Which of these two options is better?
I see my fall semester being one of these two situations, and I would like feedback as to what others think is the more appealing choice. I'm listing "positives" of each, but some things are just neutral details, or perhaps a con...
I am starting an M.A. in English in fall '09
***OPTION A***
-- Work full-time job as teacher
(It is a highly touted public charter school in my area which has Teach For America quality teachers (even the founder of the school started with TFA and hence, the whole system models itself after TFA -- philosophy, operations, and teachers). If I am going to work at a school, this is the one I would want.
-- Work hours are 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday
-- Attend grad school part-time (2 evening classes per semester). Evening classes are 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
-- I would finish my M.A. program in three years
-- Full health benefits
-- Pay is something like $40K to $42K per year
-- The experience over three years would put me in a good position to have a good administrative/curriculum-design role in education (especially with the Master's degree I'll have by then).
-- I have to come up with tuition for grad school myself...(I know many will say schools often pay for it, but I am not counting on it. There's bound to me some rule that it's only for people who have already been with them X # of years)
-- Though the university offers many evening classes and I'll never have trouble getting a class, I still won't have the "entire" course selection available to me since I'm only going for the 5:30 to 8:30 classes.
***OPTION B*** (at least according to my thread below, I shouldn't really count on this, but on the off chance it happens...)
-- Work as a teaching assistant at the university where I'm attending grad school
-- Go to grad school full-time and finish in two years
-- Would get to be fully immersed in my program instead of just a "night time" / "evening" person (I have friends who say you feel much more part of the program when you're full-time ad on campus a lot)
-- Would have to come up with probably 20 hours of more work to supplement income (even if I receive a TA stipend, it won't be enough to pay all my rent, bills, etc.). I do have options for this 20 hour of extra work though. It wouldn't be hard to get.
-- A con of this option is that there would be small pockets of time in which I'd have to scrape for money (you don't get paid for being a TA during the summer when you're not teaching...or for that month when everyone's off for X-mas.). Basically, I'd be okay most of the time, financially, but there'd be periods of scraping to make ends meet. Full time job above is full-time, year-round, no money probs
-- Don't have to pay tuition for grad school
-- Full health benefits
-- Get to see boyfriend more frequently (because he is on campus too, doing a 2nd undergraduate degree)
-- Would get university-teaching experience (I ultimately am not sure what level I want to teach most; it appeals to me to teach middle school and high school, but it also appeals to me to teach college-level.) I don't know what type of experience to grab onto because both appeal to me!
-- Have the entire course selection of graduate classes available to me because I'm going day time and night time (depending on what class I want)
What do you think? Thanks in advance...
I am starting an M.A. in English in fall '09
***OPTION A***
-- Work full-time job as teacher
(It is a highly touted public charter school in my area which has Teach For America quality teachers (even the founder of the school started with TFA and hence, the whole system models itself after TFA -- philosophy, operations, and teachers). If I am going to work at a school, this is the one I would want.
-- Work hours are 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday
-- Attend grad school part-time (2 evening classes per semester). Evening classes are 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
-- I would finish my M.A. program in three years
-- Full health benefits
-- Pay is something like $40K to $42K per year
-- The experience over three years would put me in a good position to have a good administrative/curriculum-design role in education (especially with the Master's degree I'll have by then).
-- I have to come up with tuition for grad school myself...(I know many will say schools often pay for it, but I am not counting on it. There's bound to me some rule that it's only for people who have already been with them X # of years)
-- Though the university offers many evening classes and I'll never have trouble getting a class, I still won't have the "entire" course selection available to me since I'm only going for the 5:30 to 8:30 classes.
***OPTION B*** (at least according to my thread below, I shouldn't really count on this, but on the off chance it happens...)
-- Work as a teaching assistant at the university where I'm attending grad school
-- Go to grad school full-time and finish in two years
-- Would get to be fully immersed in my program instead of just a "night time" / "evening" person (I have friends who say you feel much more part of the program when you're full-time ad on campus a lot)
-- Would have to come up with probably 20 hours of more work to supplement income (even if I receive a TA stipend, it won't be enough to pay all my rent, bills, etc.). I do have options for this 20 hour of extra work though. It wouldn't be hard to get.
-- A con of this option is that there would be small pockets of time in which I'd have to scrape for money (you don't get paid for being a TA during the summer when you're not teaching...or for that month when everyone's off for X-mas.). Basically, I'd be okay most of the time, financially, but there'd be periods of scraping to make ends meet. Full time job above is full-time, year-round, no money probs
-- Don't have to pay tuition for grad school
-- Full health benefits
-- Get to see boyfriend more frequently (because he is on campus too, doing a 2nd undergraduate degree)
-- Would get university-teaching experience (I ultimately am not sure what level I want to teach most; it appeals to me to teach middle school and high school, but it also appeals to me to teach college-level.) I don't know what type of experience to grab onto because both appeal to me!
-- Have the entire course selection of graduate classes available to me because I'm going day time and night time (depending on what class I want)
What do you think? Thanks in advance...