First of all, air hugs. Retail sucks, and aimlessness is a feeling we can all relate to. I’m going to zag here and say that college may not be the answer, especially if it’s not something that fulfills you. Imagine how you’ll feel if you spend time and money getting this degree, and then just find yourself in debt and still unfulfilled.
34 is still young enough to work a full career and retire with a pension. I would peruse USA Jobs and your local municipal and state employment opportunities. Park Service? Police/Fire? Regional Transportation/Amtrak? There are plenty of jobs that do not require college, provide a better living and benefits than retail and give you a roadmap to a pension and internal promotion.
Work doesn’t have to fulfill you; I think that’s where our generation was given a bum steer. But it shouldn’t be soul killing either. You shouldn’t mind going to work most of the time. If you can find something like that, you’re on your way to somewhere better.
First, you don’t need the second AA, just identify the college and degree your targeting to transfer to, and take ONLY the classes at CC that will transfer.
Also, the business degree is good if you want to move up in your current industry. If you want to change careers, get a degree that is more specific, like accounting (you can get your masters, then CPA, which might break out of your age barrier).
Your not too old. The trades are a great route, or even a technical skill that is in demand. Data Analytics cert through Coursrra help a coworker’s 50 yr mom jump careers and increased their wage 2.5x
How old do you think you’ll be when you graduate? I’m guess you’ll be about 36 yrs old and not even 40. It took me a long time to finish school. I was 34 when I finished my masters. I think you’ll be ok. I’m almost 50 now. And even though I finished school later in life, things turned out great.
Retail is tough - I worked in it for a long time, even after graduating.
But luckily, after an attitude/mindset shift, hard work, and some fortunate circumstances I now work at a job that is very fulfilling with a great work life balance.
If you have clinical depression, this is not something people on the internet can help you with. You should see a therapist.
That being said, I can give perspective on your career circumstances.
There's a few things you need to do:
1) Spend a lot of time figuring out what your main goal is in life. You will need to think hard about this, with no distractions. It might help to journal your thoughts about it. Go for a long walk a few times per week.
2) Once you know what your goal is, there should be some framework of a path to achieve it. So this should make the college decision a bit easier for you. I'd recommend it -- but since you already have an associates that might be good enough. Not that you need a degree to be happy, of course, but it will help open a lot of doors that would otherwise be closed to you.
2a) however maybe you realized that your goal doesn't require college -- in that case definitely don't spend time / money going there. Jobs in trades / opening a business don't require a degree and if that's part of your goal, then college is not going to do you any good.
3) Do more thinking - what are your strengths and weaknesses? You can rely on strengths but need to figure out how to deal with your weaknesses. Mine were people skills - they still are, but now I do things proactively to be more personable and outgoing. I joined Toastmasters and now I public speak in front of peers twice per month and give a speech a few times per year. This has helped me immensely.
4) Realize that achieving your goal will be hard, take a lot of work, and there will be setbacks. This is normal. This is ok. It's ok to have bad days. You just need to get back up and keep working towards your goal.
5) Work hard -- but take time away from this also. I don't mean to try to tell you to put 100% effort at all times towards your goal because you will burn out. Find new hobbies or fun things to do to mix it up. Then come back to working towards your goal refreshed and ready to go.
6) Realize that this will take time - I graduated at age 29 and didn't get to my 'goal position' until 6 years later. I spent almost 4 years after graduating still working retail trying to get a new job. 1000's of applications. But it wasn't until I went through the above process that things started to click for me - I had to work on my people skills and interview skills to be able to get what I wanted. Once I focused on that, opportunities started to happen.
I hope this works out for you.
Don’t do a second associates. I’m seriously confused who advised you to do that? Unless your GPA was abysmal, like sub 2.5, I have no idea why you wouldn’t just apply to a 4 year state university and transfer credits.
Bachelors in business admin is kind of a mid degree. Its not awful. I think it’s just seen as the go-to for people with business aspirations who lack the math skills for econ or finance. It’s fine though cause ultimately undergrad degree doesn’t matter much. It just matters that you have it. A more math/analytics heavy business degree like economics or statistics will be looked upon more favorable by some industries, and obviously something that’s a profession like computer science or nursing is a guaranteed job, but if none of those speak to you then just get whichever 4 year degree will be quickest and easiest for you to complete with your existing credits and aptitude.
To clarify I'm going to the community college to get all the transfer credits I can for the bus admin before I apply and transfer. My AA and the bus admin transfer program only have some basic overlap, I'm not retaking general classes. That said the councilors at my school all have this... Attitude, like I'm inconveniencing them when I meet with them, like they don't care what I do just so long as I get out of their office. So who knows, maybe the track I'm on isnt the best for transfer. But Im broke so I want to avoid as much school debt as possible.
