Considering a Second Bachelor's Degree

Applying to College
1

<p>Hey everybody. I'm finding myself with a bit of a conundrum, so I'm here hoping I can find some advice.</p>

<p>I graduated with a B.A. in economics from UC Riverside in June 2010. My overall GPA was 3.74, and my major GPA was 3.82. Since then, I have been trying (unsuccessfully) to find full-time, permanent work. However, I was one of those introverted students who made no real effort to network with professors, conduct research, or anything that would have been conducive to being admitted into a graduate program. As a matter of fact, I was not even considering graduate school until just a couple of months ago. Because of this, I have nothing to show for my education apart from a strong GPA. I would really like to go on to a graduate program, but I fear that my lack of letters of recommendation, as well as the fact that I strongly doubt any of my professors remember me (especially well enough to be able to write good/excellent letter) basically disqualifies me from getting into a good graduate program. I will, however, attempt to get a hold of my professors to see which ones will be willing to write one for me, but I am not holding my breath by any means.</p>

<p>Furthermore, I have realized in the last year being out of school that the general opportunities an economics degree has afforded me do not interest me. I do not want to work in finance, accounting, general business, insurance, etc. I wish I had done this soul searching much earlier in my life, but I am really only interested in the study of economics itself. The only things I want to do that this degree seems to qualify me for are economic research and teaching economics. That being said, I am applying for economic assistant jobs, but we'll see what happens. </p>

<p>I am also, however, very much interested in human psychology, especially industrial & organizational psychology. It is for this reason that I am strongly considering applying to return to school to complete a second bachelor's degree in psychology so that I can rectify all my past mistakes (actually network with professors, get involved on campus, obtain strong letters of recommendation, conduct research, and all that good stuff) and get into a good master's program for I-O psychology. I would go the second B.A. route because I do not believe I am currently qualified for a graduate I-O psych program, especially not without LOR's.</p>

<p>So, to bring a long-winded post to a close, I was wondering if anybody had any feedback to give me regarding my current goals. I do not want to continue down my current path, obtaining a job which I will ultimately feel is a waste of my time, and which makes me unhappy, only to find a number of years down the road that I am miserable and need to turn my life around. And I especially do not want to live my life in regret, wondering what could have been had I taken the plunge and found a way to make graduate school happen.</p>

<p>Your suggestions are appreciated. I currently feel like I am between a rock and a hard place, and I want a chance to pursue a path that I feel is best for me. I just don't really know how to best make that happen given the current circumstances.</p>

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<p>First off, professors write grad school LORs all the time for people they barely remember. It is OK for you to get in touch with one that you liked, and whose class you did well in, and ask for an LOR. You may need to make an appointment to sit down and discuss your goals, but that isn’t a bad thing either. It would give you a chance to pick the professor’s brain a bit about good options for your grad studies.</p>

<p>If you think you’d like to change fields, you will need to identify a good place to study. Back in the last century when I did this, I went to my cheap-o home state public U. I didn’t complete a second BA, I just took the classes I needed to get into grad school. Several of my friends however, did complete a second BA. It took most of them two years. Some who made big changes (history to science) needed three.</p>

<p>The easiest way to finish a second BA is to do it at your original college/university because all of your Gen Eds are covered. If you can’t do it there, look around for a place where you won’t have to waste too much time and money on non-essentials. Since you have a very specific goal, you might not need a second BA, just a bunch of courses that will get you ready for grad school admissions. It may be easier to enroll in those courses as a “special student” than it would be to enroll for a second BA. Be sure to investigate that option.</p>

<p>There isn’t any financial aid other than student loans for a second BA. If you need to do truly basic stuff, you might want to take those classes on the cheap at a community college.</p>

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<p>That’s some good advice happymomof1, thank you. I will send an e-mail out to my professors in the next day or two, and will see what happens. My primary concern is that they won’t be able to necessarily write me a good letter, but rather a neutral one, at best. But I suppose that’s better than no letters at all. Unfortunately, I live an 8 hour drive away from the campus, so I won’t be able to meet them in person any time soon.</p>

<p>I am trying to find a school in California specifically in order to keep tuition as low as possible. I’ve been finding that financial aid for second bachelor’s degrees is hard to come by, and we generally have to fund those endeavors entirely with loans (supposedly, from what I’ve discovered so far; I will be discussing this further with the financial aid offices of the universities in which I have interest).</p>

