<p>Alright, I'll try my best to explain this situation without sounding like I'm complaining, because I'm not. I understand I got myself into this, so I simply would like a little advice from the outside on how to get myself out. </p>
<p>Here's the deal. I started undergrad 5 years ago with the intent to go to law school so ended up graduating with a degree in History after my academic advisors convinced me that this would be the best move. After graduation, I took a year off to work abroad/travel, then I applied and was accepted to Vandy law. Here's where the bigger mistakes took place. Vandy wasn't good enough for me, so I rejected them and reapplied the next year. I spent the interim year working odd-jobs, aka waiting to go to law school. That was last year. This last summer, I was all registered to go to a small law school on the east coast (W&L) but before I enrolled I did tons of research online about the legal market and soon found that if you're not in a top 14 law school, you won't find a job (though you will have debt). I finally decided not to go to law school this last summer, and am now stuck in this world with a History degree, no job, and living with the parents at 24. But it is what it is, and now I need to move forward.</p>
<p>I've had a bit of time to think over these past few months, and have realized how big of a mistake my choosing a history degree was. I've also realized how big of a mistake my not finding steady employment over the past 2 years was (rather than just wait to go to law school). I am fully aware of all of this, but feel it is not too late to correct my mistakes and get myself back on course. </p>
<p>So, that's a long winded way of getting to this question: I'm considering returning to college for one of the following, and would like a bit of advice on which avenue would be the best decision financially - masters or second bachelors. </p>
<ol>
<li>BS in Industrial Engineering</li>
<li>Accelerated BSN/MSN (nursing)</li>
<li>Masters in Accounting</li>
</ol>
<p>I would "like" to do the IE degree, though returning for an additional 4 years of undergrad at the age of 24 (would be 25 when I returned) just sounds irresponsible. This would mean that I wouldn't begin my work life until the age of 29(!). Alternatively, I could do an accelerated nursing program and hope to work into an admin position, or a masters in Accounting and go for the CPA. I'm not sure which would be the best choice, Thoughts?</p>
<p>First, don’t worry about your age. Second, there’s nothing irresponsible about recognising you need more education to get a job. Now…</p>
<p>You can probably do the IE degree in 3 years or less. Since you have a BA already there’s a good chance you’ll be able to get your core requirements either waived entirely (if you go to the same schools again) or covered by transfer credit. You might be able to shorten the calender time by doing full time summers as well (I know that Auburn for example has a 3 year engineering curriculum that does this) but you could also be screwed time-wise by required “sequences” in math and the sciences.</p>
<p>Nursing - Mrs. C has been a nurse for better than 25 years so I know a little about the field. Administrative jobs are few and far between; expect to do 3-5 years “in the trenches” so to speak. You’ll want to be very sure you want to be a nurse before you start on this path - you’ll have literally life-or-death responsibility and almost no power. Keep in mind too that administrators often end up filling in when regular staff don’t show up and the pool is already over-commited. On the upside, this is the least math-intensive of the three options.</p>
<p>Accounting - I know little about the field, though as a History major you may have some substantial catching up to do in math (though probably not as much as IE).</p>
<p>Finally, since you already have a BA, you might consider one of the many very good “certificate” type Masters programs at a reputable university that are designed specifically for folks like you who need a marketable piece of paper to get their foot in the door. They generally take only 1 academic year (as opposed to the 2 years a regular MBA takes for example), but the downside is that the best of them have extremely competitive admissions. You may also need to take the GRE or GMAT for some of them.</p>
<p>You make some good points, and yeah they are 3 completely different fields, I suppose I should have stated my reason for the interest…</p>
<p>Nursing - because it’s in such high demand and there’s opportunity for advancement into an admin role.</p>
<p>IE - because it’s a technical degree and sounds damn interesting.</p>
<p>Accounting - because it’s in such high demand.</p>
<p>And William, I like the idea of those certificate programs, thanks for that info. My main goal is to 1. get a job and 2. stay far far far away from debt (I thankfully managed to stay debt-free pursuing my 1st degree), so it sounds like those certificate programs would satisfy those requirements the best. What fields do the certificate programs normally prepare you for? Do you have an example of a college that offers those programs?</p>
<p>You’ll usually find most certificate type programs in the “continuing education” section a university’s website. The fields vary wildly but tend toward various sorts of “administration”. Business schools are often more or less independent of their parent university - they seem to like having their own “brand”. (And note that as I mentioned, I’m using the term “certificate” to include Masters programs that take only one academic year to complete.)</p>
<p>I’m in a really similar situation and trying to figure out what I should be doing. I have a BA in economics and was planning on either finance or law school. I’ve thought about a bunch of different routes I could take from this point… still haven’t figured it out yet. </p>
<p>I thought about a MAcc program, but I would have to go too far into debt and have a hard time finding any interest in accounting work. I would recommend taking an accounting course or two before you decide on this route. I almost went this route because of the possible job opportunities in the field, but I looked back on how miserable I was in my two accounting courses and decided it was not worth it.</p>
<p>Engineering sounds interesting (comp sci too), but like you I’d hate to start a career at 28 or 29.</p>
<p>Its a difficult decision because you wanna make sure this time you get it right. I would say just do what interests you most, but Im having a hard time following that advice myself (partially because I don’t know what interests me lol)</p>
<p>Maybe you should look for mentorship from people who are older and been through the trials and tribulations of early adulthood. I am not convinced that our collective advice would do you as much good as speaking to family friends and established individuals in the areas you might be interested in.</p>
<p>One point though, your career will last forty some years; I hope you’re not ruling out passion based on two or three years. These are the years when you don’t really need to save for retirement, provide for children, pay a mortgage yada yada.</p>
<p>pokey, I absolutely associate with you…it’s hard to know what you want to do, esp. when you’re older and have the pressure of getting into the “right” career asap. So best of luck to you as well. I’ll be rootin’ from afar ;). </p>
<p>and belevitt, I appreciate the no-bs advice. I’ve spoken to a few people in the careers, though am still having a bit of a difficult time getting that decision, really don’t want to mess it up this time around. It’s difficult to push back that crazy desire to get into a career enough to allow me to see what my passions actually are. I’ll definitely have to do some more research.</p>