Hmmm

[morsla]

So, it's time I started thinking about this uni thing. I'm not sure whether I should stay enrolled in four subjects for the coming semester, allowing me to finish my course... or if it would be better in the long run to make some more space in my timetable.

Option A: Four subjects (Publishing, Communications, Media Design and Non-fiction B)
Advantages: I finish the course this year, and can start looking for work with an actual qualification...
Disadvantages: Zero spare time. For most of Semester 1, I was working most nights and weekends, and tai chi, painting, catching up with friends etc all fell by the wayside. Virtually no chance of finding time to get any additional experience before I try the next round of job applications.

Option B: Three subjects (Publishing, Communications, Non-fiction B)
Advantages: I'll have more time available to look for volunteer or paid work, and can make some money from painting during semester.
Disadvantages: Delay finishing by at least six months, when the next Graphics subject is offered. May not actually save much time, as the fourth subject in Semester 1 had most of its workload at the end of the semester.

Option C: Three subjects (Publishing, Communications, Media Design)
Advantages: Clears even more time to do the above, as the Design subject contains five projects to work on at my own pace. Media Design is only available online, so I also save a few hours a week by reducing my travelling time.
Disadvantages: No really dedicated writing class, and I think I need the workshopping time. There are no directly relevant writing classes in Semester 1 next year, so this may delay course completion by a full twelve months unless I pick up a Public Relations class instead.

I'm a fence-sitting mediator at heart, so I'm leaning towards option B. However, there's a chance that I lean that way purely because it looks like the most obvious compromise.

I'm a little worried about what I'll end up doing next year. I've had absolutely no luck with job applications in the last two years, and the only thing that's really changed since the last run of them is a few more subjects from a course I haven't finished yet. I know that I can find something if I have to - hell, I've had enough hospitality work in the past. What I'd like to do is break into an industry that appears more firmly closed every time I look at it.

It's also a little demoralising knowing that the job I left probably paid about $20k more than anything I'm likely to get in the near future. But hey, if I'd been in this for the money, I would have taken a mining job as soon as I finished my Honours thesis.

Comments

[harkon.livejournal.com]

Which courses run exclusively to semester two? If it is all of them, I'd suggest taking the pain and doing all 4 at once. If Non-Fic B is meant to run straight after A then keeping that scheme seems a pretty good idea especially if it is the same people doing and running the classes.

I'm assuming that Publications and Communications are Sem 2 only, since they appear in all three plans. If this is the case, is there anything stopping you doing Non-Fic B and Media Design in Semester 1 next year?

[morsla.livejournal.com]

All of them are S2 only, unfortunately, but there's a similar graphic design subject offered in S1. There's also a progression from Editing (S1) to Publishing (S2), although it's not strictly necessary to do them in order.

[designadrug.livejournal.com]

In February 1990, I gave up a casual lab technician job to take a place in a degree course.

A friend of mine (we did year 12 together) got the position I vacated.

He is at the same institution, and has progressed so far up the ranks that he now earns more than I do and manages a department. Plus, when you factor in the years I wasn't earning money because I was uni, I'm still several hundred thousand dollars behind. And I'll never catch up.

Sometimes I think it was a mistake to go to university. It seems that the "unqualified" friends of mine get paid more than the graduates of the same age.

[virtual-munkee.livejournal.com]

i dont think about what i am missing out on, based on my career decisions...i like to think that each path we take is a change for the best, even if it is something we now know we never want to try again!

good luck with your decisions, hey i am slowly making friends with several ex geo science communicators...interesting stuff! i think great thing things are just waiting for ya round the corner, lord knows i could never survive that communications course u are doing!!!