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Back to School Alphabet Soup: BA vs BSc vs HonBA vs HonBSc

256 — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:53:48 -0800

So, I'm at a transition point in my life. A bunch of things are ending and a bunch of things are beginning. Seems like a good time to finally get around to finishing that degree. Only question is, which degree? (Apologies in advance for how long this is.)

Let's take a trip down memory lane:

The year is 2003 and our hero is three years into a four year Honours Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Toronto. Unfortunately, our hero is also in pretty dire financial straits. Because of decent marks, he has gotten managed to get an indefinite extension from the financial aid department on paying his tuition for the current year, but he'll have to settle up eventually. And paying rent is proving hard enough. So when the tech NGO he works for part-time as a code monkey offers him a salaried position, he jumps at it and never looks back.

In the intervening six years I've worked various coding jobs, published a novella, written a novel, lived in four countries and grown tired of referring to myself in the third person.

I'm thirty years old and considering what my next career move is. I know I don't have the temperament for a career in computer programming. Sad as it is to let those skills go to waste, I've burned out on it. Writing is my primary passion and I am in the process of cleaning up the manuscript for my novel and seeking an agent. I'm sure I'll write another regardless of whether or not i manage to sell this one. I also intend to continue doing freelance work for magazines. That said, it's not a revenue stream that's going to support me and my family.

I think I'm a pretty clever guy, I'm creative and I've got a rather extensive and esoteric skillset. I've got exceptional communication skills and I know I interview well. My real goal is to break into either the publishing (literary press or magazines) or gaming (video or tabletop) industry. Eventually I would love to be in a creative director type position. I'm more than willing to pay my dues and put in my time, but I also don't want to start in the mailroom.

I've also considered the possibility of a career in Public Service Canada.

So, it has occurred to me that before beginning the job hunt in earnest, it might benefit me to have an undergraduate degree on my resume in addition to all my work experience.

Now, the question only remains of how exactly to do that. I'm only two half-credits shy of completing a three year Bachelor of Arts degree. The University of Toronto no longer offers the three year degree but, because they did when I was originally a student, I'm grandfathered in and still have the option of completing it. The trick with getting the three year B. A. is that, should I ever opt to complete the fourth year and upgrade it to an Honours degree, I could only upgrade it to an Hon. B. A., not an Hon. B. Sc..

So, if I want to keep my options open regarding eventually completing my original course of study, I would need to complete seven courses instead of two. This would involve going back to school full time for half a year but, when I was done, I would have a three year Bachelor of Science degree.

The thing is that, since I'm not intending to seek work in a field related to my degree regardless, it's not clear to me what the relative merits are of having a B. Sc. versus a B. A. (or an Hon. B. Sc. versus an Hon. B. A.). Would the fact that I have an irrelevant science degree be more impressive to someone hiring for, say, a publishing company, than an irrelevant arts degree?

The other question is: How much, if at all, are people going to care that I have a three year degree rather than a four year degree? I definitely don't have the money or inclination to complete the rest of my four year degree right now, but I may want to upgrade in the future. I'm not planning to ever go to grad school, but my wife is a German citizen and we may well find ourselves living in Europe (again) at some point. Will my three year degree be looked down upon outside of Canada? Or will anyone even know the difference?

The reason this is important now is because, if I do ever decide to go back and complete a fourth year, I would very much prefer to complete the Hon. B. Sc. in Artificial Intelligence rather than an Hon. B. A. in Cognitive Science. The difference in cool factor should be obvious.

So, yeah... I guess this is a pretty open-ended question with two major parts:

1. Is a B. Sc. (compsci/psychology) significantly sexier than a B. A. (cognitive science/linguistics) to the people that would be hiring in the publishing or game design industries?

2. How likely am I to feel a need to upgrade my three year degree to a four year degree later in life?

---

Below are the actual details about what would be involved for me to finish my degree, for anyone who cares(To even walk back onto campus at U of T, I'll need to pay off the ~$3500 in back tuition that I owe the school.):

1. The fastest way to get out of the school with a degree would involve taking one half-credit psychology course and one half-credit linguistics courses. I would then qualify for a three year Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Cognitive Science. (2 courses. $1100 addtl. fees: $4600 total.)

1a. Identical to (1.) except that by adding a second linguistics half-credit, I could complement the Cog. Sci. major with a minor in Linguistics. (3 courses. $1650 addtl. fees: $5150 total.)

2. If I complete four computer science half-credits and three half-credits in psychology, then I can earn a three year Bachelor of Science with no major, but a double minor in Computer Science and Psychology. (7 courses. $3850 addtl. fees: $7350 total.)