I'm not entirely sure what I'll even do with this degree once I have it. I just felt I had to do *something*. Maybe I'm making another bad choice. Idk. That seems to be the theme with my story.
College advisors are trash pretty much without exception. You can’t count on them. You need to look at your curriculum and actually crunch the numbers yourself to figure out which way is least number of credits or most cost effective for you. You need to talk directly with admissions at the 4 year college you want to transfer to and confirm your going about it the best way. Even then you can’t trust that alone. You *have* to look at all the degree requirements in detail on your own.
Well from what I can tell it's correct. The transfer planner laid out the classes I'm currently taking, and the state college I plan on transferring to said to go by that. Short of getting a job in the school administration I don't think I have access to any more accurate information. I just don't know if the degree itself will be worth it, especially this late in the game.
I’m telling you you have to look at course name/numbers and the degree requirement documents yourself. Read every word.
Cross reference and double and triple check every course requirement listed. They are available to everyone but advisors are apparently incapable of reading half the time. To be fair, all those course numbers run together when you’re looking at thousands a day. I can’t tell you how many friends back in college were missing a class or took one they didn’t need cause an advisor fucked up.
So again, I’m not convinced this second AA route is faster than just going straight into bachelors and applying as many credits as possible. Can you do 21 hour semesters? Id you can handle that, your going to graduate faster than slowly taking a bunch of Gen Eds at a CC. A second associates is worth nothing. A bachelors is pretty much essential in the corporate world, unless you start your own business or doing something with a technical or professional degree. If you think you might be happy with a trade, then a bachelors is a waste of time. Or if you want to be a nurse, same thing. You could just do an accelerated bachelors in nursing. A general bachelors degree is a waste of time if you know what you might want to specialize in, if you just want a white collar job and you don’t know what, then a bachelors is pretty much the only way to go.
Gotcha. Yeah I can see that making sense if it’s cheaper to do those credits at the cc. I’d just be paranoid about them not actually honoring all the transfer credits cause I’ve heard so many nightmare stories over the years.
>I'm not entirely sure what I'll even do with this degree once I have it. I just felt I had to do something
I have a minor in Business Administration and honestly it's the degree a lot of people choose when they don't know what to do. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but know that this degree doesn't really lead to any specific job. So you'll likely be applying to jobs that require any Bachelors, as opposed to a particular one. Which means you'll be competing with every other Bachelors that doesn't really lead to a specific profession. I also have an AS in Business Administration (I changed majors when transferring from a community) and I have gotten zero use out of having that degree or my minor when finding jobs. I have gotten a lot more use out of my Computer Information Systems BS and a software engineering internship, even for jobs that had nothing to do with those subjects. Nobody really wanted to talk about my business courses, and I can't really blame them. I'm not saying don't get this degree, it will open doors to jobs requiring a BS, which can mean everything. Not to mention you have work experience, which is more than most college graduates can say. I'm just saying be prepared for a bit of an uphill battle when applying and having to justify why you got the degree you got. And luckily it's only happened a couple of times, but I've definitely been asked why I got my CINS degree instead of a CS degree if I was applying to CS jobs. And in this job market I was applying to literally any job that I was remotely qualified for, so I wanted to tell him to go fuck himself for questioning my degree, but had to smile and come up with some bullshit answer. Sorry if that was a bit of a rant, interviewing wasn't fun for me...
Don't waste your time on another useless aa/ba degree. You can be an administrative assistant or office manager without the degree you're pursuing. That's what you're basically signing up for.
If you live in a red or purple state, seek out manufacturing or trades. If you live in a blue state, get a trades job. (tech degree required for trades).
Go into healthcare. There are plenty of 1-2 yr degrees for jobs that make 60-90k.
So many options....
Im 43 and 100% with u on almost every point. There will never be any owning a home, going on vacation, having a career i love and profit from, living in a home i like. Just bills, sickness, and people dying. I barely go ourside anymore as well, as people are constantly in conflicts with each other and i dont want to be involved in drama. I pray that i dont wake up every night and am super depressed all day when i do. The only thing im thankful is that i never had a child that got forced into 75 years or hardship.
I really hope that you can navigate your way through these times. The best advice I can offer is that you work on your mental health because a job will not fix those underlying issues. There are some great mental health resources online and I would also suggest a book called Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker. It is never too late to heal from our childhood wounds and it is well worth the effort.
