The Career/Education Thread

[teddyv]

54 minutes ago, Marathoner said:

My college story went something like this:

I was living in California at the time. After my stint at the zoo (I was laid off), a friend prodded/cajoled me into visiting the testing center of a local junior college. I thought it was crazy, seeing as how I had dropped out of high school in the 10th grade, but I cast caution to the wind and took their battery of placement tests. I was shocked to discover that I was eligible to enroll in a number of mid-level courses. Not only that, but I qualified for a scholarship program. 

It was an excellent opportunity: this particular junior college offered courses to prep you for guaranteed acceptance in California's university system. It was an economical way of grabbing enough CUs to only spend a few semesters attaining a Bachelors degree.

I enrolled in the University of California track and started with Computer Science. That meant UC Riverside or UC Berkley (I preferred Riverside). Then, one day between semesters, I sat down in the cafeteria to ponder my coursework. 

A fellow of my age approached and asked if he could sit at my table. Of course! I had no idea what he was up to; he was slick and persuasive. I was wasting my time studying data structures, he said. Why not study the people who study data structures instead? How much fun would that be?

He promised that anthropology was the most fun one could ever have in academia. He was a professor in the Anthropology department... 

I liked him immensely, so why not? I was convinced. 

Ah, but the minimum degree in NA anthropology is a Masters degree in one or more of the four fields. I learned that you essentially spent most of your life working toward a PhD which, considering the advanced age of the department head --- the only faculty member in the department with a PhD --- was a long road indeed. While you worked at that PhD, you taught college coursework...

Anyway, after three semesters of work at that college, the department felt that I was wasting my time there. I was an undergraduate with a graduate's grasp of the four fields, and I particularly excelled in Physical (Biological) anthropology. The department head pulled some strings and secured an invitation for me to attend a seminar at UC Riverside by one of the most respected forensic anthropologists in the field: Dr. Kathy Reichs. Forensic anthropology was the direction they wanted me to pursue, and I found myself faced with a dilemma...

This was not the path the Lord would have me travel. I declined the invitation and left college. 

I can't say I had as interesting a university experience. By the time I was done I was sick of uni, and was even unsure I wanted to work my area of study. But God seemed to have something in mind so off I went.

[Marathoner]

2 hours ago, teddyv said:

I can't say I had as interesting a university experience. By the time I was done I was sick of uni, and was even unsure I wanted to work my area of study. But God seemed to have something in mind so off I went.

I don't know if I would call that interesting, but it conformed to how life played out ever since I left my parents' house. That way of living ended a little over 10 years ago. 

I've looked into it and there's a way I could return to school, salvage my GPA, and major in something else. My original course work was comprehensive enough to conceivably acquire two different Bachelor degrees --- one in Biology and another in Psychology --- but that's only a possibility. I have the contact information for someone who helps military vets at UNM. Who knows?