2a. Strangely enough, I took several theoretical physics courses as electives and it turns our that I'm just as close to completing a physics minor as a compsci minor. Three year B. Sc. with double minor in Physics and Psychology. (7 courses. $3850 addtl. fees: $7350 total.)

3. To complete the original four year degree I was working towards: Six computer science half-credits, four linguistics half-credits and two philosophy half-credits would net me a four year Honours Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence. (12 courses. $6600 addtl. fees: $10100 total.)

3a. Six linguistics half-credits, four psychology half-credits and two philosophy half-credits would net me a four year Honours Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Cognitive Science and Linguistics. (12 courses. $6600 addtl. fees: $10100 total.)

MA in Politcal Science v. M Public Policy

brakiwi — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:29:26 -0800

¿Master in Political Science or Master in Public Policy? I'm an Spaniard that wants to study a Master in the US next year. After a lot of research my final list of universities I'm applying, is this one:
1.Georgetown
2. U. of Chicago
3. Columbia
4. NYU
5. GWU
6. Northeastern
7. American University
8. Loyola University of Chicago

My question is: ¿Master in Political Science or Master in Public Policy?

Most of this universities has both Masters programs and mainly I know the differences between them, but maybe you can give me more information so i can make my decision with more criterion.
In thinking in applying one program or the other, depending in which university.
Maybe you know someone who took some of this masters...
As you can see the cities and departaments I'm interested are Chicago, Washington DC, NYC and Boston. Do you think this are the most interesting universities in this cities to apply for? (for an MA because others have only PhD).

Thanks in advance,

Is a BS a BS? Or just BS?

ctmf — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:20:03 -0800

Is a BS degree a BS degree, or are there "lesser" degrees - I don't even know how to ask this. I'll try, though. I've finally decided to stop giving in to the reasons to put it off. I'm going to pursue a degree for myself. It turns out that, between my military experience and a handful of community college courses I took, I'm only 30-odd credits from a BSAST from Thomas Edison State College. A few CLEPs and a few courses, and I should be there. Plus, the GI bill should pay for it. So I'm fairly excited about that.

Here's my reservation about it, tell me if I'm being paranoid:
I have this pamphlet about degree programs from the Navy College office where I got most of my info. In one section it explains that there are "academic" degrees, and "professional/technical" degrees, and then lists some typical course requirements. The BSAST degree is a "technical" degree, is the impression I get. Am I getting myself into what amounts to a fancy-sounding cert program like CCNA or MCSE?

My other option is trying to take night classes from UW after doing everything I can at a community college. Financially, that would not be an issue, but the thought of years and years of night school is not appealing.

I eventually want to apply to OSU's Master of Health Physics degree. The requirements say "4 year baccalaureate degree" which it sounds like I would have. I'm just afraid when I put my degree on my resume for jobs, or for the OSU application I'm going to hear, "no, we meant a REAL degree."

Maybe it's just because this sounds too good to be true and I'm suspicious. Can anyone (especially someone with HR or college admissions experience) comment on that?

What's a good university town for a non-traditional student?

patheral — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:50:26 -0800

Looking to go to grad school for Linguistics or TESOL, but I'm a non-traditional student. I have a few schools picked out but don't want to end up in another tiny "college town." Help? Here's the long and short of it. I'm 43 years old and finishing up my BA in English in a small town down here in the South (exact location withheld for personal reasons). In this tiny town, I stick out like a sore thumb amongst these 18-23 year-old kids, not to mention that there is *nothing* for people my age to do around here - especially a non-drinker like me.

I want to go to grad school and get my MA in either TESOL or Linguistics (the degree changes depending on the school I'm looking at). However, I don't want to end up in a tiny college town again. I don't really trust city websites because they're made to look the town look good, as are the college websites.

So here are four of the colleges I'm looking at:
Kent State University in Kent, OH
Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ
University of Colorado at Boulder in Boulder, CO
and
Oakland University in Rochester, MI

I'm also considering Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA... but I already know about Norfolk because I've lived there before.

Any information anyone can give me about these cities or even the universities would be great.

Help me take control of my education! Law, cognitive science...

macg02 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 05:27:22 -0800

Help me take control of my education! Law, cognitive science... Hi! Long time reader, first time asker. I'm 22, Irish and have studied up to now Law and German as an undergraduate. I've just had a pretty rough experience during a year abroad in Germany, the net result of which is that I have to repeat a year back home.

That has to do with some unrelated personal issues, which I'm dealing with now (finally...!), but it was made a lot worse by the feeling I'm losing control of my education.

Ok, so I chose to study law, against the advice of my parents who thought I'd be more philosophically or linguistically inclined. At the most anxious point over the past year I thought about packing it all in and starting again with computational linguistics.

