Wondering if I should go back to granulate school
 

I have been wondering lately if I should go back to school and get a masters degree. In just about anything. Maybe psychology or who the fuck knows? Something that will enable me to earn some money.

I am having a lot of doubts (for like the past ten years) about my photography career. Even looking at other photographers work makes me kind of ill. I feel very cynical about the whole industry. It's all crap. Crappy craptastic crap. Crappetty crapulent crap.

My wife thinks I would make a shitty shrink because I get impatient with people's crap. Tonight she allowed that I would probably make a good gestalt therapist...

Whatever, suppose I got a pair of dark glasses and pretended to be a blind shrink, then I could just roll my eyes or snooze while the patient was yakkign about their crap. Maybe this is not the right attitude to have.

But I still wonder if I should go back to school to get a better degree. Now I kind of wish I HAD gone back to school 6 years ago to become and MRI tech when I had the chance. I'd be just about done by now.

Crappy crapness

Go back? Sure. For psychology? This will not "enable you to earn some money," my friend.

There's nothing wrong with jumping tracks. Ten years is enough time spent hating what you're doing, find something new. But here's the deal: this is either a fast-track to a new career path that earns you money, or this is for self-improvement/edification/happiness blah-di-blah. You have to decide which it is. Given what little I know of your personality, being a counselor is neither going to make you happy nor rich.

I'm not sure what sort of jazzed-up MRI tech certification you were looking at, but I don't see any that take 6 years to complete. The community college here has them starting at 2 years. Obviously I think the medical tech angle is a cool gig, myself. Or you could combine the two: if you want to be a therapist, look at speech therapy, or occupational therapy, or physical therapy--something where the folks actually have an excuse, and aren't just whining about their mothers. Our previous occupational therapist was charging $240/hour, though I don't know what portion of that went to the clinic she was part of.

ouch! Question No Fair!

Yes, photog ind sucks. No, Psych ind is not the way forward.

I think you'd make an awesome nurse. Srsly. Can't really say why, just a gut feeling.

Thanks. I certainly think this is about fast track to more money. I have to agree with, I guess, both of you and my wife re: counselling. (was it my response to bbro "what are you, retarded?" that gave you the impression I lack the je ne sais quoi to be a counselor?) I'd pretty much suck at it, or hate it.

I'll look into the MRI thing again, when I did look at it last I remember that a BFA in scultpure didn't supply all the pre-requisite body-part classes they wanted me to have. Maybe things have changed.

Nursing? I'm not sure I would want to deal with a lot of fluids and spooge. I'd be pretty good at giving kids band-aids and dinosaur stickers though.

btw was the "granulate" deliberate?

I'm telling you, you should look into occupational therapy. It's a mix of old and young, helping people with fine motor and sensory tasks, either rehabbing after an injury, or because they're young and have disabilities. You help the old guy organize his key chain by feel now that his eyesight is gone, then you ride a gigantic swing with a hyperactive 3-year-old with sensory integration problems, then you help the wheelchair-bound adolescent improve their hand strength so they can learn to feed themselves. Everybody loves their OT, and nobody releases fluids on them. :)

Yes, I do have a collie degree you know.

I will investigate this. I looked into the AA in MRI/Rad Tech at a nearby college and it is only 60 credits. (actually 78, but 18 of those like algebra and english comp I've already done.)

Choose carefully. You definitely should go back but not for Psych. You can still go back and do something Rad though, there is a market for it. What is your undergrad in? Anything to do with science?

Sadly, no science in undergrad. Going back to HS I was on track for a pre-med thing, lots of science, advanced bio, anatomy, etc. then a whole lot of shit went down at my school with budget cuts, my two favorite teachers were let go and replaced with a total prick who had it out for me, meanwhile my parents split up during my junior and senior year so I got derailed. I didn't end up going to college until I was 32 and went back to get a degree in photography after already having over ten years of professional experience in that field. After one week I realized I could have taught any of the undergrad photo courses so I switched majors to sculpture, got my degree and went right back into photography...

So, I have a good science aptitude, some familiarity but no college science experience.

Prostitute, Au Pair, or Assassin.

There's your sign, or is that a little too close to home? You could teach with a master's.

I have taught photography already, as an adjunct, with a BFA. To find a tenure track position would require a doctorate just to buy the lottery ticket increasing my odds from 0:80,000,00 to 1:80,000,000. Infinity better, but not great odds.

Also I really don't want to teach, being an adjunct pays shit and there is no guarantee your class will run. Pay is from $1700-$3000 per class per semester.

The nice thing about crazy people is that they are always making more of them. It's either a growth or stable industry when the rest of the economy is tanking. Yeah, hospitals aren't getting funded the way they used to, but there are always jobs.

If you have the personality for it, I'd suggest Crisis Counselling rather than traditional counselling. You do end up dealing with some of the same people and some of the same problems, but the landscape is always changing.

BTW, I referred to it as "gradual school," especially since I was taking one class a semester for most of my Masters.