Some might say, “Well, why don’t you just get a masters?”. So let me give some background information.
My first bachelor’s degree is a B.A. in Biology. Since I was sort of thrown under the bus during my 2nd year in college and had to take over being the sole financial supporter for a family of 3 (located in So. Cal and nothing is cheap here), I focused the majority of my time trying to make ends meet, while commuting about 90 miles per day to school and back. Long story short, I did not graduate with a GPA competitive enough to get into post-secondary professional programs. I am very close to a 3.0, but as many of you know, that’s usually the cut-off for any Master’s programs, let alone a PA program.
And factoring in the fact that I HAVE to work a full-time job just to be able to provide for my mom and little brother, I have very few options as to how I can even attend a Master’s program if by chance I was able to get into one.
So now I’m a bit stuck, since I am working a job in the education field for money, but thats not where I want to end up as far as careers go. Did a bit of research and found a couple of online fully accredited 2nd bachelor’s and master’s programs.
The bachelor’s would be in Environmental Sciences with a minor in Wildlife/Fish Conservation + management. After some thought, I decided that I would be content in pursuing a career that would protect this planet and its resources. With all of my classes from my first degree, I would be able to complete this 2nd bachelor’s in 1 year @ 10k. Also want to mention that I can transition to an on-campus student at any time to gain the necessary lab and research experience that is vital to science careers. (Once I can secure a year long leave of absence from my current job)
The second option I have is an online master’s in biology. I much rather do an on-campus version and would prefer to do traditional masters over a 2nd bachelors, but I simply cannot afford to quit work and focus on school full-time for 2 years+.
SOOOO, what are your thoughts?