That's getting at where I want to go, but I then don't want to abandon law totally.
I think the law/computational linguistics choice represents two sides of what I'm ultimately trying to get at - the nature of argumentation, and its implications/uses.

I don't want to abandon law totally... It's just I don't want to study 'just' law...

Further, I have, with little consistency, tried to learn in my spare time (for 'learn,' replace: reading a few popular science books), about persuasion, linguistics, jurisprudence, cognitive science, rhetoric, logic, economics, psychology, yadda yadda. The whole learning on my own gambit worked in the past, especially with languages, but I was studying those languages at school, working towards exams, learning on my own because class was boring. Now there's no structure to my self-directed learning, and no goal in sight.

It feels like I'm trying to do it backwards - if I was in America I'd study liberal arts first, with all those cool things like cog sci, lingusitics, languages; satisfy my curiosity, and then go on to law school...

So do I try and quell my dillettante-ish quest to learn everything to do with language and logic, and just get on with studying law?
Do I try and satisfy my lust for learning and keep on with studying those things at home, with little to show for it?
Or is there a post-graduate programme or field of studies I'm overlooking? I'm thinking of something like Symbolic Systems at Stanford (which seems more undergrad orientated) Would anyone even take me?

I'd love to do like Joseph Campbell and spend 5 years reading intensively in a shed in the wilderness, but I'm dealing with anxiety/add issues; I really think I'd fall apart without more structure and short term goals...

Thanks if you've read all of this! I'm driving myself crazy trying to tie these things together in some kind of coherent, worthwhile sense. Part of this is definitely me upset that *maybe* I'm not as smart and successful as I imagined myself to be, but I think I could do well if I got reenchanted by education. I could also just try and get by in the real world, but education does mean a lot to me.

Bonus points if you can suggest cool futuristic fields of study, and how to get at them - you know, neural networks, ontologies, natural language programming (all this stuff has to have links with law) - I'd even like to try programming, but as alluded to, I don't think I could do it on my own; I'd need structure: it would just become one more thing amongst all the other cool learning vying for attention. I'd prob start, then drop it after being distracted by a shiny penny and deciding numismatics is what I *really* want to study..

Thanks

Going to the same university for undergrad and grad-good or bad idea?

pdx87 — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:28:34 -0800

Did you receive your graduate degree at the same university that you received your undergraduate degree from? If so, do you regret not branching out and going to a new university for graduate school or are you happy with your decision? Graduate school is coming up. Yikes!

Option 1-Stay in the city that I am currently in and pursue an MS at the school I am currently attending.

Option 2-Move 3 hours away and pursue the same degree at a different institution.

I guess I am worried that I will burn out after going to the same school for so long. I would love to hear from people who went to the same university for undergrad and grad. What was your experience like? Do you wish you had gone to a new institution for graduate school? I'd even like to hear from people who went to different institutions for undergrad and grad. Thanks!

Education tax credit - can we claim it twice for two students?

deadmessenger — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:38:37 -0800

Can more than one student filing on the same US tax return claim the new American Opportunity Tax Credit? I am currently a half-time undergraduate student at a US university. I plan to claim on my 2009 US Tax return (1040) the American Opportunity Tax Credit (an expansion of the Hope tax credit), so as to receive a refund for some of my tuition expenses. In addition, Mrs. Deadmessenger plans to enroll in college for the first time this semester, and thus will have substantial eligible expenses of her own.

So, here's our question: The IRS's webpage is pretty clear on the fact that the maximum annual credit is $2500, representing 100% of the first $2000 in eligible expenses, and 25% of the next $2000. Is that $2500 limit a per-student limit, or a per-family limit? In other words, if I rack up $4000 in eligible expenses, and Mrs. Deadmessenger does as well, would the credit on our joint tax return be $2500 (meaning that the limit is per-family), or $5000 ($2500 for each of us, or a per-student limit)

The IRS' FAQ on the credit doesn't address this scenario.

Oh, and just to get it out of the way: You are not my tax professional, accountant, CPA, tax attorney, enrolled agent or tax preparer. Thanks in advance for your help anyway!

Luckily, I'm not a Finance major

lwb — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:26:35 -0800

How do I fund studies in Australia when I'm not an Australian citizen? I'm a New Zealand citizen who is currently living in Australia. I'm currently in my third semester of study, which I am undertaking through the extramural program offered by my New Zealand university (I moved here at the beginning of my second semester). I want to apply to transfer to an Australian university from next year onwards for a few reasons
- The degree I am undertaking is a professional one, which won't be automatically accredited in Australia (i.e I will have to apply to have my studies recognised, and will most likely have to complete a conversion course). For various reasons it is unlikely that I will be returning to New Zealand to work, so I would prefer my qualifications to be accredited here.
- The administration of the extramural program, especially for students not based in NZ, seems very very lacking. It's hard for me to imagine putting up with it for a further 2.5-3 years.
- I don't particularly like studying at home, by myself, all of the time.

