What should one do with one's Political Science and Sociology Degree?

Euphrates · June 18, 2008

So basically, I'm an directionless fool. I went to college, didn't know what I wanted to do, and because it was in Ireland and not somewhere else I didn't really get a chance to try lots of things. My parents managed to coerce the 17 year old me into Business Studies (BESS for those who know and would like to laugh at me). I thought that was fair enough because I didn't really know much about myself and thought it might be nice to get a job one day. After a couple of months of that, I quickly went to the appropriate people in college and found out that I could change to a joint honours Political Science and Sociology degree without having to a stay another year because I already had an introductory course in each of those fields.

That went slightly more swimmingly but it still wasn't something which held my interest, so like the good human I am, I skipped classes, got drunk and maintained a 2.2 or 2.1 in most of my classes. Then I finished 3rd year, and wanted to leave because at TCD the first three years entitle you to a pass degree, which is the equivalent of a B.A. That fourth year is only to put the (Hon) after the second dot. I made this decision without contacting my parents because I was sure that they would understand.

After being murdered, I agreed to retroactively "go off books" with a view to coming back this past October to start 4th year. Sometime around March I f***ed up in one class. I didn't hand in a paper that I had done because I went to the office and found out an extension had been granted to the whole class. Pretending I was someone I'm not, I thought I might improve the paper a bit, went and forgot about it until after that module was over. When my girlfriend months later asked me if I handed in that paper, I basically dropped out of college again. Since the paper was worth 50% of my year, and after much pleading the lecturer still refused to accept it I just gave up and stopped going to all my other classes, even those this time around I was carrying 2.1s and a first.

I left college, requested my pass degree and moved backed to the states where I grew up and where my girlfriend who is from VA would like to do a landscape architecture class. I've looked into graduate school over here, and it's all far too expensive for someone who is already working off debts. For what it's worth I was most intrigued by some of the information science things I saw, although I don't really have any undergraduate background in it. Seeing as I have almost no interest in following up in the fields of Political Science or Sociology, I was thinking about the only graduate degree I'm 'qualified' for is something in journalism but I've never really written anything except for the music section of the college paper and that seems to be a requirement for entrance. Oh, and my parents are friends with a senior partner at Deloitte Touche and have tried to get me to apply there, but I'm not a souless douchebag with a degree in accounting or finance, so it's not much of an option. One thing I'm currently leaning towards is air traffic controller but there are no current spots to apply for.

I've been working at a reasonable paying, low demand job that I'd rather not stick with forever (I'm a porter in a residential building in Manhattan, after taxes, it's about $12 an hour). Besides the colleges my girlfriend applied to are in Blacksburg, VA and Syracuse, NY. Seeing as how I'm currently getting unsolicited advise from my family, my neighbours, all my friends, people who think they're my friends, every d****ead I ever went to school with and all the pompous f*****s in the building where I work I thought I might solicit some advice.

If nothing else, this thread might yield a few choice lines from some of the wits, and I'm understandably bored.

Edited June 18, 2008 by Euphrates

Maldini · June 19, 2008

This post is not viewable to guests.

You can sign in to your account at the login page here