Aaaarrggg, I'm torn between registering for 2 years of Women's Studies or Multi Media!!!!

[graywarrior]

H E L P M E!!!!

[Parche]

1. why not 'mens' studies?

:woohoo: :hi:

[graywarrior]

2. I've already excelled in that.

:rofl:

[jobycom]

5. Most studies are already "men's studies."

:P

[UndertheOcean]

3. How about Majoring in one , and minoring in the other

[graywarrior]

4. The courses are so different or I could sort of merge them

I'm trying to decide which would benefit me more 2 years from now.

[jobycom]

6. I studied "Multi women in the Media."

We just watched a lot of porn films. Soft-core only, I'm no pervert.

[graywarrior]

7. Soft porn orgy flicks?

I hate to say this, but I've known you for a while and you are kinda pervy...in a good way.

[jobycom]

9. Yeah, well I really did take a couple years of "Women's Studies"

And would recommend it over Media Studies any day. :P Or "Duck Captivity Studies."

I had a couple of good profs. One is at Penn State now. Don't know about the other.

[graywarrior]

10. Really.

I'd love to know why. What did you eventually get out of it? Were you able to apply it to a career?

[jobycom]

22. I don't seem to have applied anything from college to my career, but

since I was originally planning to be an historian, the courses shaped the way I thought as a potential scholar, and helped me understand and see the assumptions behind what I thought I knew, even behind the advanced scholarship I learned. Like I said half-jokingly above, all studies are from a male perspective unless they specifically try not to be, but people don't realize the complete gender bias unless they see the same themes and topics approached from a different perspective, or are shown that even the themes and topics themselves are chosen from a male perspective. It shapes your perspective not just on gender, but on knowledge itself, and how things we see as absolutes are often just perspective. I doubt few things have broadened my thoughts as much as gender studies.

How it shaped my career, I can't say, because I wound up underachieving in bookkeeping to give me certain freedoms to raise my kids. But it shaped my parenting skills. It shaped my analytical and perception skills.

But like I said, that could have been as much the result of a great professor as the topic itself.

[graywarrior]

26. Thank you for responding to that, it really helps me.

[Sisaruus]

11. I majored in women's studies

With concentrated coursework in public policy and organizational development.

[graywarrior]

12. So what do you do now for work, if you don't mind my asking?

[Xipe Totec]

8. I would not mind studying women for two years...

:evilgrin:

[graywarrior]

13. Haven't you been doing that already?

[Xipe Totec]

16. I need more hands-on experience... n/t

[graywarrior]

18. I see

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Rising Phoenix]

14. If I went back to school

it would be for women's studies.....most def


have you made pros and cons lists?

flipped a coin?

called the psychic hotline?

[graywarrior]

15. I think I would get more support with Women's Studies and that course would

improve my writing, which is what I want to do. But Multi Media would give me experience making documentaries, which is another thing I want to do. I have 3 years of art school so I sort of lean toward that kind of creativity but Women's Studies just sounds so fulfilling.

[Rising Phoenix]

17. could you do both?

I too would be longing to create, and how grand would it be to create documentaries and other art that related to that which you would learn in studying women studies. That is some work I would love to see.

[graywarrior]

19. I'm gonna meet with the school career counselor next week and see what I can do.

Right now in MA if you are collecting unemployment the state will pay for the first year of either a certificate training or if you can convince them that you have been turned down for jobs because you don't have a degree, they will pay for the first year and also help you find funding for the rest.

[Rising Phoenix]

20. good to know

and good luck at your meeting next week, let me know how it goes.......

[graywarrior]

21. I will, and thanks!

[Ikonoklast]

23. I found a pic of the instructor of the Women's Studies classes.

Might help you decide...





Looks like a nice enough fellow.

[rug]

24. I knew it! They teach the Dark Arts there.

[graywarrior]

28. Potions Master!

Squee!
:loveya: :loveya:

[Kali]

25. avian ecology

with a minor in materials engineering

[graywarrior]

30. That's right up my alley

[704wipes]

27. womens studies, if you are male - spring class semester

if you don't get what I am saying now, you will get it next April...
Sorry if that sounds so wrong.

[LeftyFingerPop]

29. I would like to be able to give you some advice, but it has been so long for me...

I have both 2 year and 4 year Accounting degrees.

Back then, any "Liberal Art" types of degrees were really badmouthed unless you planned on remaining in academia and getting an advanced degree.

These days, I think this has turned 180 degrees.

I think that unless you are going for a specific technical job upon graduation, then it is best to take what INTERESTS you the most.

I have always had this view of college level education...most of what you learn, you end up forgetting anyway, but it does provide you with a good basis to think in an analytical fashion, where you might not have before. The ability to think analytically lasts your entire life.

To summarize...take what you want to take, and do WELL at it.

[graywarrior]

31. Best advice yet

Who knew.

[LeftyFingerPop]

32. Thanks Gray...that's really how I feel about it.

If you enjoy what you are majoring in, you will do well at it.

If you do well at it, it will inspire you want to dive deeper into it, make more contacts in your field of study, and perhaps branch off into something related.

[graywarrior]

33. That about sums it up.

So now, I am interested in both multi media and writing. Women's Studies would give me more contacts.

[LeftyFingerPop]

34. Do you plan on continuing after 2 years?

[graywarrior]

35. If I don't die of old age

Actually, I want to establish my own thing which I can do as I go to school. But I'm thinking of Wellesley in Boston to finish up.

[LeftyFingerPop]

36. Well...

Here is what I did... When I was in high school, I thought I was a dumb ass. I never thought I would make it in any type of traditional studies, so I went half days to regular high school, and half days to an offsite trade school for building trades.

