Second Bachelor's in Art Hisory a waste of time if it is covered?

August 21, 2023 4:55 PM

Hi all. I live in Ontario, and because I have a disability, I can enrol in university courses per semester for free. I am working on a master's in international development online at The University of Edinburgh this fall. However, a part of me has always been fascinated with Art History, and because I can complete two courses for free per semester, would it be a waste of time if my career focus is on political science, refugees, and academia in the social sciences?

I am also starting a podcast and a part of it is focusing on the arts and I am wondering if having a BA in Art History part-time might be a good use for my podcast over the next few years? Though I am not sure if it is a waste of time. I would pursue it after my master's but then, maybe it would be a waste of time. I overall plan is to pursue a PhD in International Development at The University of Ottawa after my MA and the university does have a BA in Art History as well. Just not sure if a second BA is a waste if there is no potential career out of it, but simply for hobby/interest/podcast kind of thing.

posted by RearWindow to Education (10 answers total)

I live in Ontario, and because I have a disability, I can enrol in university courses per semester for free.

Hooo boy that is not how it works. Just because the Ontario government tells you you are eligible for assistance, does not mean you will actually receive it.

I have 23 years of experience as an undergrad/grad student and full-time staff member at multiple Ontario universities. Things have become much worse since Doug was elected.
posted by avocet at 5:17 PM on August 21, 2023 [9 favorites]

Response by poster: @avocet Oh, I did not know that? My friend was able to recently complete and work on a second bachelor's with two courses covered because of this disability? Oh, I better keep all of that in mind then, because I would only pursue it if it was covered only.
posted by RearWindow at 5:21 PM on August 21, 2023

It’s clearly something you really want to do so, if it’s covered as you hope and you have enough time and energy, I say absolutely do it!!
posted by smorgasbord at 5:38 PM on August 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

The question of coverage aside, it’s never a bad idea to learn something new, especially if it’s something that interests you. If the cost is covered, it’s a no-brainer then. Get thee to art history class!
posted by Thorzdad at 6:07 PM on August 21, 2023 [5 favorites]

Learning about something that fascinates you is never a waste of time. On the other hand, you have [I presume] not yet experienced how overwhelmingly time-consuming graduate school can be. Beware of spreading your finite time and attention too thinly.

But also, if a degree in art history is not part of your anticipated career trajectory, why do you need to pursue a BA, rather than just taking the occasional art history class for fun as and when you like?
posted by heatherlogan at 6:18 PM on August 21, 2023 [18 favorites]

I would not commit to the part time BA without having an opportunity to evaluate what it's like being in the MA program I also think that getting a second BA is rarely worth the effort even if it's connected to a career change, which it isn't in this case.

My experience is in the US but when I was in a PhD program, I was not allowed to pursue any other education or paid work, so I would definitely advise making sure you understand if there's a similar prohibition for your MA program.
posted by sm1tten at 6:35 PM on August 21, 2023 [5 favorites]

What is it you would like to do for a career? If you are aiming for an academic career, over the next few years, you will most likely need to focus your energies pretty intensively on the field you are trying to enter. A big part of what graduate school is about is absorbing the norms of an academic culture. That's a big enough task that I think you'd be best served setting this decision aside for later. You don't need to decide until after the masters program anyway, right?
posted by eirias at 6:35 PM on August 21, 2023 [3 favorites]

If you would do it if it were free only, then make sure its free before you do it. Also, you may want to consider why you want to have a degree in particular, if it's more of an interest or hobby? You might be able to learn about art history without earning a degree. If you like being in school, well maybe. But why are you asking if it's worth it? It depends on what you value.
posted by AnyUsernameWillDo at 7:16 PM on August 21, 2023 [3 favorites]

I’m having trouble reconciling that you’d qualify for OSAP (which you do need to receive either the BSWD or the CSG-DSE) while fully paying for an international tuition in a Masters program. My nephew, who was on welfare, entered post-secondary during the time the Wynne govt had made it free for low-income families. Halfway through that year the Ford government pulled his funding and he ended up (temporarily) dropping out (as a note, he doesn’t accept family help easily.) He has a disability, not sure how it was classified.

But if you do decide to both pay foreign tuition and try to qualify for an OSAP bursary with the OSAP-eligible grants and you do, I feel like hey, it’s pennies compared to Ford’s bad policies. Also liberal arts enrollment is down so that’s a seat.

If this is a university-funded grant though, I guess as someone who has advocated for lower-cost and free education in this province, I would ask you to consider that those are limited pools of funds and it seems a bit shitty to use it to fund your podcast. Not like, terrible, but surely if you can conduct research for graduate studies you can use free or low cost online resources to learn art history.
posted by warriorqueen at 3:59 AM on August 22, 2023 [4 favorites]

The academic regulations of the University of Ottawa that apply to graduate students include the following:

C-3.1.2 Courses additional to the program requirements

Graduate students may enrol in courses additional to those required by their program of study, provided they obtain prior approval from their academic unit. Failure in any such courses shall count as a course failure in the program.

[...]

C-3.1.4 Enrolment limit

Unless otherwise stated in the regulations of a specific program, students may not enrol in more than one program at the same time.

posted by heatherlogan at 6:45 AM on August 22, 2023 [2 favorites]