Radiate Positivity

Trying this again... Dreamwidth keeps eating my posts! And Autosave either isn't working, or manages to Autosave once everything has been erased? Tad bit frustrating.

Anyway, this post is to help me gather my thoughts on moving ahead in terms of career. I have been looking into grad school because I honestly just love higher education and the university environment. With my undergrad degree in English, however, it has been a little tricky figuring out how to proceed. I can fall back on teaching - starting with the single subject study. I am more interested in higher learning, but on the teaching front, that would take a bit more time and schooling, and I would proceed with my Masters in English and potentially going into the SS teaching program simultaneously.

At CSULB, a program titled Social and Cultural Analysis of Education caught my eye. It's a Masters in Education program, and I actually fulfill the prereqs because you don't need a BS in Ed. Therefore, I'm a bit more skeptical of what job offers would come following the degree completion, but I'm sure I could probably find *something* at a school. This is an option, but I am more keen on something more focused. I recently saw a job for the city of Stanton (Outreach Coordinator) that I could probably land if I had this under my belt. That job position asks for a Bachelor's in course work related to "psychology, counseling, human services, sociology, social work or a related field." I think this would count. Those areas all highly interest me, but I didn't really learn about them in school much, sadly.

The other position listed for the city of Stanton (which is just a city over from me) is Associate Planner. This sounds interesting, but requires education in "urban planning, building, engineering, public administration, or a related field." Not really as aligned with my current values, but seems like hard and interesting work, concurrent with my interests. Public admin stands out to me from that list. I actually do qualify for the MPA program at CSULB (I've just been looking at this school since it's where I went for undergrad and I love it, although I'm sure I'd probably love another campus just as much). I followed a former CSULB graduate's journey from grad school to landing a postion at the Western Justice Center, which definitely inspired me into looking at the MPA program.

edit: I contacted WJC about volunteer opportunities, and they already got back to me! Asking me for my resume and letting me know of some upcoming events. So cool! I just need to get back to them. I've done way more today for myself than I have in a while. First the phone interview, now this.

Browsing through the CSULB website, I clicked some other areas I have vague notions of interest. In education, I was interested in School Counseling, but it requires a background in behavioral science, education, or related field. Not sure if that is feasible with what I have, nor that it is something I could make up quickly. Pretty much all of the areas except for the Social and Cultural Analysis of Education require me to have my teaching credential. Upon second look, it seems that I could walk into the Early Childhood Education program with what I've already learned. This piques my interest. Perhaps I should bite the bullet and get the teaching credential? This might be a wise choice as I currently have more flexibility in my work hours (none atm lol). A lot of Master's programs can be completed in the evening, it seems.

Interestingly, if I wanted to get into Student Development in Higher Education there are no prereqs! This doesn't scream out to me, but seems plausible. If I was interested in conducting studies I could apply to Education Psychology, but I'm not highly interested in studying in this field.

I minored in Anthropology but I don't feel a strong pull to study this further. Applied Anthropology sounds pretty nifty, though. I might be able to get into this program; from the description it sounds like they may not be as heavily impacted as other programs at this school?

Looking at CSUF, there are two different Counseling options - a traditional course, and a 3-year evening program. I could probably get into either, as long as I took two (I think) psych classes either at the school outside of the program or even at a community college. I wonder if this is an option CSULB would provide also? I hadn't heard anything like this until studying the CSUF options. The 3-year evening course is accepting applications in October. But without those two classes, it's too late for me to even consider enrolling for that.

Getting into Social Work is viable when going to CSUF. They also offer a Flex program. Ah, well...need some real life experience to get into this field, it seems. Wonder if there's any getting around that? I signed up to receive more info. I believe the real life experience only applies to the flex program. Anyway, none of these ^^ would be options for like another year! So that would give me time to get some experience. I probably should get back to WJC then!

Anyway...... back to relaxing my brain, haha!