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Background: I've been living out of the US for 10 years and teaching in Thailand. The country is kind of a mess right now, and I think I have to find a way back, but gainful employment is going to be a major uphill battle. One option may be going back to school for a masters or even Ph.D. study in order to make a fresh start and get back into the system, even if it means loans and several years of misery. I have 10 years of EFL high school teaching, 6 years of teaching high school physics to bilingual students, and 3 years of teaching junior high level math but am not certified to teach in any state. Also, I have a masters in TEFL and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering that was achieved more than 10 years ago and I'm assuming is more or less useless now. I worked as an assistant engineer for six months at one point. My GRE scores are really solid - 166 verbal, 167 math, 5 essay. The problem is I'm not really sure what to study or even if I should. I've been out of the loop for so long that I don't even know what options there are as far as degrees offered and even what sorts of programs I'd be considered for. So far, I have looked into education (which seems to be poorly funded) and math/science related stuff (which require many more undergraduate courses than I had in these areas). Engineering programs are not likely to be impressed with a complete 10 year absence from the field. Searching around is fine but also daunting. I'm open to any and all suggestions that might turn up something I hadn't even been aware existed. Help me brainstorm, goons. Just throw it out there.
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Oct 14, 2016 09:51
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I'll throw this out there: Unless you are absolutely passionate about a certain academic area (or, more specifically, an idea or way of thinking within that academic area), you will very likely not succeed in a Ph.D. program. That's no slight against your readiness or your academic preparation or intellect - it's just that doctoral programs are for people who eat, sleep, breathe and live the area they are studying. There's no way one can maintain the level of interest and intensity required for doctoral-level study and research unless you're completely bananas about a given topic (and even then, after a few years of studying it, you'll be ready to blow your brains out with frustration). If you don't know exactly what you want to do, I'd advise strongly against doctoral programs (besides, admissions committees will immediately sense that you're not fully committed, or even get the vibe that you're a dilettante.) A Master's degree in education, or any health-sciences related field, is a great investment in my opinion. Quick (2+ years, at least in the US), relatively inexpensive at most locations (again, at least here in the US) and has a pretty good ROI.
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Oct 14, 2016 12:46
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Maybe you should consider looking at professional positions in development agencies like USAID. It seems like you have the experience necessary to become a training specialist, program manager, or another office position with that group. I think going back to school without a clear goal at the end is a bad idea. I went to school assuming I would fall in love with my subject and that passion never manifested and I wound up loathing my work and my activities. If you have a ton of experience (and a degree) in TEFL, why not transition into the support side of that industry? What path I would suggest is signing up for Peace Corps (you'd be a shoe-in), further developing your network in that capacity, and then using the Non-competitive elgibility and other privileges to redefine your career path after your service. You'd spend the same amount of time as you would in grad school getting a masters (probably) and get more relevant contacts for your field. This is all assuming you want to stay in a position like TEFL but just not teaching directly.
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Oct 14, 2016 16:18
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Embrocation posted:I'll throw this out there: Unless you are absolutely passionate about a certain academic area (or, more specifically, an idea or way of thinking within that academic area), you will very likely not succeed in a Ph.D. program. That's no slight against your readiness or your academic preparation or intellect - it's just that doctoral programs are for people who eat, sleep, breathe and live the area they are studying. One aspect of this I've always been a little confused about is how you could possibly know that you'd really enjoy and be passionate about a particular area of research before actually having any experience doing that research. I'm a programmer for a web tool used by geneticists and am considering going to graduate school for bioinformatics because I find the field really interesting and it's probably the best fit to my current skill-set without having to spend a ton of money and time going back to school, but I don't really understand what research is like (I've asked the post-docs and graduate students in my department and they always give really vague answers). I also don't have any strong preference for a particular area of research. My lab deals mostly with recombinant inbred set mice, which is really cool, but how am I supposed to know if I'd find, say, human or plant research more interesting?
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Oct 14, 2016 17:45
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Do you have access to journals or something like that where you can read up about that stuff?
