What type of internships did you get this summer?
You could find a job with your degree if you can explain 1° your skill set 2° relevant coursework and 3° use the Penn name and network.
But it sounds like you’re thinking about this only now and thus haven’t really prepared for life after Penn, meaning you have a lot of catching up to do. But as was explained above, the way it works for most fields isn’t a linear “study egyptology, become an egyptologist”. That’s how it works for majors that are purposely vocational, such as teaching, nursing, engineering, and those that act as substitute such as economics and, increasingly, CS and math.
(Remember that TV show about 15 years ago where the premise was that studying math was as esoteric as studying philosophy, and that show was somehow trying to prove math was useful and relevant because it really wasn’t obvious to most? Yeah. Not today’s mindset at all.)
For other majors, you need help in determining your skill set, what classes to take to improve your professional outlook either through sharpening these skills or filling a missing skill.
What classes have you taken, beside Ancient History?
(Archeology, Anthropology, Forensic Science, Art History, French)?
What about gen eds - what did you take for foreign language, science, math?
Did you take an Economics class? A geopolitics class?
Any way you can tie your knowledge of Ancient Egypt to today’s Maghreb?
Have you studied in Egypt/abroad?
Been part of a dig?
Can you read Ancient languages?
I wouldn’t go into a PHD in Egyptology - there’s no linerar path for you, it’d essentially be dealying your choices and thinking, effecively setting you back; positions are pretty much dying off. Unless you’ve won some kind of national prize that establishes you’re currently THE top student in the subject, in which case there might be a future for you at that one position that might open in the next 15 years. But since so few universities offer that field, your odds of making the next 6 years worthy of your time if you spend them in a PHD, and ending up with a tenure-track position, are close to zero. (And since the field is so rare, I doubt there’d be random adjunct positions, except for one course here and there - teaching one course won’t even pay minimum wage, the going rate is per semester and comes down to well under $1,000 a month, making adjuncts eligible for food stamps despite their work.)
I would also consider not graduating next year, as you obviously haven’t really thought of the way you’ll use your degree and therefore haven’t taken “professionally relevant” coursework such as digital literacy or statistics (may have different names at Penn).
Do you have a 4-year plan? What does next year look like?
Can you turn that “last year in the 4 year plan” into a 2-year plan where you add relevant coursework?
It also sounds like you’re not well-acquainted with Penn’s excellent career center - if you have a couple days off from your internship or job, go there and ask for help. Plan to do a second junior year: Doing a second junior year with more focus will save you thousands of dollars down the road, ie., will allow you to find a job rather than flop around from barista job to temp work - but if you’re on financial aid, you may have a problem. I know the majority of students don’t graduate in 4 years, but at Penn they do; financial aid may not follow. In which case you’d have to pack as much as possible between now (summer session 2 at a local community college or state college to start you off with “relevant” coursework) and next year’s summer session. Federal aid is good for 6 years but it wouldn’t cover Penn’s costs; however since it sounds like you have zero debt, it means you could try to use up the loans you haven’t taken yet, which would total $19,000 so far.
Tell Financial Aid you haven’t taken the classes you were supposed to and will need to graduate in 2018, not 2017, how does that work?
It seems a glaring omission you don’t speak Arabic when you’re focusing on an area of the world where it’s the main language today, but if you graduate in 2 years that gives you 4 semesters + opportunity for some time abroad to remedy this deficiency. Regardless of what you’re doing this summer, start there. Look for courses in Arabic.
In the end, there are lots of possibilities for you.
Some clear paths related to your major:
- art appraisal. Would require your taking some art history classes and probably a specialized one-year master’s.
- stolen antiquities: search/recovery.
- insurance companies that work for museums
- forensic anthropology
Some are not focused on Egyptology but use your critical thinking and general skills:
- law school
- TFA (=> if you have sufficient knowledge of History and Art History to teach…)
- adding business/math classes => working at a company => getting an MBA
- if you can reach an intermediate level in Arabic by graduation time, work for the government
- look into graduate-level critical language flagships for Arabic and apply
Some are simply: you’re an Ivy League graduate. It’s always better to attend a top school when you’re choosing an esoteric field or one that doesn’t have immediate careers attaches to it. Their brand will have pull if you bother using their services. Use UPenn’s incredible career center and alumni network. Follow their pointers.
SUMMARY OF IMMEDIATE ACTIONS
- Find your local state college or community college. See if they offer Arabic 1 and another “relevant” class for Summer Session B.
- Start working on your Arabic.
- Go to UPenn’s Career Center.
- Contact Financial Services and see how you can organize the next two years financially speaking.
Get yourself to the career center and start working with them ASAP.