Should I Go To Technical School To Learn A Trade, Or Finish Out My English Degree At Gsu With A Small Job?
I’m in a bit of a dilemma.
I’ve stopped qualifying for financial aid some time ago while attending Georgia State University two years ago, and now, my mother and I can no longer afford to attend a semester there. They stopped giving me money because they said I had dropped too many classes, and now, whenever I will want to go back to school, I will have to prepare to pay nearly $3000 a semester for full-time.
I’ve been trying to find a job to make ends meet, mainly to pay my credit card bills, but, due to my very limited work experience (I’ve only done work-study at one university and I did some volunteering at a library for four months), I guess no one wants to hire me, especially in this economy, with people with degrees who have been working for years who are being laid off and taking anything THEY can get to make ends meet, so I’m competing with them, in a way, for the entry-level jobs.
My mother’s been hyping up doing a Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA from here on out) program for months now, and it’d be something just to get my foot in the door and make some decent money to pay for everything so it could cut my mom some slack, but I don’t really want to do it. I know next-to-nothing about what being a CNA entails, and the more I read about it, the more uninviting and demanding it sounds. I don’t think I have the temperament or the people skills required (I’m not a people person) to run around in a medical center and keep track of people all day, especially the really elderly and/or infirm (Mom tells me being a CNA includes working in nursing homes); I’m not good in the sciences to begin with, so I don’t want to take any state certification exams where I have to have memorized everything, and I don’t want to do hospital rotations where I have not to particularly just do a good job, but to also suck up to corrupt instructors who may just give me a bad grade no matter how well I do because they have some personal bias (my brother said one of the instructors he had while he was doing radiologic tech was a racist who had problems with black people). I would prefer to qualify for an office or customer service job, instead; it would be simpler to just work in retail, but apparently, I could fill out online applications all day ’til my eyes and fingers bleed, but I never get anything out of it. I’ve never once gotten anything out of applying for a job online.
At this point, I may come off as whiny, self-indulgent, and probably even pugnacious, but I only have the first two qualities when it comes to my family (hee hee 
); elsewhere, I’m a very hard worker, perhaps too eager to please when I’m in a working environment. I just don’t want to work and be educated in an environment where I have to deal with stupid personal politics and may even suffer unfair treatment (which probably sounds like a tall order for life in general..). I want a job where I can be appreciated for the work that I do; I don’t want to have to suck up to anybody or snap at testy people, because I find the former behavior degrading, and then, I’m too emotionally sensitive to even engage in the latter (and I know I will have to — my brother has had to do so a few times).
Mainly, I’m an English major at Georgia State (I’m overly verbose — could you tell?), but I keep having the feeling while being there that there’s no way I could get a job in my major. I don’t know if it’s really self-doubt fueled by the costliness of the classes, or just the fact that I hate doing core classes there, and I may have transferred out of my two-year college too soon.
I keep thinking that maybe I should get a small certification or diploma from a technical college just so I could get a good-paying job with that to pay for finishing out my studies at Georgia State (plus, I’d have some practical skills in the meantime), but in the time I could get an Associates Degree, I could be finished with my Bachelor’s, since I am a Junior at the moment.
What should I do: should I get a degree or certificate at a local technical college to make ends meet for now; or should I just get a small job and pay my bills while somehow, my mother finds a way to pay my tuition while she will no longer have to cover my credit card bills?
I know it’s a lot of words, but thanks for reading.
I enjoyed reading your writing. You are indeed an English major and that not just as a degree goal but you do write beautifully and I can actually understand what you say. Well done.
It is a difficult situation. There are no guaranteed solutions. I do however wholeheartedly agree that you ought not take up CNA if you know that you would intensely dislike it. I could not do it either because I just could not bear having to be around sick people all day long.
It is also important to keep in mind what other certificates you could do and in particular what guarantee of employment do they offer? A certificate offers nothing except the chance to find employment. You run the risk of spending money on the certificate only to find that you still cannot obtain employment. How disappointing would that be? And it would be money wasted on a course that you could have done to complete your degree.
Do you need to continue at your current university if it is so expensive? Have you considered completing your degree part-time online (while you work or try to find work)? I am a graduate of Excelsior College http://www.excelsior.edu which was set up for people like you who have partly completed degrees but must work and so cannot attend on campus. The beauty of Excelsior is that they have associations with dozens of other universities that offer online courses so you can pick the course with the lowest fee and credit it to your Excelsior degree. Something for you to explore.
Can you find any job that does not require a certificate? If so, take it and continue your degree online. This way you are still on your way toward your English major ( don’t give up on it whatever you do – you need to take your gift for writing to the highest level – don’t waste it).
My approach, if I were in your shoes, would be as follows:
1. If a certificate (which I reasonably enjoy and won’t destroy me emotionally) ** guarantees ** employment, then get that certificate. Work a while to pay off the credit cards, and continue my degree online.
2. If a certificate is not an option, then find any other job that will help pay off the credit cards – while continuing my education ( preferably online for cost and efficiency reasons)
Don’t waste time just working: Come home, turn on your computer, get online and start studying. This way you kill two birds with one stone.
Hard decision to make. Only you know what will work best in your situation.
Hope this helps.