More school stuff - ignore, 'cause it's boring to everyone but me.
As far as course order for the G.G. (Graduate Gemologist) degree, there are two prerequisites out of the five distance courses (that can be completed online), Diamond Essentials and Colored Stone Essentials. From there, I can then take Colored Stones, which goes more in depth than the essentials course. The advisor recommended I take the extension courses (in Atlanta) before taking their distance counterparts, and those would be Diamond Grading, Gem Identification and Colored Stone Grading. Once those are done, that leaves two distance courses, Diamonds and Diamond Grading and Gem Identification. And once all that is done, there's a supervised written exam, and I'm still waiting on an answer as to how that's administered.
Assuming each of the distance courses takes a month to complete (which is what they claim it does following their online plans, yet they claim you can work faster on your own), then I can get the Diamond Essentials, Colored Stone Essentials and Colored Stones classes in before September (assuming I start in June after the wedding). By the time September is over, all three of the extension classes, plus an extra one (Pearl Grading) I'm just taking because I can, will be done, leaving two more classes and roughly two months to finish out the program, then take the exam. So, by the end of 2006, I could be done with this degree and ready to try to find a job buying/selling/appraising fine jewelry. Phase 1, collect underpants. . .
Money wise, they offer two no interest payment plans for the distance courses (3 equal payments or 6 equal payments). The extension courses, however will have to be paid for all at once (that's $2900 just for the classes and fees). As mentioned before, there are still tools and living costs in Atlanta for 18 days to consider, so lets say another $1500 for that (based on some loose research of extended stay hotels, costs of tools and estimations on food and gas). That's a sizable chunk of money, but attainable. I can start now by purchasing the tools I need one by one (they list everything I'll need on the class schedules) and of course laying off the hobbies for a while and saving that money instead. I did just withdraw my CD and put that into savings (it matured this week), but that's most likely going towards a down payment on a house, so I'm not counting on it being there for school. Yes, if I hadn't been a retarded 18 year old, I'd have another $9000 to put towards this stuff, but oh well, I was a retarded 18 year old instead.
She gave me info on the campus stuff I was interested in, but I'm not even really going to think about that right now. One step at a time. And there's no way I could live in Carlsbad, CA for a year to do what I'm wanting to do out there for at least another 2-3 years. I will note, however, that they did away with the G.J.G.D.W. program and instead are incorporating Design and Wax into the A.J.A. (Applied Jewelry Arts) program. She mentioned the G.J. (Graduate Jeweler) and A.J.A. compliment each other extremely well (one teaches you how to design the stuff, make molds, etc. while the other teaches you how to manufacture what you just designed). Those two degrees combined with a G.G. would give me one really well rounded education in the jewelry industry (and a whole crap ton of letters after my name, heh).
Now, all I have to do is figure out if this is really what I should be doing, and if so seeing if this is the way to do it. I should probably talk to several people in the industry to find out if it's really even necessary to get such degrees and certifications and how much, if any, advantage they'd give me.
Assuming each of the distance courses takes a month to complete (which is what they claim it does following their online plans, yet they claim you can work faster on your own), then I can get the Diamond Essentials, Colored Stone Essentials and Colored Stones classes in before September (assuming I start in June after the wedding). By the time September is over, all three of the extension classes, plus an extra one (Pearl Grading) I'm just taking because I can, will be done, leaving two more classes and roughly two months to finish out the program, then take the exam. So, by the end of 2006, I could be done with this degree and ready to try to find a job buying/selling/appraising fine jewelry. Phase 1, collect underpants. . .
Money wise, they offer two no interest payment plans for the distance courses (3 equal payments or 6 equal payments). The extension courses, however will have to be paid for all at once (that's $2900 just for the classes and fees). As mentioned before, there are still tools and living costs in Atlanta for 18 days to consider, so lets say another $1500 for that (based on some loose research of extended stay hotels, costs of tools and estimations on food and gas). That's a sizable chunk of money, but attainable. I can start now by purchasing the tools I need one by one (they list everything I'll need on the class schedules) and of course laying off the hobbies for a while and saving that money instead. I did just withdraw my CD and put that into savings (it matured this week), but that's most likely going towards a down payment on a house, so I'm not counting on it being there for school. Yes, if I hadn't been a retarded 18 year old, I'd have another $9000 to put towards this stuff, but oh well, I was a retarded 18 year old instead.
She gave me info on the campus stuff I was interested in, but I'm not even really going to think about that right now. One step at a time. And there's no way I could live in Carlsbad, CA for a year to do what I'm wanting to do out there for at least another 2-3 years. I will note, however, that they did away with the G.J.G.D.W. program and instead are incorporating Design and Wax into the A.J.A. (Applied Jewelry Arts) program. She mentioned the G.J. (Graduate Jeweler) and A.J.A. compliment each other extremely well (one teaches you how to design the stuff, make molds, etc. while the other teaches you how to manufacture what you just designed). Those two degrees combined with a G.G. would give me one really well rounded education in the jewelry industry (and a whole crap ton of letters after my name, heh).
Now, all I have to do is figure out if this is really what I should be doing, and if so seeing if this is the way to do it. I should probably talk to several people in the industry to find out if it's really even necessary to get such degrees and certifications and how much, if any, advantage they'd give me.