My problem is that as a NZ citizen, I won't be eligible for Australia's deferred payment option for tuition fees, and will have to pay them up front. The fee band for my program is the highest one, so I'm looking at upwards of $8,000 per year, and I just don't see any way to come up with that kind of money.

The NZ student loan and Australian deferred payment schemes both work by repayment through the tax system, so one doesn't need any kind of collateral or guarantor, of which I have neither. I also don't have stellar credit (it's not abysmal, though) and I have close to $20,000 NZD in existing student loans. For these reasons I think I'm going to have difficulty taking out private loans, and as a non-Australian citizen I don't qualify for 99% of the available scholarships.

So...how do I fund this? Should I forget it? Slog through the ~3 years of lonesome home study and the year or so of conversion? Do something else entirely for the remaining 3.5 years until I'm eligible to apply for citizenship? Give up on my current degree and do TAFE instead? I feel very overwhelmed (to say nothing of the application process, which is nothing like what I've previously encountered. WTF is a 'study score'?!)

Any advice is appreciated!

Is the University of Phoenix acceptable?

HenryGale — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:20:15 -0800

How credible is the University of Phoenix online? I am currently a reporting analyst for a health care company. I worked my way up to this position over the years, but I currently don't hold a BS degree. I feel like I'm at a point that I cannot move farther up without getting my Bachelor's degree in business/finance. The only way I can work and go to school would be to get my degree online.

I've looked at University of Phoenix but I'm wondering what employers think of a degree from them. I live in the LA area and the University of La Verne also offers online degrees. Is it better to have a degree from a college everyone knows but might not accept or from a college no one has heard of?

Currently enrolled at two universities. What to do?

2X2LcallingCQ — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:52:59 -0800

Currently enrolled at two universities. What to do? Last year I applied to and was accepted by University A. I deferred for this past school year and am expected to attend this fall.

However, this past fall, I applied to University B, to see if I could get in. I did, yet I have still decided for financial reasons to postpone going to university for financial reasons so that I can keep working/saving money for one more year.

The plan was to withdraw my enrollment from University A, and then defer University B for this upcoming year. However, I was informed that I could defer University A for a second year.

My question is, is it legal to be enrolled in two universities at the same time, deferring from both of them for a year?

I have no qualms with withdrawing from University A, but I certainly don't mind having the extra option for in a year's time. I would ask one of the universities this question, but if this is something that could get me into trouble, I'd rather not bring it up with them (as I already am currently enrolled in two universities), and just withdraw right away from University A without pursuing a second year of deferral.

Thank you!

Is there anything else I can do? If not, help me let it go.

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:34:41 -0800

Is there any further action I can take to recoup the financial loss and and deal with the emotional frustration resulting from my university's swine-flu-panic decision to cancel a much-anticipated field research opportunity? For over a year, my fellow grad students and I had been planning for a month-long field research opportunity in [foreign country]. For several of us, it was part of our motivation to attend this university – research opportunities in our field for non-PhD grad students are rare, and this is a small and amazing program to benefit a community in need. The summer research has been going on successfully for several years now. Our professor works unbelievably hard to arrange this...it takes an amazing amount of coordination and resources to make it all come together.

A few days after swine flu was initially announced in the media (late April) – and almost two months before our research was to begin, this June – I received notice from our professor that our trip had been canceled by a [certain office at the university in charge of assessing risk]. Upon hearing this, we all made many attempts to salvage the situation on many fronts, to no avail. Because swine flu is no longer a major threat, the tickets are booked through online travel companies, and the flights are international, none of us are able to reschedule or refund our tickets. Even with insurance, which I bought at booking. We also can't afford to take a "forced vacation" (ie. taking our flights and spending a month playing in [foreign country]). For me, this is $600 of sunk cost. Additionally, this research would have provided us with a summer opportunity to earn a necessary 3 units towards our graduation. Without it, many of us must spend an extra unplanned semester at our university, including the cost of tuition, books, and time spent. And of course, not to mention missing out on the experience of a lifetime, which can't really be compensated for any other way.

