snakemeister
Shared on Tue, 04/14/2009 - 05:04So, let me tell you some more about the degree I'm aiming for.
It's a BA in Journalism & Creative Writing, from the University of Strathclyde, in Glasgow. The degree itself is a 'Second Principal Subject' which means that I have to take it in combination with another subject.
There's a shedload of subjects available to partner it with, but I'll be going with English – it makes the most sense, and it's the one I'm most interested in anyway. There are Modern Languages that you can partner it with; French, German, Spanish, but to do them you have to spend one year abroad, which is something I'm not keen on. Japanese is really the only language I have an interest in studying anyway, and that's not an option.
Even if Japanese were available, I doubt I'd take it. Having to spend a year abroad in Japan is appealing on a certain level, there's no doubt about that, but at this stage in my life, I wouldn't want to spend that long abroad without my girlfriend. We've talked about it, and if it had come to that, and I'd wanted to go abroad, she would've supported me, but I simply don't want to. That's part of the reason I haven't thought more about studying Japanese or Asian Studies at university before now.
But back to the degree at hand. It's a 3 year course for a standard pass, and 4 years for an honours degree pass, which is what I'd be going for. The first 3 years are a mix of both subjects, but you choose to specialise in the 4th year. Although there's nothing wrong with Journalism, I intend to specialise in Creative Writing. I say intend, because although that's where I feel my heart lies just now, you never know how things can change.
Money-wise, things are going to be difficult. If things stay on track, we will be clear of our bankruptcy early next year. While the course is available part-time, spending eight years doing a degree course isn't really my idea of fun, so I'll be studying full-time, which means leaving work.
My current employer does offer limited opportunities for a career break, but they're not long enough for me to do the degree. Even if a career break was long enough, I can't see my boss giving me a break to pursue a degree that isn't directly related to my job as an IT engineer.
What this means is that I'll need a decent part-time job at the very least. I'm not sure if I mentioned in the past that my girlfriend is a jeweller – but we're hoping that she can earn some money with that on a regular basis next year, once we're out of bankruptcy. I'm also trying to find out if it's possible for me to withdraw money from my pension fund – a little extreme, I realise, but unfortunately quite necessary.
One bright light so far is that the fees for the course will be paid for me, if that wasn't the case, then I almost certainly wouldn't be going. I may have to look into getting a student load as well – I'm not sure what the terms and conditions of that are, and how they'll be affected by my credit history; I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Last, but not least, I still need to hear back from the faculty if I'm actually eligible to apply to the course. This doesn't look like it'll be a problem, to be honest, given my experience writing for Massively so far. I don't have the grades they ask for, but given my age and experience, I don't see if being a problem.
Finger crossed :)
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Submitted by ATC_1982 on Tue, 04/14/2009 - 05:35