What would you have chosen as a different path for your life?

[AnotherKD]

Originally Posted by epchick

I have really been thinking about this lately seeing as how it's been almost 2 years since I graduated college and still have found nothing.



I'd also stick to what I really liked. My 2 "loves" have been international relations and Criminology....my university didn't have a major (or anything) for either. Now i'm thinking of grad school, but I don't think i could get into one of those fields w/ my degree.

If it makes you feel any better, I have a Summa Cum Laude BA in IR and also a Masters in IR, plus three foreign languages. I live in DC. And I STILL am not in that field! It is ROUGH out here.

I know that being in a job that I don't like "destroys my psyche", and I am always looking for something else. But I guess a paycheck is what keeps me here. I just put a smile on my face and deal with it, waiting until I get home to enjoy my time there.

[Gusteau]

Originally Posted by LucyKKG

I know I wouldn't have had the same Greek experience elsewhere.

I feel the same way about that issue - if I decided to go to a SUNY school I would have never been Greek. Its...different up there.

On a whole, there are definitely a few things I would have changed academically within my institution (major, etc) but I would still want to attend this university. Even with a few changes I think I still would have ended up where I am right now (or rather, where I'm planning to be in the near future/after graduation). But I think its still a little bit early for me to assess.

[LaneSig]

As much as I enjoy teaching, I would have liked to have majored in English and then a master's in journalism. I would have loved to work for a magazine. But, the way the internet is effecting magazines now, things probably worked out for the best.

The other choice: I actually had a very good singing voice. I won a couple of awards in high school for singing. My freshmen year of college, I joined a campus vocal group. The professor who directed us told me that I should study voice. She said that I had the chance to have a career as a back-up singer/commercial vocalist. The sad thing was that I was very shy in high school and the beginning of college. I didn't take what the teachers said seriously because I thought they were just being nice.

[agzg]

Originally Posted by AnotherKD

If it makes you feel any better, I have a Summa Cum Laude BA in IR and also a Masters in IR, plus three foreign languages. I live in DC. And I STILL am not in that field! It is ROUGH out here.

I know that being in a job that I don't like "destroys my psyche", and I am always looking for something else. But I guess a paycheck is what keeps me here. I just put a smile on my face and deal with it, waiting until I get home to enjoy my time there.

That's my problem - Magna Cum Laude BA in International Government/Foreign Languages and a MPIA (Master's in Public and International Affairs). IR is a hard field to break into, for sure.

ETA: (Damn I'm locquatious today) - epchick my grad school took many many people who didn't have IR backgrounds but had a strong interest in it. PM me if you're really thinking about grad school for IR.

[CougarGrad]

Originally Posted by epchick

I'd also stick to what I really liked. My 2 "loves" have been international relations and Criminology....my university didn't have a major (or anything) for either. Now i'm thinking of grad school, but I don't think i could get into one of those fields w/ my degree.

I re-read more carefully and just saw this. Don't be discouraged... I have a BA in Russian Studies and I'm starting my grad studies in Criminology this fall. You just may be able to make it work!

[agzg]

Originally Posted by Gusteau

I feel the same way about that issue - if I decided to go to a SUNY school I would have never been Greek. Its...different up there.

On a whole, there are definitely a few things I would have changed academically within my institution (major, etc) but I would still want to attend this university. Even with a few changes I think I still would have ended up where I am right now (or rather, where I'm planning to be in the near future/after graduation). But I think its still a little bit early for me to assess.

Sorry for the double post - I had a full ride to SUNY Albany coming out of high school but chose my undergrad because I liked the feeling I got when I went there. Also, at Albany I would have had to double major. I never would have gone greek at SUNY Albany.

Ah - the days where I thought I had money and could just choose to go to a small private school instead of going to a big state school for free.

I wouldn't change it though, now, even though my student loan debt is astronomical, because had I not gone to my undergrad, I wouldn't have gone to my grad school, wouldn't have made the friends I have now who come out to Chicago to visit me, and wouldn't have met live-in. Actually - I wouldn't even be in Chicago. Weird.

So I guess, like I said before, educationally I wouldn't change a thing.

I also wouldn't change not moving to DC. I'm not moving there unless I have a job there, tyvm, and I'm always sure to mark "will travel" on any job applications. This past two years were much more fun in Chicago than they would have been in DC.

[epchick]

Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek

I could have just told you to google it, but I love chatting about it so..

So "Journey to the Center of the Earth" was wrong? lol. Is there really a world in the center aside from the extremely hot solid rock? lol

I actually think that sounds really interesting! Planets/space/etc all that interests me soo much, but i'm not a fan of a lot of the science i'd need to know beforehand (physics especially lol)


ETA:

Originally Posted by AnotherKD

If it makes you feel any better, I have a Summa Cum Laude BA in IR and also a Masters in IR, plus three foreign languages. I live in DC. And I STILL am not in that field! It is ROUGH out here.