Two weeks after the decision, I contacted the person at the university office that made the cancellation, and sent them a very professional yet personal email explaining how this negatively impacted us students, and that we are unable to resolve things. He ignored all that, and replied with a generic response and blamed the State Dept. for the decision. This prompted me to send a follow-up email, calmly expressing my frustration with his manner of communication, lack of concern, and the financial cost and emotional distress his/their decision has left us with. He remains unconcerned, and frankly, somewhat hostile with his minimal replies. This all has left me feeling bitter, disillusioned, and now angry.

My flight leaves this Friday, without me on it. As it approaches, I feel increasingly helpless and frustrated. I cannot seem to let this go. Especially if there is something more I could do to resolve the financial or emotional aspects of this unfortunate situation.

Are there any things I can do, big or small that will:
a) Make me/us feel better.
b) Get the university to acknowledge us and/or take some positive action, however small, to help us out and/or prevent their lame handling of a situation from happening again. I do not wish to start controversy or create problems however.
c) Help recoup the $600 airline cost – even if it has nothing to do with the airline, flight insurance or booking agency. I've tried calling all places, several times. There is no getting the money back. I can however dump an extra $200 + additional cost of airfare to take a flight I don't need anymore to a place I don't want to go to (and can't afford to go to) in the next six months, if I so wish.
d) Help me just let it all go, if that's where I really should be focusing my energy.

The positives from all of this are helping somewhat...I do get to do some important things and attend some events that otherwise wouldn't get to (since I would have been out of the country). However, I keep thinking about the lack of concern by the school and missing out on this amazing experience. What can I do?

Best way to go back to school in an unrelated field?

Anonymous — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 12:39:39 -0800

Possibly going back to school in an unrelated field (engineering); what's the best way to approach this? note: (anonymous due to my boss being a regular reading of metafilter and knows my screen name).

My eventual goal would be a dual masters degree in engineering (civil / environmental) and international affairs (IA/IR). I know this is relatively uncommon and as a result I've had a hard time getting advice (even from professors). I'm hoping someone out there will give me some insight. Although they sound like an unusual combination to almost everyone, it would seem like expertise in something like water resource engineering and policy planning/analysis would be quite useful (in fact I did find that Tufts has a dual degree for that very combination).

Background Information: I'm 23 and graduated last year with a degree in economics and am currently working in banking. With my economics background (with a decent amount of political science and language) I think I have an okay chance of getting into an MA program for IA; the problem is engineering. I have no engineering background and in college took relatively few math and science classes. I know as it is right now my chances of getting into any MS engineering program is nearly impossible.

I was reading a similar thread on metafilter (http://ask.metafilter.com/69429/Should-I-go-back-to-school-for-a-second-degree) and I guess my main question would be the differences between getting a second bachelor's degree (in engineering) or rather taking the required background classes and applying directly to a M.Engineering program? I've read in multiple places that a second bachelor's might just end up being a waste of time, but I'm unsure as to which one would give me a better chance of getting into an engineering program.

Educate me (and mine).

mds35 — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:05:15 -0800

Which colleges or universities still offer free tuition to children of employees who get accepted to the school? I once worked at a university where an employee's child (provided the parent was at a certain job level/rank and had been in the job long enough to qualify) could go to any of the undergraduate divisions for free if they were accepted to them. If the child went to another college, the university would pay half of the tuition.

Pretty sweet deal.

I know that schools are doing away with this kind of benefit, but what schools do you know of where this is still offered? My career is such that I can work in the academic setting, so where should I look for employment if I want my kids to get a free education?

This regards the US

Note to myself: Use better notes

ddaavviidd — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 08:00:05 -0800

I'm doing my comp. exam (also called doctoral exam here) this summer. This involves reading a whole bunch of books and articles (about 30), and writing a long paper that answers a few questions from my committee. I am looking for good note-taking methods. I've made it to the PhD with not much of a technique. Sometimes I write in the margins, sometimes I hand-take notes on a separate sheet for each text, and sometimes I just read, no notes. I'd like to have a better system this time to be able to do the readings and then be able to use principally my notes for the writing. What is your preferred method?

I'm okay using a computer for note-taking (os x), but not online tools, as I'll often be in dead zones. I have Zotero, but I'm not sure I'm using it to its full capacity.

(also, not to derail, but any tricks for the reading-writing of the exam would be appreciated-this is in communication studies)

Are expensive American undergraduate educations worth it for foreign students?

Mo Nickels — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 04:44:41 -0800

Is it worth it for a foreign parent to squeeze his budget to manage very expensive undergraduate educations for his children in elite American schools? A respected colleague in Asia writes with this query. It's not so much about how to get financial aid when you are a parent of foreign student seeking an undergraduate education in the United States so much as it is a question as to whether it is worth it at all, even if you can pay.

His words are below, posted with his permission. I have stripped out identifying information. The family is not in Singapore, for what that is worth.

