<p>Ill be a senior in college in about a month, and this June Ill graduate and I dont really know what to do with my life after that. Ive talked to my parents about it, but neither one went to college or moved more than 20 miles from where they grew up so their experience and advice is sort of limited. So I figured I would ask here.</p>
<p>I was sure since about middle school or so that I wanted to be an architect. Once I decided that, I basically said to myself, well I already know what I want to be so I dont ever have to think about it again until I go to college. So I did my search based on schools that had an accredited architecture program, spent a year in architecture school, and a summer working for a local architect. Decided that while I actually liked the architecture school experience and architecture in general, I didnt actually want to be an architect anymore.</p>
<p>The other people I knew of that left architecture changed to architectural engineering, but Ive always known that I would be bored out of my mind if I wasnt doing something in some kind of creative field and I had no interest in the engineering side of it. Id developed a web design hobby and my school had a digital design sort of major that included stuff like web design and 3D animation so I switched into that, because I simply didnt know what else I would want to do. Turns out I definitely liked studying architecture more, and my grades dropped and my interest level in most of the classes has always been much below that of the other students.</p>
<p>We have to do a co-op as part of the program and when it came time for me to find a job, I pretty much wasnt able to. Not through the schools job-search system, not through contacts given to me by the professors after I told them that failed, and not after nearly 6 months of independent searching. Its not as if the jobs werent out there because everyone else got a job and I went on like 8 interviews. That really left me doubting my ability to find a job after I graduate and my ability in general, really. Im thinking Im not going to be able to find a job when I finally do graduate. Im also afraid now that even if I do find a job, I wont like it very much and it wont hold my interest.</p>
<p>So for the past year Ive been thinking, what can I do thats sort of like architecture without actually being a licensed architect? Im kind of leaning towards interior design. Its still creating environments for people, but with less of the political stuff and the ridiculous hours. The problem is, Id have to get a degree in it first. At this point I basically have three (four?) options: I can switch majors again, to interior design. I can either do this at my current school, at which point I would pretty much be 3 years behind, but they might let me squeeze it into 2. Or I can transfer to another school (maybe one that I actually like this time), but I wouldnt be able to do that for this year and again I would still have 2-3 years of school to get a bachelors degree. Considering masters programs are probably 2 years, it seems pretty silly to do six years of school and get a bachelors when I could also do six years of school and have a bachelors and a masters. So this is pretty impractical.</p>
<p>Option 2 is to graduate with my current degree and go back to school and get a masters degree. I can either do that right after I graduate, or I can work a few years and go back later. This is mostly what Im having trouble deciding between. On one hand I really do feel like this is something I would genuinely want to do and I already have the plans for it and Im still in school mode, so I would hate to put those plans on hold for a few years while I move somewhere and work in a job that I might not even get and might hate if I do get it. On the other hand, Ill have 20k in loans by graduation and pretty much no money other than that, and I really dont want to take on a whole lot more debt. I realize that if I go to grad school at all theres going to be more loans and more debt because Ill never be able to pay out of pocket, but if I work for a few years I can probably save up at least some money. I pretty much have no idea what the financial aid situation for an art-related masters degree would be, all the information on grad school I ever see either deals with professional school or studying science/psychology/whatever where it seems like youre given money in exchange for doing research. I dont really have any merit, so unless theyd give need-based aid like they do for undergrad Id be screwed.</p>
<p>Im also considering moving to somewhere near Raleigh when I graduate, not because I have any particular desire to live there (or anywhere in the south really), but because I know that rent for a passable one bedroom apartment here can get a nice 3 bedroom townhouse there, and I think it might be worthwhile to live somewhere I dont really want to stay for a few years so I can save money on living expenses and pay off my loans quickly. This might be one of those things that sounds really good in theory but doesnt actually work, though, I dont know. </p>
<p>Now that I have told you half my life story, any words of wisdom?</p>