Thanks @Archaeologist. You were incredibly helpful. In your opinion, should I take an extra year or two? (keeping in mind that I’ve made it through 4 years without taking out loans but wouldn’t be able to avoid it if I did another year or two of undergrad)
About doing research as a hobby, are those who present at conferences ever allowed to have access to university libraries or do hands on research, like seeing artifacts and papyri? Because otherwise I don’t think that would leave me satisfied, because unless I had some big novel insight, I would have no new contributions to make, just rehashing what others have already found out. And what’s the attitude towards them, because I just figured in Egyptology it’s Ph.D, student or GTFO?
As for French and German, thanks for the recommendation, I’ve been looking for something to help me with reading but could not find anything.
Why I want to be an Egyptologist? I’m not sure. I do enjoy learning about the past and other cultures, but it’s only studying ancient Egypt that really gets my blood pumping, so I can’t see much about my passion that can be isolated and found to apply to other careers. All I can think of is teaching, but that would require as much time and more money to get certified, and the job market for teachers is almost as bad as academia.
And @MYOS1634, they had a fellowship to go along with the exhibition but I didn’t get it, and I’m not qualified for any of the student job openings in the museum. And it’s not that I refuse to work or do internships this summer, it’s that I can’t. Again, no access to the car and I don’t live anywhere close to public transportation lines, so I’m limited to my small town, and I can’t find anyone hiring who would let me work for just 2 months. I decided against finding a job or internship in Philly over the summer because I would spend at least as much I made at a job on food and rent, and an internship would have left me broke.
I already emailed the career center (actually before I even started this thread) and am going to schedule a call with them soon.