I know that being in a job that I don't like "destroys my psyche", and I am always looking for something else. But I guess a paycheck is what keeps me here. I just put a smile on my face and deal with it, waiting until I get home to enjoy my time there.

lol, ok that makes me feel a little better. I REEEEALLY enjoy learning languages, and I wish i had realized that sooner. My alma mater had several language classes but nothing major. You could only really have good languaged classes for Spanish and French (i'm bilingual already in Spanish and French is just boring to me lol). If i had found my love for languages earlier maybe I could have found a university that actually had good language classes.

Originally Posted by CougarGrad

I re-read more carefully and just saw this. Don't be discouraged... I have a BA in Russian Studies and I'm starting my grad studies in Criminology this fall. You just may be able to make it work!

Really? Awesome!! What school are you going to for Criminology? I soo need to look into that! The only school I was told (by my advisor) that had that for grad school was Michigan State but you had to have your degree in Chem.

[Gusteau]

Originally Posted by agzg

Sorry for the double post - I had a full ride to SUNY Albany coming out of high school but chose my undergrad because I liked the feeling I got when I went there. Also, at Albany I would have had to double major. I never would have gone greek at SUNY Albany.

My visit to Albany was the last straw, you couldn't get me out of that state fast enough!

Originally Posted by CougarGrad

I re-read more carefully and just saw this. Don't be discouraged... I have a BA in Russian Studies and I'm starting my grad studies in Criminology this fall. You just may be able to make it work!

I'm majoring in Russian Studies! I don't really want to work in the field anymore, but it's good to know there's life after Russian that doesn't involve a cardboard box!

[agzg]

Originally Posted by Gusteau

My visit to Albany was the last straw, you couldn't get me out of that state fast enough!

Well, I was trying to be nice about it.

[cheerfulgreek]

Originally Posted by epchick

So "Journey to the Center of the Earth" was wrong? lol. Is there really a world in the center aside from the extremely hot solid rock? lol

I actually think that sounds really interesting! Planets/space/etc all that interests me soo much, but i'm not a fan of a lot of the science i'd need to know beforehand (physics especially lol)

lol
omg, I love that movie.

Really? I didn't know you had an interest in astronomy. If you want to do it as a hobby you don't need to know any physics at all. It's just fun looking at the stars and planets and reading about them so you know what you're looking at. I guess for me, I just like knowing or having an idea of how things work and why things are the way they are, that's why I get into the physical science part of it, plus I love physics, and astronomy. I hated it in highschool and undergrad because it was boring what we were doing. I hope it remains an interest of yours, even if you don't like physics. To be quite honest with you, I think you'd be good at it if you give it a try.

[Ghostwriter]

I love music but I can't play any instruments and I am a so-so singer but I love running sound boards. I wish I had become a sound or recording engineer. That is what I always wanted to be. Oh well, maybe in my next life.

[FSUZeta]

can i add to mine? another possiblity would have been to be a flute and/or piano major and play with an orchestra. i was a good musician back in hs. or art-i was a good artist-i did get to use that talent in interior design, but never really worked in the interior design field after college(well, except for helping friends and family, pro bono). or maybe art history-combining my love of art and history.

see folks, written down, i have so many interests it comes across as adhd.

maybe i should just go back to school and study everything that interests me, until i die-it would probably take that long.

pretty boy- do you watch top gear? they toured the ferrari factory and interviewed the test driver. who wouldn't want that job?

[CougarGrad]

Originally Posted by epchick

Really? Awesome!! What school are you going to for Criminology? I soo need to look into that! The only school I was told (by my advisor) that had that for grad school was Michigan State but you had to have your degree in Chem.

Check your pee-emms!

[DiamondAthena]

I think it's soo funny that I always wonder what if I'd have gone right to grad school instead of getting married in my Sr.yr and having a baby 2 yrs later. But then I have friends who did go straight for the masters and post grad degrees that are looking for mates and wishing they had what I have... Grass always seems to be greener so I try to stop those what if thoughts in their tracks.... But still, it's natural to wonder.... What if I'd become a forensic psychologist?

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Not to mention the people who were able to become forensic psychologists and get married and have children (not necessarily in that order). It was never either/or for many people.

I think it's interesting how we rationalize the decisions that we made and go the next step of juxtapositioning ourselves against others. Totally unnecessary.

So true. It doesn't have to be advanced degree OR a family.

If I'm wrong and it does, then I'd better prep for life as a cat lady lol.