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Oct 14, 2016 19:33
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Embrocation posted:I'll throw this out there: Unless you are absolutely passionate about a certain academic area (or, more specifically, an idea or way of thinking within that academic area), you will very likely not succeed in a Ph.D. program. That's no slight against your readiness or your academic preparation or intellect - it's just that doctoral programs are for people who eat, sleep, breathe and live the area they are studying. There's no way one can maintain the level of interest and intensity required for doctoral-level study and research unless you're completely bananas about a given topic (and even then, after a few years of studying it, you'll be ready to blow your brains out with frustration). If you don't know exactly what you want to do, I'd advise strongly against doctoral programs (besides, admissions committees will immediately sense that you're not fully committed, or even get the vibe that you're a dilettante.) Good points, and I agree about the Ph.D. I absolutely love studying, reading, and writing, but haven't fallen in love enough with any specific subject to feel confident about seeing a doctorate to completion. Very true. Masters in education is what I'm leaning towards. Thinking about Teach for America, which gives you a salary to live on and lets you study for it on the weekend. Anyone with experience doing this? I've heard a lot of good things and also a lot of bad things from others who have joined. Has anyone here transitioned from an engineering degree to either science or math teaching? I'm guessing probably not, but it's worth asking at least. N. Senada posted:Maybe you should consider looking at professional positions in development agencies like USAID. It seems like you have the experience necessary to become a training specialist, program manager, or another office position with that group. I think going back to school without a clear goal at the end is a bad idea. I went to school assuming I would fall in love with my subject and that passion never manifested and I wound up loathing my work and my activities. If you have a ton of experience (and a degree) in TEFL, why not transition into the support side of that industry? I'll look up some stuff about USAID. I did join Peace Corps once in the past but they placed me where I wasn't really interested in going, so I just went and did my own thing. Plus, I want to get back to living in the states rather than being sent abroad again. The contacts would have helped, perhaps, but the other people I know who went through the program are still teaching abroad--they couldn't transition it into something more substantial back home. Great thoughts and ideas. Please keep them coming! Or, any other discussion on how to choose the right subject for grad school is welcome.
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Oct 15, 2016 07:10
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Teach For America is incredibly competitive. Don't count on being able to get in.
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Oct 15, 2016 15:39
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People that need to ask this question shouldn't go to grad school, op. Better luck next time.Embrocation posted:A Master's degree in education, or any health-sciences related field, is a great investment in my opinion. Quick (2+ years, at least in the US), relatively inexpensive at most locations (again, at least here in the US) and has a pretty good ROI. Most masters programs have terrible returns on investment, education included.
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Oct 15, 2016 19:28
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TROIKA CURES GREEK posted:People that need to ask this question shouldn't go to grad school, op. Better luck next time. I'm not aware of any official numbers but every health- or education- related professional I know licensed at the Master's level (a high school teacher, a grade-school teacher, several licensed mental health clinicians, a couple of nurses) are doing just fine. Admittedly there is debt, but it's a manageable expense - after all, we're talking two years; most of these people paid in-state tuition at state schools and I can't imagine any came out with a debt load of more than 20k. Besides, just how are you going to do any of these things with a bachelor's? I mean, I guess you could teach, but I'd imagine your career advancement prospects would be pretty limited. And how else is the OP going to get information on grad schools? It will just come to him or her in a dream? What's wrong with asking these questions?
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Oct 15, 2016 20:35
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Embrocation posted:I'm not aware of any official numbers but every health- or education- related professional I know licensed at the Master's level (a high school teacher, a grade-school teacher, several licensed mental health clinicians, a couple of nurses) are doing just fine. Admittedly there is debt, but it's a manageable expense - after all, we're talking two years; most of these people paid in-state tuition at state schools and I can't imagine any came out with a debt load of more than 20k. There's ways of asking a question that reveal you're thinking of things the wrong way, and "tell me what I should study in grad school" is one of them. It's kind of like saying "what surgery should I get? I'm thinking of having my appendix out or maybe just going in for a root canal, what do you think?"
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Oct 15, 2016 20:47
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Jeb Bush 2012 posted:There's ways of asking a question that reveal you're thinking of things the wrong way, and "tell me what I should study in grad school" is one of them. But it's not like that at all, really. I have a Master's in one field, and then decided I didn't want to stay in that field, so I switched professions and got a Master's in another field, decided I wanted to go further, and got my doctorate. It's not some irrevocable thing that means you can't do something else and you're screwed if you discover that the degree you obtained wasn't your cup of tea. The cost to me for the first degree was minimal as my company paid for it. It's a degree, for crying out loud. I've already stated that the OP probably isn't fit for doctoral-level study if he doesn't know what he wants to do, but a Master's program or some other post-Bachelor's degree short of a doctorate isn't really that big of a deal. I get the impression that OP is just seeking information, not "tell me what to think."
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Oct 15, 2016 21:01
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Embrocation posted:But it's not like that at all, really. I have a Master's in one field, and then decided I didn't want to stay in that field, so I switched professions and got a Master's in another field, decided I wanted to go further, and got my doctorate. It's not some irrevocable thing that means you can't do something else and you're screwed if you discover that the degree you obtained wasn't your cup of tea. The cost to me for the first degree was minimal as my company paid for it. It's great that your company paid for your degree but it is loving insane to pretend that getting a master's is no big deal. If you're not having it paid for, it's tens of thousands of dollars and a year or two of work for something that in many cases will not advance your career at all. Getting a BA often makes sense even if you don't really know what you want to do or why you're doing it, because most BA-required or preferred jobs don't actually care very much what your degree is in. That is not true for graduate degrees.