Turns out that I did excellent at the trade school...so now I figured "Hey, I'm not a dumb ass, I'm going to college".

I had no idea what I wanted to do after college, so I took "Marketing" at my community college. Well, I was taking an Accounting course along with this. I got the best grade in the class on the Accounting test, so I changed my major to Accounting. So now, I had so much confidence that I never had before...I got one "B" in community college. The rest were A's and A+. Graduated Phi Theta Kappa or however you spell it.

This NATURALLY INSPIRED ME to go for my 4 year in Accounting at one of the top 10 Accounting schools in the country. Worked 35 hours per week while going full time. Graduated with around a 3.75 avg.

Now, I was also very interested in Psychology, so I minored in it at the University.

Why the long story? It depends on your GOAL. Is it a JOB, an EDUCATION, or both? If it is a career, concentrate on the courses that will support this goal, and THEN go for anything else that interests you either later, or as a concurrent minor.

If your goal is to become better educated, concentrate on your heart's desire and take the courses you want, perhaps with a minor in the other.

[graywarrior]

37. That is awesome advice that makes so much sense.

Thank you thank you thank you!

And BTW, I love that story. You rock!

[LeftyFingerPop]

38. Whatever you decide...

you will do great! No fear...just go for it! :hug:

[graywarrior]

39. ! ! !

:loveya:

[Kali]

42. great advice

and story

short version of my accounting experience:

15 + years ago I found out about big accounting (and economists) - I had no idea. I thought accountants just did books for companies, had no idea the impact on the universe. I was a juror on the Keating civil trial.

Learned a LOT.

[wickerwoman]

43. Is it undergrad or grad?

If it's undergrad, I'd say study what you're interested in unless you need a very specific major to get into grad school.

If it's graduate then please, please think very carefully about what job you will realistically get at the end of the program and research the hell out of both the job and the program before committing. Grad school is all about making contacts with people in the industry who will help you get jobs and you need to have a very clear idea of what you want before you get started or you will waste a lot of time and money and possibly screw yourself out of the ability to finish your degree.

I went to grad school without a clear plan (just didn't want to get a job and liked college so much, I thought I'd stay as long as possible) and ended up completely wasting 5 years and going tens of thousands of dollars into debt for a totally useless degree in a subject for which there are *no* non-academic jobs in this or any other economy. And even the academic jobs in that field suck and are almost impossible to get.

I am now unemployed and going back to grad school to start from scratch in a field that actually has employment opportunities.

I don't want to prejudice you, but "women's studies" sounds like it boxes you pretty strongly into an academic career... and actual positions in this are practically impossible to find unless you go to an Ivy League grad school. Most of the women's studies MA/PhDs I know are know adjunct professors at community colleges with no job security, an insane teaching load and spend every waking hour grading terrible, terrible student papers.

I seriously, strongly advise you to think about the job and work backwards from there unless you are independently wealthy and don't need a job when you graduate.

[ThomCat]

40. Women's Studies sounds much more interesting.

:)

I'd love to take some more women's studies courses.

If you haven't taken any WS courses before, and if the professor is really good, prepare to be outraged. Prepare to be incredibly sad. Prepare to think about a lot of things you took for granted and really thought you knew and understood. Prepare to come away from the class transformed at the end.

I really wish a lot more people could take women's studies courses.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

41. Without syllabi, it's hard to say,

isn't it? I mean, two years is a long time, and why do you have to commit to two years of either area?

I'm not sure that there is such a thing as a straight line in the academe. I took an undergraduate degree with a double major in psychology and sociology, a minor in American history.

So, of course I went to work as a social worker. Full time, and then I decided to get an advanced degree to help me in my work with senior citizens (my specialty).

Staying with Hull House part time, I started work in a doctoral program and got through the course work in two years. Clinical psych, with a wonderful adviser who showed me how to manipulate the requirements and the lab hours and the internships. It was hard, and there were times when I thought I was wasting my time, but I got through it, and started on the research for my dissertation.

That was another year, still working part-time at HH.

Then, one day, my therapist said to me (part of the curriculum), "Have you considered exactly how you're going to channel all your aggression when you're in practice?"

(You hit a few rats in a maze with a hammer because they're going in the wrong direction, screwing up your thesis, and all of a sudden, you're "aggressive.")

Well, being aggressive was exactly what I'd been with my senior citizens, using the Saul Alinsky people to show me how to line up the old folks to protest the fare raising by the CTA, which would have cut into the free rides on the buses and the El. They were a tough, militant bunch of great people, and I just wanted to learn how to do it all better for them. If that meant aggressive, that was what I'd use.

But his words stuck with me, and then my husband mentioned that he always thought I'd be a great lawyer.

Two years later, I had my law degree and my license - yeah, I quit my job and went to school all year round to get out in two instead of three years.

Finished my dissertation, defended it successfully, and then I went to work with the New Catholic Left, defending war protestors who kept pouring blood on draft board offices and the Pentagon.

Now I'm a novelist.

So, it doesn't matter what you study or what you think your goal might be today. Things change, and if you're very lucky and smart - and I know you're smart - you change with them.

Study what pleases you, what is the most fun. That's where you'll learn the most, and that's what will pay off for you in the long run. I tell you that not a day goes by that I don't dip back into my haphazard academic background for something, and I usually find it. But never in the way it was intended.

There's that old Portuguese saying I learned from one of my Jesuit law professors: "God writes straight on a crooked line." I don't believe in a god, but I do know that John Lennon was right - life really is what happens while you're busy making other plans.

So enjoy. I just used all these words to urge you to have fun............................