Before I start, this is vague daydreaming and escapism, and I’m not actually taking these ideas and signing up for classes tomorrow so no need to point out that I have to do a lot more research first.
I’m thinking of dropping out of an MA program and I’m vaguely thinking about things I can do afterwards. I’m going to work for at least a year, at Starbucks or as a temp or whatever I can do, because I’m burnt out and want to earn some money even if it’s just minimum wage, but I realize that if I want anything that pays a bit more, I’m going to have to get some practical education. (Particularly as time spent languishing in grad school is not really good for the resume.)
So I’m thinking about getting a diploma of some sort at a community college. Something in the field of business seems like the most practical choice, because I’m not scientifically- or technically-minded at all.
For people who work in this nebulous “business” world, what kinds of job prospects are there for people without BBA/BCom degrees? What kinds of work could someone who’s decently literate but not too strong on the math or computers do? Are there ways to make a BA in the humanities into an asset when combined with some kind of practical education?
As I said, I haven’t done much more research than browse local community college websites. (Alas when I do I’m immediately drawn to the same stupidly impractical subjects I was when I first went to university!) Persuade me that “business studies” is more interesting than it looks on paper?
I encourage a “hard” business major (Accounting or Finance) rather than a general business major. Particularly since you already have a B.A. (or B.S.) A two year community college degree is pretty worthless. A four year B.A or B.S. in Accounting is a better path from a job opportunity standpoint.
If you already have a B.A. or a B.S. and you’re in an MA program, why are you looking to courses at community colleges? What did you study at the BA level and what are you currently studying for your M.A.?
Rather than getting another Bachelors, I’d advise you to figure out whether or not this is something you really want to do, figure out an actual profession/industry that you’re targeting and either get an MBA, an MS or CFA. A bunch of extension schools offer various certificates in financial courses, but I’m not exactly certain how valuable they are. I guess if you have the cash, a $550 dollar course or certificate is better than dropping out of another expensive education program though.
A good place to gather information is GMAT Club - Leading Forum for GMAT Prep and MBA Admissions. They have a lot of information for career switchers etc. and unlike this board, their entire focus is on business school and business education. I found it to be an incredible resource over the last year.
For the record, I have an undegrad degree in Poli Sci/Sociology, a JD (5 years work experience in secured transactions) and now I’m moving on to get an MBA with a concentration in Accounting/Finance. So I’m with you on the career-switching but I thought long and hard about it and set a goal for myself that I wasn’t going to go to a program ranked lower than 14th in the country because holy shit is it expensive (have paid off 1/2 law school and have nothing from undergrad). Admissions to top programs is incredibly difficult and a horrible slog, so if you go down this route, go down it with eyes open. It took an entire year of my life from start to finish. It was exactly this time last year that I was already studying 5 hours a day after an 8 hour workday (with 1 hour commute each way) to be able to get a qualifying GMAT score. Suffice it to say that it isn’t something you should just swan into because you don’t know what else to do. The total for my combined application + interview season fees alone came to something like 3-4K.
I don’t know that it’s that strange. A classmate of mine who finished her MA is doing a museum management course at community college. There are quite a few courses that require a BA to get into, though they tend to be the kinds that don’t really lead to profitable careers for which there is demand (book and magazine publishing and museum/heritage courses fall into this category).
My BA was in history and so is my MA. (Nothing relevant like modern political history, rather the early modern European religious history kind of uselessness.) I loved it, but I don’t really anymore.
I’m totally not in line for an MBA (or law school). I just feel like I have no career and am not on a career path, so I need to make a big change to get onto one. Even if it’s not a career I want to do for the rest of my life, I wonder if being, say, an accounting clerk would be a better way to get onto a career path than working at the mall.
Dangerosa, I suspected that might be the case. I really can’t go back for another degree, though - this is melodramatic, but at this point in my life I don’t think I have it in me.
