I’m currently a senior. That means that I need to start thinking about what to do in a year from now. I want to start a series on this blog that will catalog my experiences with planning for the future: deciding on graduate school or to start working, where I want to go, and what I want to do with the rest of my life.
This is the first in that series of posts that will be over the next few months of my life.
Post-Bachelors Options.
So, what to do when I graduate from college in just a year? I could go into the working world. I could continue my education and earn a graduate degree or some sort of certification. I am looking at a few programs right now, a couple online programs in digital media and one hybrid (part online, part in person) digital media certificate. I have fallen in love with digital media, and it would not be without this blog.
Graduate School
The last choice that I could make is to put off graduate school and start working immediately. This is something that, at this point, seems almost easiest. Even though I would rather continue with school, I would be responsible for the cost of it. And while I believe that I would find it more difficult to go back to school the longer that I am out of it, I have to think practically.
I would like to get my masters at some point, even if it is not right after my bachelors. I also don’t want to become a “professional student” who is scared of the working world and just stays in school forever. And, student debt scares me, so I would like to keep mine to a minimum; if I am not able to get a graduate assistant-ship, I will probably have to work and save for a little while.
Finding a Job
Another part of this series will deal with finding a job outside of my major. While I would love to pursue a career in music, it doesn’t seem very realistic. I also know that, unless you luck out, most music jobs come with long hours, little pay, and little to no benefits, like health insurance.
I would love to eventually take some performance jobs, but I need to establish a routine and have a decent and regular income first. I have come to love working with different forms of digital media, such as graphic design, social media marketing, and copy writing, so I would love to start a career in this field.
Whether I make this blog into a business or I work for another company, I love the digital world. And even if I don’t ever end up pursuing music professionally, I do know that I have no plans of quitting music. It will always be a part of my life. And if I have to get a job, I also do not see myself quitting this blog anytime soon, either.
These next few months will involve making a lot of decisions that will affect my life for the foreseeable future and beyond. I hope that this series helps anyone who might be in the same boat as I am, musician or not.
Thanks for reading, and let me know if you have any ideas for posts by commenting below or tweeting me!
Hi! I am a junior in college and I’m interested in going to graduate school, too. Please keep us updated on how things go! I want to see how other people make the transition between undergrad and grad so that I can learn for when it’s my turn. Good luck in your job search and in graduate school 🙂
Thank you! I definitely want to add more posts to this series of continuing my education or getting a job, especially since it will not be in my undergrad field of study. Good luck with all of your studies!
My final semester of undergrad starts in 4 weeks, so I’ve thought about the same questions over the past year. At the moment my plan is to start working after graduating in December. Since I’m going to be a teacher, I’ll probably spend at least that Spring semester substituting and then I will hopefully find a full time teaching position for the 2017-18 school year – which is so crazy to think about! I’d like to get a few years of teaching in before starting on grad school so I can figure out what direction I want to take my career. I don’t think you can really make a wrong choice as to whether to start working or continuing your education. Both have their pros and cons. Good luck with your final year and making your decision!
– Courtney
courtneylthings.blogspot.com
Good luck with student teaching! I hope everything goes well; you’ll be fine, even if it doesn’t always feel that way. Have you heard of the YouTuber daceycouture? She has some videos for future teachers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4j1ZkUIAX0