Should I stay or should I go?
Apr. 8th, 2003 11:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
leftyjewHmmm.... So I have no concrete job offers. It's April and most places will give me their decisions by the end of this month. I want to leave the Bos-Wash Megalopolis and escape the East Coast where I've llived most of my life. All that said, I got a strange idea this afternoon.
I've always been a CS minor. I've also always been pretty good at programming and CS theory stuff. My grades in comp sci are higher than my cumulative GPA and higher than my classmates' on average. This is all with the exeption of Computer Animation which I hated and sucked at. For these reasons, my Computer Science profs have always asked me "So why are you only a minor?" This semester, when my CS classes are my only interesting courses, I have begun to agree with them. Why am I only a minor? The answers to that question are:
I like computers but I love the interdisciplinary nature and real world applications of IA
I want to work in nonprofits and learn about the political side
I wanted to study abroad
Okay, so those are my reasons. But I'm good with CS and I like it and it's actually marketable. And NGOs need good IT people. So I was in the CS department today and decided to talk to my one prof who seems to want me as a CS major. How do I afford it or do it? We spoke a while and eventually he told me to talk to someone else about the specifics. So I spoke to my minor advisor and we worked out a way to finish off the BA in a semester. If I talked to the associate dean, I could maybe work out a way for the engineering school to pay for my 5th year. Great!
So I went to the dean's office and we spoke about it. No way the school could pay for my year. He's pretty strict about that rule. However, maybe I'm taking the wrong approach, he said. What if I instead worked for a Masters degree in Comp Sci? A Masters of Science in Computer Science??? That has to be more expensive than an undergraduate education and it must be a longer time! To my surprise, I could finish an MS in a year and the school could actually PAY ME money to do it....if I work as a TA or research assistant. That would be incredibly cool. I would have to work like hell taking 4 courses a semster and TA, and stay in DC another year at GW....but I'd have an MS and some real credentials and education in Computer Science.
Pros:
Nonprofits need good IT people
Nonprofits love Masters degree holders
At worst, I can go into industry as a backup
I have nothing else going for me right now
I like the professors in the CS department
Cons:
I would have to stay another year here
I need to get away
It would be a LOT of hard work
GW isnt anywhere near the best computer science school in the world, and I don't want a useless degree, even if they are paying for it
I want to stop school
I don't want to be pigeon-holed into tech jobs at NGOs
This seems like it comes out of nowhere and is impulsive (not completely a con)
So, dear readers, what do you think I should do? Is it worth it for me to stay and earn another degree? Right now, I'm leaning toward yes, and there hasn't been a really strong counter-argument. I want to hear them! Tell me I'm nuts!
I've always been a CS minor. I've also always been pretty good at programming and CS theory stuff. My grades in comp sci are higher than my cumulative GPA and higher than my classmates' on average. This is all with the exeption of Computer Animation which I hated and sucked at. For these reasons, my Computer Science profs have always asked me "So why are you only a minor?" This semester, when my CS classes are my only interesting courses, I have begun to agree with them. Why am I only a minor? The answers to that question are:
Okay, so those are my reasons. But I'm good with CS and I like it and it's actually marketable. And NGOs need good IT people. So I was in the CS department today and decided to talk to my one prof who seems to want me as a CS major. How do I afford it or do it? We spoke a while and eventually he told me to talk to someone else about the specifics. So I spoke to my minor advisor and we worked out a way to finish off the BA in a semester. If I talked to the associate dean, I could maybe work out a way for the engineering school to pay for my 5th year. Great!
So I went to the dean's office and we spoke about it. No way the school could pay for my year. He's pretty strict about that rule. However, maybe I'm taking the wrong approach, he said. What if I instead worked for a Masters degree in Comp Sci? A Masters of Science in Computer Science??? That has to be more expensive than an undergraduate education and it must be a longer time! To my surprise, I could finish an MS in a year and the school could actually PAY ME money to do it....if I work as a TA or research assistant. That would be incredibly cool. I would have to work like hell taking 4 courses a semster and TA, and stay in DC another year at GW....but I'd have an MS and some real credentials and education in Computer Science.
Pros:
Cons:
So, dear readers, what do you think I should do? Is it worth it for me to stay and earn another degree? Right now, I'm leaning toward yes, and there hasn't been a really strong counter-argument. I want to hear them! Tell me I'm nuts!