Damn. Starbucks is looking more and more like my best choice. Who would have thought there are no jobs out there waiting for liberal arts grads?
You don’t necessarily need more coursework to get just an entry-level position in a corporation. Granted it was 2000 and the dot com boom was at a high, but my second job out of college (first one was working on a campaign) was working in the marketing department of a B2B, my third was in sales for IT outsourcing and I didn’t know a lick of math at that point. I know someone who took an MA in philosophy and went to work for the business development arm of a startup making 70K a year, so it’s not entirely impossible (however, she had degrees from Stanford and the undergrad one was in economics). Have you talked to your alma mater about being put into the on-campus recruiting pool and job fairs?
I do think there are opportunities outside of Starbucks, but I’m not particularly convinced putting money into community college courses/extension school is necessary for a general “business” job unless they have an explicit requirement that you have taken Statistics or Calculus or something and have to show them that you have a certain class on your transcript. For instance, we have plenty of accounting clerks at my federal agency that don’t even have a BA. :rolleyes:
There are things you can do with a BA in liberal arts. Law School, waiting tables, enlist in the military at rank e-3 instead of e-1, State & Federal government, sales. If you have some office/computer skill, possibly something secretarial/admin assistant. Probably lots of other stuff, but that’s just off the top of my head.
If you happen to live within commuting range of casinos, you might want to think about becoming a dealer. I think there are schools for that, and you also have to be able to qualify for a gaming license, at least in my state. Dealers make decent money, and I suspect also have decent benefits.
Fair enough. I guess I’m wishing there were a way to transform my BA into a more useful degree, but the prestige wouldn’t really be there. (By definition, if they accepted me it wouldn’t be a great school!) I find the idea of blind job-hunting so terrifying that I keep looking for ways to avoid it, but I suppose it’s unavoidable.
How willing are you to move around the country? The reason I ask is that in order to enter the management training program for a Class I railroad, you just have to have a 4-year degree–in any subject. I got to the point of having a job offer right out of college (early 2007) that I ultimately turned down because I didn’t really want to move to Kansas City for a year, then somewhere else for a few, and so on. The idea of this job is that you train on the job, rotating through the departments (mechanical, operating, etc.) at HQ, then they move you to an entry level management job anywhere on the system; usually that would be a Yardmaster.
The money’s pretty good; IIRC, they offered me $50k plus benefits to start, and there’s honestly no upper limit to where you can go. Lots of current CEO’s worked their way up–some of them from the labor side first.
With the downturn in the economy, of course, demand might be down right now, but CSX Railroad has reported a 20% profit increase this quarter over last year, and the railroads are generally pretty good leading indicators of the economy. More stuff is getting shipped, which means there’s more demand, which means people are spending money again. Hell, Warren Buffett just outright bought the BNSF Railroad, and he’s a pretty damn good visionary.
Oh, I’d imagine with a JD you could do lots of interesting things.
Truth is, the money’s better on the labor side–one of the interesting aspects of railroading is that the bosses often make less money than the people they’re in charge of. Once an engineer gets some seniority, the selection of jobs gets better (ie you can bid on the high-priority trains and perhaps get paid your full day’s wage for actually working 6 hours or so, with the ability to be home more often than the low guys on the totem pole.)
The downside to railroading is that it’s time-intensive. The labor side is bound by union agreements and FRA regulations, so they can’t, for example, work longer than 12 hours. The management side isn’t bound by that–you’re on-call 24/7, and if a derailment happens at 3am on your one off day that month, you get to go.
My day job is as a college prof, but I’m fairly heavily involved in railroading, and I imagine when I retire from teaching, my second career will be there; there are limitless opportunities, and I think it will be a growth industry, particularly if the U.S. continues to realize the benefits of passenger rail. My guess is that within the next few decades, there will be quite a few new companies starting up to contract with states to run their trains. It’s certainly a job that you’re either suited for or not, but if you are, it can make a great career.