<p>As for the JC/community college option, do you think that a recommendation letter from an instructor there would hold as much weight as one from a CSU/UC? I will certainly consider it either way - I will need to complete some general requirements before I can take on the upper division courses for the degree anyway, and it would definitely be my cheapest option.</p>

<p>Lastly, you mentioned enrolling without specifically pursuing a bachelor’s degree. Would you happen to know what type of enrollment that is? I have called up a few CSU enrollment offices to ask them about that possibility, and all I ever hear about is open enrollment, which carries no requirements nor application process, but you can only get into classes that have extra seats available. Also, I’d be limited to a maximum of 24 units toward my degree with open enrollment.</p>

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<p>The only aid available for a second bachelor’s degree is un-subsidized Stafford Loans. </p>

<p>I expect that letters from the instructor of a lower level course are just as good if they come from a JC as if they come from a 4-year school. Remember that the JC professors write them all the time for their transfer students, a lot of JC professors are retired from 4-year institutions, and other JC professors are recent graduates of fill-in-name-of-fancy-PhD-program-here.</p>

<p>Most colleges and universities do offer the option of enrolling as a non-degree or special student. Two of the limits to that are (as you’ve found out) that you are the lowest priority for registration, and that you may be restricted in the number of credits that you can earn in that status. If you intend to complete a degree at that particular institution, you have to watch the number of units you accrue before you become a degree candidate, or you might lose some when you do change your status. If however, you are just taking courses to get ready to apply to grad school elsewhere, this limit is not a problem for you.</p>

<p>When I changed fields, I initially enrolled as a special student. However, I changed my status to transfer because with all of my undergrad credits, I had Senior status and so I had priority registration and could get into all of the classes that I needed. After a year in that status, I applied as a non-degree grad student so that the grad level courses that I was taking would show as grad courses on my transcript, and so that it would be easier to get into the grad level courses. I didn’t take enough courses to max out on the credits that I could earn in non-degree status, because I decided to take some time off in order to work, make money, and think about where I wanted to go to grad school. If I had stayed at that university all of my grad credits would have transferred into a graduate program. However, I went somewhere else instead.</p>

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<p>I understand your frustration and unhappiness at not being able to find full time work. A good deal is likely caused by the economy; all over the country college grads are struggling to find work and unemployment is at terrible levels. I say all this because you may be rushing into a decision that’s not right for you, signing up for another BA, pressured by external circumstances.</p>

<p>Taking for granted your interest in org psych, what have you done to investigate the best way to pursue this interest? Have you spoken with those who do it for a living, to get their advice on how to enter the field? And assuming a Master’s is the ticket you need, is it better to get it right away or to get some experience HR or something first? Lastly have you spoken with the admissions office at some of the top schools to see if the 2nd BA is really the right way, or if they’d recommend simply taking some courses in the psych field, or perhaps even something else?</p>

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<p>happymomof1, your comments on LOR’s from JC instructors are reasonable. I won’t rule that out as an option, then. In fact, it might be a better choice for any needed lower division work, since it makes the unit restrictions for special/“unclassified” (as CSU apparently calls it) enrollment and/or open enrollment less of a squeeze, not to mention the cheaper tuition. Thanks again.</p>

<p>mikemac, thank you for your comments. I do fully understand the possibility that I am, perhaps, weighing the option of going back to school due to the poor economy. It has very much affected me, after all. But I do believe I am also motivated by the fact that I simply have more interest in I-O psychology. I have until August 1st for the application period for the spring semester of 2012, so I have some time to continue my investigations. I do appreciate the questions you posed for me, since they will give me more things to think about before going through with this.</p>

<p>I have a cousin who is currently enrolled in a master’s program for marriage and family therapy who originally had a strong interest in I-O psychology, so I have been talking to him about my goals, since he has already done a lot of research into pursuing it as a career. He has given me some good resources to look into, including a link to the Society of Industrial & Organizational Psychology and the American Psychological Association. Their websites have been my primary resources for obtaining information on pursuing a degree. I would imagine I can get a hold of an I-O psychologist at SIOP’s website to talk to, and I will certainly look more into that.</p>