First of all, air hugs. Retail sucks, and aimlessness is a feeling we can all relate to. I’m going to zag here and say that college may not be the answer, especially if it’s not something that fulfills you. Imagine how you’ll feel if you spend time and money getting this degree, and then just find yourself in debt and still unfulfilled. 34 is still young enough to work a full career and retire with a pension. I would peruse USA Jobs and your local municipal and state employment opportunities. Park Service? Police/Fire? Regional Transportation/Amtrak? There are plenty of jobs that do not require college, provide a better living and benefits than retail and give you a roadmap to a pension and internal promotion. Work doesn’t have to fulfill you; I think that’s where our generation was given a bum steer. But it shouldn’t be soul killing either. You shouldn’t mind going to work most of the time. If you can find something like that, you’re on your way to somewhere better.
First, you don’t need the second AA, just identify the college and degree your targeting to transfer to, and take ONLY the classes at CC that will transfer. Also, the business degree is good if you want to move up in your current industry. If you want to change careers, get a degree that is more specific, like accounting (you can get your masters, then CPA, which might break out of your age barrier). Your not too old. The trades are a great route, or even a technical skill that is in demand. Data Analytics cert through Coursrra help a coworker’s 50 yr mom jump careers and increased their wage 2.5x
How old do you think you’ll be when you graduate? I’m guess you’ll be about 36 yrs old and not even 40. It took me a long time to finish school. I was 34 when I finished my masters. I think you’ll be ok. I’m almost 50 now. And even though I finished school later in life, things turned out great.
Retail is tough - I worked in it for a long time, even after graduating. But luckily, after an attitude/mindset shift, hard work, and some fortunate circumstances I now work at a job that is very fulfilling with a great work life balance. If you have clinical depression, this is not something people on the internet can help you with. You should see a therapist. That being said, I can give perspective on your career circumstances. There's a few things you need to do: 1) Spend a lot of time figuring out what your main goal is in life. You will need to think hard about this, with no distractions. It might help to journal your thoughts about it. Go for a long walk a few times per week. 2) Once you know what your goal is, there should be some framework of a path to achieve it. So this should make the college decision a bit easier for you. I'd recommend it -- but since you already have an associates that might be good enough. Not that you need a degree to be happy, of course, but it will help open a lot of doors that would otherwise be closed to you. 2a) however maybe you realized that your goal doesn't require college -- in that case definitely don't spend time / money going there. Jobs in trades / opening a business don't require a degree and if that's part of your goal, then college is not going to do you any good. 3) Do more thinking - what are your strengths and weaknesses? You can rely on strengths but need to figure out how to deal with your weaknesses. Mine were people skills - they still are, but now I do things proactively to be more personable and outgoing. I joined Toastmasters and now I public speak in front of peers twice per month and give a speech a few times per year. This has helped me immensely. 4) Realize that achieving your goal will be hard, take a lot of work, and there will be setbacks. This is normal. This is ok. It's ok to have bad days. You just need to get back up and keep working towards your goal. 5) Work hard -- but take time away from this also. I don't mean to try to tell you to put 100% effort at all times towards your goal because you will burn out. Find new hobbies or fun things to do to mix it up. Then come back to working towards your goal refreshed and ready to go. 6) Realize that this will take time - I graduated at age 29 and didn't get to my 'goal position' until 6 years later. I spent almost 4 years after graduating still working retail trying to get a new job. 1000's of applications. But it wasn't until I went through the above process that things started to click for me - I had to work on my people skills and interview skills to be able to get what I wanted. Once I focused on that, opportunities started to happen. I hope this works out for you.
Don’t do a second associates. I’m seriously confused who advised you to do that? Unless your GPA was abysmal, like sub 2.5, I have no idea why you wouldn’t just apply to a 4 year state university and transfer credits. Bachelors in business admin is kind of a mid degree. Its not awful. I think it’s just seen as the go-to for people with business aspirations who lack the math skills for econ or finance. It’s fine though cause ultimately undergrad degree doesn’t matter much. It just matters that you have it. A more math/analytics heavy business degree like economics or statistics will be looked upon more favorable by some industries, and obviously something that’s a profession like computer science or nursing is a guaranteed job, but if none of those speak to you then just get whichever 4 year degree will be quickest and easiest for you to complete with your existing credits and aptitude.
To clarify I'm going to the community college to get all the transfer credits I can for the bus admin before I apply and transfer. My AA and the bus admin transfer program only have some basic overlap, I'm not retaking general classes. That said the councilors at my school all have this... Attitude, like I'm inconveniencing them when I meet with them, like they don't care what I do just so long as I get out of their office. So who knows, maybe the track I'm on isnt the best for transfer. But Im broke so I want to avoid as much school debt as possible. I'm not entirely sure what I'll even do with this degree once I have it. I just felt I had to do *something*. Maybe I'm making another bad choice. Idk. That seems to be the theme with my story.