«I have 2 children entering university at the same time this year.

My son has won a partial scholarship to the Eastman School of Music, but even then, the amount we'd have to come up with to send him there is rather forbidding.

My daughter has been accepted into New York University to do Liberal Arts -- but without any aid, which makes it virtually impossible for us to help her realise her dream.

What resources can I apply for in the US or elsewhere to help them? We've tried ones in our country but so far without success.

Would you recommend they take up the places offered them by the 2 schools, given the constraints? Are the schools really worth the astronomical expense? (Well, I know Eastman is about second to Juilliard, and NYU is reputable, although its Arts programme is 15th in the world.)

Would it really count so much that these would be for undergraduate study? Do people look more at one's postgrad pedigree? Would it be just as well that they did their first degree elsewhere (more affordable) and seek to go higher at Eastman and NYU afterwards? (In fact, my son has also obtained a full scholarship to theYong Siew Toh Coservatory of Music in Singapore. But then, what is YST compared to Eastman?)

I'm sorry if I sound inane but this issue of my children's further education has been keeping me from sleep for quite a while.»

Help me find the right school

baphomet — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 09:33:13 -0800

How can I find the right school for me, given the programs I'm looking for? So after failing college once, and kicking around for a few years, I'm back in school and kicking ass. Last semester was my first semester back after a 3-year lapse, and I got a 3.88 with 17 credits. I'll graduate with my Associates degree in the spring, and I'm shooting for a 4.0 this semester, so I should graduate with an institutional GPA of around 3.94. I mention this to indicate that I'm serious about school, and my grades won't prevent me from getting into good schools. I'm 25 and will have access to financial aid, assuming the world financial system doesn't implode before September (fingers crossed there).

I want to major in Geography and minor in Japanese. I currently reside in Minnesota, but am willing to go to school just about anywhere. My ideal school:

1) Has a geography program
2) Has a Japanese minor available
3) Has a Japanese study abroad program

Right now the University of Minnesota and the University of Tennessee are at the top of my list. If I go out of state, I'd be relocating there to establish residency as promptly as possible. I don't mind paying out-of-state for a year.

While recommendations for schools would certainly be helpful, what I'm really looking for is a site that will help me search schools based on a few criteria. Wading through university websites gets a bit tedious after a while, so a site that could help me narrow my search would be incredibly useful.

Thanks!

Where do I find the best Travel Industry programs?

Gular — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:29:01 -0800

I'm looking to go back to school studying the Travel Industry, to be a Travel Agent and I'm a bit lost (pun unintended). For some background, I'm soon to be in my mid-twenties, with no student loan payments and in the US. I know that Travel Agents (my end goal in this) do not need licensing and can just start out on their own, however, I'd like an edge of education and networking -- as well as the business training -- that comes with going to school.

I've been looking for programs in Hospitality and Travel Management, which is where Travel Agency programs typically reside, and I'm shooting blanks as to where I can go. Because of where I'm situated geographically, I know that Johnson and Wales University has a really good program in the subject. As for anywhere else, I'm a bit clueless and don't even know where to start looking.

I've looked at College Board and have found them to be unhelpful for my needs. I've already looked up professional travel organizations and they just have job listings and current happenings. My google-fu has also been a failure.

Where can I find listings of schools that offer what I'm looking for and, then, how can I find how good those programs are from a reputable source in the field?

Because you can't make up an an uninformed mind.

orange swan — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:49:24 -0800

My neighbour’s eighteen-year-old daughter, let’s call her “Kay”, is in her last year of high school. She’s trying to decide on a post-secondary course of study for next year. I suspect she’s in the same boat that I, and most of my friends, were in when we graduated high school. To wit: we had virtually no idea of what educational and career options were actually out there; very little idea of what our temperaments and strengths actually were, let alone what kind of career path would suit them; and no clue how to go about researching and finding these things out. Moreover, I don't know how good her school's guidance counsellors are, but mine were next to, if not worse than, useless. What information and resources are out there for Kay to give her a good sense of what her options are and help her figure out what area of study would interest her and suit her abilities? I don’t want to overwhelm her with a mountain of very complex information; anything I give her needs to be straightforward and accessible, and also tailored to Canada/Ontario/Toronto. She probably would be best to go to a community college rather than a university at this point, and I have thought of having catalogues mailed to her so she can browse through them and see what interests her. One thing that was really helpful to me when I was picking out a course of study was a listing of all the programs in Ontario by topic — is there anything like that available now?

