorsement.

i love history, and it was offered as a single subject major when i got my teaching degree 'back in the day' in california-but in these parts it's rare to even find a college with a teaching program that will support anything other than history as a minor.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Is there a way to combine the two? What part of archeology jazzes you? The discovery? I'm not familiar with the field, but you could seek some additional training in forensics and still use your medical skills while working at something that sparks for you.

Best wishes. Life decisions aren't easy!

 

[golfgal]

it's interesting how it's so different state to state.

here social studies is an endorsement an existing teacher can add but it's not something you can have as your main certification, and you can only get it if you have certain main certifications.

to get an endorsement to teach one of the social studies courses a person would have to either have a history or english certification-but the bulk of the teachers who get these endorsements have gotten their degrees in english b/c english teaching certifications are in higher demand b/c those teachers are eligible to 4 additional different endorsements vs. the history teachers who are eligible to 3 (the schools can get more bang for their buck and hire an english teacher who can get those additional endorsements and teach in 5 different subjects).

even then it does'nt seem like our state holds social studies coursework as a high priority-the state only requires 2.5 years for high school graduation. .5 of that is required to be in washington state history (the software taught class), and 1 year of u.s. history (rumored to may be going the way of software). that only leaves 1 unit of "social studies" and most kids opt for either geography of intro to psychology, with the psych. class taught by a counselor (with the appropriate endorsement) and the geography taught by an english teacher with an added endorsement.

i love history, and it was offered as a single subject major when i got my teaching degree 'back in the day' in california-but in these parts it's rare to even find a college with a teaching program that will support anything other than history as a minor.

In MN to teach any subject for middle school or high school you have to have a degree in that subject area and then you get a minor in secondary education. Many teachers will have double majors in Social Science and Math, for example. In the elementary setting you get a degree in Elementary Education and then some chose to add endorsements like reading or math.

 

[RadioFanatic]

If I decide on history, I have 18yrs to work on attaining my degree while my youngest grows up (I will be 48 by then lol). In addition to my DH's job I can continue my job as an MA while I pursue it so we won't be financially unstable. With RN, I would just continue what I am doing now, and after I grad from that it would be the same type of work just on a bigger scale you know.

My dh is in the same boat as you. He is good at what he does, but it is not his passion - he does it because he has a family to support. He, like you, loves history. He is lucky to be near areas he volunteers for which are very historical - he does tour guides, etc. Have you thought of volunteering like taht? I'm not sure where in florida you are, but st. Augustine would be an example.