(no subject)
I was told tonight that my class and the class of 2010 are the first class of graduating college students to face an economy with double-digit unemployment for a generation and a half. I am so lucky to have a job right now, it's not even funny. I'm doubly lucky to have a job that pays me enough to live and isn't so demanding that I can't also have an internship in my field. I read on MSNBC that the average income for a 22 year old college graduate is $55,000 a year. I don't think I'll be making that much money until I've worked at a museum for 15 years. It must be a thrill to love being an engineer and to get paid a lot for what you love doing. Fine arts and humanities are taking quite the beating right now because no one has the money to go out and spend on tickets to a museum or tickets to an opera, orchestra concert, play, etc.
There are plenty of jobs out there for people who are interested in working in museums. I know this because I belong to a newsgroup on yahoo called "musejobs," which sends me daily updates with museums jobs from all across the country. I get about 12-15 emails a day from the moderator, because she searches job sites from everywhere. The jobs are out there, but the problem is that I'm not qualified for any of them because I don't have my master's degree. There's the stickler- I have a years worth of museum experience right at this very moment. When I finish my internship with Dawn (at Milwaukee Public Museum) at the end of next semester, I'll have a year and a half, and that experience ranges across the board. First of all, I will have worked in a big and a small institution, which is something that graduate programs like to see. I have demonstrated (I think) consistent dedication to the field. I have actual experience, not just a passing fancy because I can't figure out what else to do with a B.A. in History. I've done projects in education, I've worked with photo archives, I've worked with collections software, I've worked with collections, I've helped with exhibits, I've done research, I'm working with a woman in Milwaukee to start her own museum...I would kick everyone's ass in grad school.
I don't regret turning down Tufts. Their program was confusing and I am glad that I made the decision to wait, because it's not the program I wanted. I've been thinking the last couple of weeks that I might just up and apply to graduate school this year. I'd have to do it NOW which isn't really fair to spring on the people that I'd ask to write letters for me. I'd also have to re-take the GRE because my scores were suckamundo. There goes $160. Plus all of the application fees. Amy told me about a program in Boulder that waves tuition because you work in their museum. You don't get paid, but you don't have to pay for school. I've been thinking about applying to that program only because they wave tuition, and because it sounds like a good program. I don't want to go back to Colorado, though.
The other schools that I'm looking at are the same ones I applied to last year, minus Tufts. Meaning, George Washington and the Cooperstown Institute. The main reason I didn't get into Cooperstown last time is because I didn't have any experience whatsoever. I had about a month in my internship at that point- nothing that Sharon (my boss at the time) could really speak to, and I didn't know her well enough for her to write my letter of recommendation. Now though, I do, and she's went to Cooperstown and might be able to pull some strings for me. So can Carolyn, who also did her graduate work at Cooperstown, and who also works at the museum where I interned in Appleton.
I guess I'm tired of futzing around and I want to get a move on the career that I want to be in in five years. I like to think that I'm being smart about it- I turned down a full-time job in Milwaukee that wasn't in museums because it was a "career." That wasn't the only reason, but it had a lot to do with why I turned it down. I spent two days sweating over that decision, because it was a full-time job *with benefits* and I was pretty much wondering if I was insane. I guess I knew in my gut that it wasn't the job for me as soon as I finished the second round of application, but I couldn't just turn it down out of pocket. I was going to call someone much wiser that I to make sure I wasn't being stupid, but I know myself too well. I just wanted confirmation that I was doing the right thing and if someone told me to not be dumb and accept the job, I'd just hate turning it down more and worse, I might try to take it and then hate having done so. I don't want to start a career knowing full well that I'm just going to ditch it in a year and a half to do what I really want to do. I can't really tell the people I'm interviewing with that "Oh yeah, well this is really only a temporary gig because it's not where I see myself in ten years." I'd get laughed right out of the office.
And I'm tired of living in cold states. Says the woman who wants to settle in Boston.