Two Master's Degrees... What are my options?

msposner — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:57:38 -0800

This spring I will be finished with my second Master's degree. I've been at my current job for almost three years and while I enjoy it immensely, I am wondering about other opportunities that having two graduate degrees might open up for me. Am hoping to obtain answers especially from individuals who have multiple degrees and have gone into somewhat different career paths. My first graduate degree is a M.S. in Secondary School Education. I am qualified to teach in public school (context area: Social Studies). I also am certified to teach at schools for the deaf but that is not something I want to focus on because of how such institutions are being shut down at an alarming rate.

My second graduate degree is going to be a M.S. in Professional/Rehabilitation Counseling, which I'll be obtaining in May of 2009. I'm not going to be pursuing my Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) certificate because I was recently on their advisory panel and signed a waiver stating that I promise not to take the CRC test for at least five years due to first-hand exposure to potential test questions. This is perfectly fine with me because I'm not planning on having my own independent counseling practice and I have no desire to work for any of the major insurance companies around here.

I currently work at a state agency as a vocational rehabilitation counselor and while I do enjoy this job very, very much, lately it seems as if I'm often hearing from people (respected professionals) that I should be doing something "better" and so forth.

For me, "better", would be to obtain employment as a researcher (researcher scientist?) or a professor at a college/university, which is actually my ultimate goal but I'm also open to acquiring other, relevant experience that might enhance myself as an educator. I'm a voracious reader and I'm always conducting research- I'd really like to go into education/rehabilitation policy if the opportunity ever presents itself.

For now, my intention is clearly to "stay put" because as I mentioned, I love my job and I enjoy working with my colleagues, however, I have my goals outside of this field and have oftentimes thought about returning to the classroom as a high school teacher.

In a nutshell, my inquiries are defined as follows:

(I) I've been told that having Master degrees in both education and counseling will make me very attractive to school systems. True?

(II) Will the fact that I do not have terminal degrees in either fields (education and counseling) hurt my chances in obtaining research-based positions and/or work as a college instructor?

(III) For someone with two Master's degrees, what are the other fields I could go into when I have specialization in both education and counseling?

(IV) Has anyone experienced negative pitfalls of having multiple graduate degrees such as frequent rejections on the basis of being overqualified?

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Caveat #1: I am profoundly deaf. This, unfortunately, creates a lot of barriers for me in the workplace. Many schools have refused to hire me because in order for me to instruct in public schools, they would have to also pay for a full-time sign language interpreter since I communicate primarily in American Sign Language. In their eyes, I'm not cost effective- I'm a budget burden. As I mentioned earlier, I do not want to work at schools for the deaf because of the lack of job security and their notoriously low salaries.

Caveat #2: I've mentioned that I love my current job. However, I am also trying to plan ahead (1-3 years) and have always been open to other opportunities.

Caveat #3: Not really looking to relocate anytime in the near/distant future. Wife loves her job and is pregnant with our first child. We also put a lot of work in our present home.

Caveat #4: I'm 27 years old.

Caveat #5: My current job is paying fully for my second graduate degree, which is really the only reason why I went back to school after I completed my first Master's.

Thanks in advance for all of your suggestions/insights.

What do you do in an advanced degree?

divabat — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:27:31 -0800

Those of you doing [post]graduate degrees...what exactly are you doing? I've been looking into various advanced degree programs (Grad Cert, Grad Dip, Masters, etc) but I'm finding it difficult to imagine what sort of work one does in an advanced degree.

My family comes from a science background: my sister did biotech research for her Ph.D and my dad did coursework in engineering for his Masters. Apparently my aunt did a Masters in Sociology but I don't know what this entailed for her. I'm getting a degree in the Creative Industries, and have been looking into advanced degrees in non-profit management, arts, or education.

What DO you do in your degree? Do you do a lot of reading? Is yours more practical? Do you get to do a project?
How academic is your degree? Do you have to do a lot of writing in a certain style?
How much opportunity do you get to travel, or do experiential learning? How about conferences?

I figure this would differ wildly between programs and schools, but my only concepts of advanced degrees are either sit in a library then write a long densely academic thesis, or do research in a lab and write a long densely academic thesis (research is fun, but writing long densely academic theses is my definition of hell).

How many part-time classes should I start with while still working full-time?

smitt — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:46:01 -0800

GoingBackToSchoolFilter: I'm going to be returning to university part time, while continuing to work full time. Should I start slow, just one course my first semester, or should I do two? Let's do this point form:

* I'm working fairly standard hours, 9am-6pm Monday through Friday.
* My job is such that I'm not allowed to bring my work home with me, so I never have to worry about making time to get things finished outside work.
* I am not currently occupied with any other major past-times or activities, nor do I have any kids.
* I previously attended the same University, studying English. I am planning on returning to complete my studies (I previously completed half of the degree).
* Each weekly course is 3 hrs.
* Travel time from my home to the University is currently about 1hr each way. I will be taking courses than usually run 7-10pm, possibly weekend classes will be available.
* I have been out of the program since 2003. I completed a community college program in the following 3 yrs, which I finished in the spring of 2007. I have not been in school since then.