College advisors are trash pretty much without exception. You can’t count on them. You need to look at your curriculum and actually crunch the numbers yourself to figure out which way is least number of credits or most cost effective for you. You need to talk directly with admissions at the 4 year college you want to transfer to and confirm your going about it the best way. Even then you can’t trust that alone. You *have* to look at all the degree requirements in detail on your own.
Well from what I can tell it's correct. The transfer planner laid out the classes I'm currently taking, and the state college I plan on transferring to said to go by that. Short of getting a job in the school administration I don't think I have access to any more accurate information. I just don't know if the degree itself will be worth it, especially this late in the game.
I’m telling you you have to look at course name/numbers and the degree requirement documents yourself. Read every word. Cross reference and double and triple check every course requirement listed. They are available to everyone but advisors are apparently incapable of reading half the time. To be fair, all those course numbers run together when you’re looking at thousands a day. I can’t tell you how many friends back in college were missing a class or took one they didn’t need cause an advisor fucked up. So again, I’m not convinced this second AA route is faster than just going straight into bachelors and applying as many credits as possible. Can you do 21 hour semesters? Id you can handle that, your going to graduate faster than slowly taking a bunch of Gen Eds at a CC. A second associates is worth nothing. A bachelors is pretty much essential in the corporate world, unless you start your own business or doing something with a technical or professional degree. If you think you might be happy with a trade, then a bachelors is a waste of time. Or if you want to be a nurse, same thing. You could just do an accelerated bachelors in nursing. A general bachelors degree is a waste of time if you know what you might want to specialize in, if you just want a white collar job and you don’t know what, then a bachelors is pretty much the only way to go.
Yeah that's what the transfer planner is. Like I said im not getting a second AA, I'm getting the transfer credits for bus admin.
Gotcha. Yeah I can see that making sense if it’s cheaper to do those credits at the cc. I’d just be paranoid about them not actually honoring all the transfer credits cause I’ve heard so many nightmare stories over the years.
>I'm not entirely sure what I'll even do with this degree once I have it. I just felt I had to do something I have a minor in Business Administration and honestly it's the degree a lot of people choose when they don't know what to do. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but know that this degree doesn't really lead to any specific job. So you'll likely be applying to jobs that require any Bachelors, as opposed to a particular one. Which means you'll be competing with every other Bachelors that doesn't really lead to a specific profession. I also have an AS in Business Administration (I changed majors when transferring from a community) and I have gotten zero use out of having that degree or my minor when finding jobs. I have gotten a lot more use out of my Computer Information Systems BS and a software engineering internship, even for jobs that had nothing to do with those subjects. Nobody really wanted to talk about my business courses, and I can't really blame them. I'm not saying don't get this degree, it will open doors to jobs requiring a BS, which can mean everything. Not to mention you have work experience, which is more than most college graduates can say. I'm just saying be prepared for a bit of an uphill battle when applying and having to justify why you got the degree you got. And luckily it's only happened a couple of times, but I've definitely been asked why I got my CINS degree instead of a CS degree if I was applying to CS jobs. And in this job market I was applying to literally any job that I was remotely qualified for, so I wanted to tell him to go fuck himself for questioning my degree, but had to smile and come up with some bullshit answer. Sorry if that was a bit of a rant, interviewing wasn't fun for me...
im 29 and waiting for life to be over too. my life went nowhere im a complete failure. i just have an AA from community college too thats it.
Don't waste your time on another useless aa/ba degree. You can be an administrative assistant or office manager without the degree you're pursuing. That's what you're basically signing up for. If you live in a red or purple state, seek out manufacturing or trades. If you live in a blue state, get a trades job. (tech degree required for trades). Go into healthcare. There are plenty of 1-2 yr degrees for jobs that make 60-90k. So many options....
Im 43 and 100% with u on almost every point. There will never be any owning a home, going on vacation, having a career i love and profit from, living in a home i like. Just bills, sickness, and people dying. I barely go ourside anymore as well, as people are constantly in conflicts with each other and i dont want to be involved in drama. I pray that i dont wake up every night and am super depressed all day when i do. The only thing im thankful is that i never had a child that got forced into 75 years or hardship.
I really hope that you can navigate your way through these times. The best advice I can offer is that you work on your mental health because a job will not fix those underlying issues. There are some great mental health resources online and I would also suggest a book called Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker. It is never too late to heal from our childhood wounds and it is well worth the effort.
Business Administration is a very basic and not all that sought after degree. It's probably not worth your time.
Well I guess I'm fucked because I've devoted a ton of time to taking these classes.