At least they have the ocean.
Thought for today: "I always prefer to believe the best of everybody, it saves so much trouble." ~Rudyard Kipling
Happy things: Talking to Felicia for two hours, getting to "sleep in" tomorrow, spending Saturday with Dustin's parents, Felicia's birthday, being in love, soda, kittens, friends.
There are plenty of jobs out there for people who are interested in working in museums. I know this because I belong to a newsgroup on yahoo called "musejobs," which sends me daily updates with museums jobs from all across the country. I get about 12-15 emails a day from the moderator, because she searches job sites from everywhere. The jobs are out there, but the problem is that I'm not qualified for any of them because I don't have my master's degree. There's the stickler- I have a years worth of museum experience right at this very moment. When I finish my internship with Dawn (at Milwaukee Public Museum) at the end of next semester, I'll have a year and a half, and that experience ranges across the board. First of all, I will have worked in a big and a small institution, which is something that graduate programs like to see. I have demonstrated (I think) consistent dedication to the field. I have actual experience, not just a passing fancy because I can't figure out what else to do with a B.A. in History. I've done projects in education, I've worked with photo archives, I've worked with collections software, I've worked with collections, I've helped with exhibits, I've done research, I'm working with a woman in Milwaukee to start her own museum...I would kick everyone's ass in grad school.
I don't regret turning down Tufts. Their program was confusing and I am glad that I made the decision to wait, because it's not the program I wanted. I've been thinking the last couple of weeks that I might just up and apply to graduate school this year. I'd have to do it NOW which isn't really fair to spring on the people that I'd ask to write letters for me. I'd also have to re-take the GRE because my scores were suckamundo. There goes $160. Plus all of the application fees. Amy told me about a program in Boulder that waves tuition because you work in their museum. You don't get paid, but you don't have to pay for school. I've been thinking about applying to that program only because they wave tuition, and because it sounds like a good program. I don't want to go back to Colorado, though.
The other schools that I'm looking at are the same ones I applied to last year, minus Tufts. Meaning, George Washington and the Cooperstown Institute. The main reason I didn't get into Cooperstown last time is because I didn't have any experience whatsoever. I had about a month in my internship at that point- nothing that Sharon (my boss at the time) could really speak to, and I didn't know her well enough for her to write my letter of recommendation. Now though, I do, and she's went to Cooperstown and might be able to pull some strings for me. So can Carolyn, who also did her graduate work at Cooperstown, and who also works at the museum where I interned in Appleton.
I guess I'm tired of futzing around and I want to get a move on the career that I want to be in in five years. I like to think that I'm being smart about it- I turned down a full-time job in Milwaukee that wasn't in museums because it was a "career." That wasn't the only reason, but it had a lot to do with why I turned it down. I spent two days sweating over that decision, because it was a full-time job *with benefits* and I was pretty much wondering if I was insane. I guess I knew in my gut that it wasn't the job for me as soon as I finished the second round of application, but I couldn't just turn it down out of pocket. I was going to call someone much wiser that I to make sure I wasn't being stupid, but I know myself too well. I just wanted confirmation that I was doing the right thing and if someone told me to not be dumb and accept the job, I'd just hate turning it down more and worse, I might try to take it and then hate having done so. I don't want to start a career knowing full well that I'm just going to ditch it in a year and a half to do what I really want to do. I can't really tell the people I'm interviewing with that "Oh yeah, well this is really only a temporary gig because it's not where I see myself in ten years." I'd get laughed right out of the office.
And I'm tired of living in cold states. Says the woman who wants to settle in Boston.
At least they have the ocean.
Thought for today: "I always prefer to believe the best of everybody, it saves so much trouble." ~Rudyard Kipling
Happy things: Talking to Felicia for two hours, getting to "sleep in" tomorrow, spending Saturday with Dustin's parents, Felicia's birthday, being in love, soda, kittens, friends.