I've been told by various people that I should start with just one course, and see how I feel. But, I do still have a lot of classes to complete, and feel like two might be fine. Should I play it safe, start with one course this first semester, or just dive in and take two?

I know this is a very "personal opinion" sort of thing, and there's no definite answer. I'd just like to hear some experiences from any MeFi-ites who've returned to school while working full time, or are doing it now. How many classes do you take while working full time, what sort of balance do you work towards?

FairUse in iTunesU

gzimmer — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 01:47:23 -0800

FairUse: I work for a major public state university doing video podcasts for distribution over iTunesU. I've looked up many articles about fair use, but I'm never quite sure where I stand. The basic tenant of the fair use clause as I've read is that the more widespread and freely available the work the less 'fair' it is. So it that regards, online distribution is about as widespread as it goes. However, because this is all non-profit, educational, state-funded, university work in the end, it seems my usage is what the law was made for.

I've been using as much "free stock photos" as I can find and have flickr's creative commons on my shortlist. I'm currently only using photos as Ken Burns effect type B-roll over boring interviews to spice them up. (I believe this makes the end podcast a derivative work, limiting my CreativeCommons options some)

My question is: What kind of pictures can I just use 'fair use' over, unsourced images from google? flickr trademarked? DerivativeWork Commons? Newpaper articles?

Also, what would attribution look like on any of these?

It's late where I am, and I need to study, so I'll clarify more later...

Should I stay or should I go? (Education remix)

abkadefgee — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:16:43 -0800

Should I try something new and transfer to a new school for a year, or should I stick around the same old school and raise my GPA enough to graduate? I've spent far too long at a state school in the city where I've lived most of my life and received grades that range from A+ in difficult classes to F in a simple class where I just didn't complete my work. In the process, I've banked a lot of credits and the only obstacle to my graduation is raising my GPA a few points and finishing two last required courses.

Despite arriving as a National Merit Scholar, enrolled in the honors program, I've had too many semesters where I utterly lacked motivation due to factors such as depression, major life traumas, projects which distracted me from schoolwork, and a simple failure to manage my time effectively. These have dragged my GPA way, way down.

In a few weeks, I'll finish an important project and I'll need to make a new decision about school.

I've considered transferring to another school which might inspire me more than the one I've attended, shaking up my world, living in a new place, and enjoying the prospect of a fresh start on my GPA, but I'm not sure where I should go or what the chances are that I would be admitted.

So, if any of you have any experience in admissions or in going through this decision making process for yourself...

Does it seem reasonable or possible that I could finish up as a transfer student at a decent school, in just one year, with a fresh GPA?

Or is the best path to just stay where I'm at, perform excellently in my classes, and finish where I started?

Cartoon and comics major programs

zainsubani — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:17:16 -0800

Are there any US colleges or universities that offer majors in comics and cartooning (the traditional 2D variety, not 3D animation)?

My dear old Monopoly U.

iamisaid — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 06:39:20 -0800

My public university has a rule which only allows me to take classes for transferable credit at an outside institution (say, a community college) if I first register for at least 12 credit hours with said university. Is this standing operating procedure, and what can I do about it? I learned about this rule the hard way, after having registered for a foreign language class at a much cheaper community college nearby. Considering that it was almost impossible to get into intro-level Spanish at my university, it seemed like a no-brainer. Then I found out that the university wouldn't even accept the credit, due to the fact that I was only registered for 9 credit hours with them.

When I asked an adviser at my university why this rule was in place and what possible purpose it served, her answer was, quite simply, "money." The implication being that the university wants to get as much from me as it can before letting me go elsewhere. A related point is that the university uses a flat tuition system wherein you pay the same amount for anything over and including 12 hours -- so after 12 hours they've already gotten the maximum amount of money possible from you, which I suppose is why they're then ok with letting you go elsewhere.

I think the rule is ludicrous, especially given that some people (myself included) are only willing/able to take a maximum of 12 hours total per semester, which eliminates the possibility of going elsewhere for transferrable credit.

Yes, it seems like a sweet little setup they've got going for themselves. The question is what can I do about it, if anything? How does one go about fighting such a rule within a large bureaucracy? Doesn't this fall under the category of monopolistic, anti-competitive, or at the very least, generally unfair for the students they're supposed to be serving?