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Oct 15, 2016 21:09
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Jeb Bush 2012 posted:It's great that your company paid for your degree but it is loving insane to pretend that getting a master's is no big deal. If you're not having it paid for, it's tens of thousands of dollars and a year or two of work for something that in many cases will not advance your career at all. I wrote: I'm not aware of any official numbers but every health- or education- related professional I know licensed at the Master's level (a high school teacher, a grade-school teacher, several licensed mental health clinicians, a couple of nurses) are doing just fine Yes, many MA degrees are useless. The applied ones in teaching, healthcare, etc., not so much.
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Oct 15, 2016 21:20
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Embrocation posted:I wrote: Your data is basically worthless (it's anecdotal data about a handful of unrelated fields you've mushed together), and also isn't actually relevant to my point. I didn't say a Master's is never the correct decision, but getting one because you think "oh I should go to grad school" is not a good idea. It's also not something where "eh, just do it, no big deal" is a good attitude. And plenty of "applied" masters are a bad idea! It's very common for schools to offer a Master's in fields where either a Master's does not help you, or where the number of jobs is tiny, or both.
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Oct 15, 2016 21:39
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The purpose of a master's degree program is first and foremost to generate revenue for the program that offers it. That doesn't mean that master's degrees aren't useful, but that they don't really exist to serve the interests of students.
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Oct 15, 2016 21:45
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Jeb Bush 2012 posted:Your data is basically worthless (it's anecdotal data about a handful of unrelated fields you've mushed together), and also isn't actually relevant to my point. I didn't present this as "data," (but thanks for pointing out that my whatever I have to offer is "worthless") - in fact, I specifically stated that I wasn't by writing that I wasn't aware of any statistics. But hey, if you want to win this, I'll readily concede that you're the winner of this Internet Argument about.... well, whatever it is that we're in disagreement about, because I'm not exactly sure what it is (you haven't exactly presented any "data" either)... I think it has something to do with whether OP should pursue a Master's degree or something? You say no, I say... maybe? Depends? Keep asking questions? I'm not really sure what you're trying to say... that unless you know what you want to go to grad school for, it's silly to even ask what you want to go to grad school for?
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Oct 16, 2016 01:22
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ultrafilter posted:The purpose of a master's degree program is first and foremost to generate revenue for the program that offers it. That doesn't mean that master's degrees aren't useful, but that they don't really exist to serve the interests of students. Perhaps unfortunately, this can be said of any academic degree program, from bachelor's level on up.
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Oct 16, 2016 01:32
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itstime4lunch posted:Also, I have a masters in TEFL and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering that was achieved more than 10 years ago and I'm assuming is more or less useless now. I'm not sure this would be useless. Alternatively, computer science/software development? It's relatively easy to get into
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Oct 16, 2016 07:44
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MEd that includes an ability for you to get a secondary ed cert for math. Two years of teaching experience and then choose to stay and build years for a pension or go back overseas to work at international schools. States have rules for what classes you need to get certified and you may have to expect to do three years of school to clear those. Also schools will generally not pay you at the Masters rate until a handful of years have passed so you'll start out with grad school debt and a pretty scanty salary. Some of your loans would be forgiven if you did five years in needy schools but this is often not worth the negatives of working in those schools. It's hard to suggest things for you. In the years since your BA probably the only new trend has been an increase in "data science" as a buzz word but with a ten year gap from your EE degree I think you'd probably be relearning everything from calculus up. You will also likely have to retake the GRE. Scores older than five years are often not accepted. Do you know where you're going to be? If you go to the schools in that area and click into departmental sites they often advertise new programs or specializations they are offering. raton fucked around with this message at 10:38 on Oct 16, 2016 |
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Oct 16, 2016 10:32
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Doghouse posted:I'm not sure this would be useless. Yeah, I was reading some thread on these forums about that. OP, this would be something to check out. I'll try to find the thread I was looking at and link it back here, but the gist (someone correct me if I'm wrong) is that you can take these concentrated course loads where you learn while working on your own projects. Then, you use those projects to fill out your portfolio and advertise for a job. It's definitely cheaper than grad school.
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Oct 16, 2016 14:22
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You are probably looking for an M.Ed, and if you still want to teach English, then you need to find a school with a TESOL or Applied Linguistics program inside their Masters of Education. If you are thinking of a complete career change, and are willing to take out loans (bad idea), I would probably go to a cheap no-name school and do a Masters in Computer Science or similar. On TFA: TFA is a cool experience, though it can be pretty soul crushing: (living on a stipend, working 40+ hours a week, stupid dress codes, and attending school at night, and possibly food stamps) Especially if you are an adult and have experienced real work and a salary before. An M.Ed is not that great of a return on investment if you can't get it for cheap, or don't have a plan. In your situation I would return to the states, and work and really think about going to graduate and make sure it was worth it to you. If teaching English in a foreign land is something you want to do forever, and you don't mind being in countries like Thailand, then don't bother. Debt isn't worth it, and Graduate Schools of Education are huge cash cows for universities, so think hard. A phD in Applied Linguistics, is probably not at all what you are looking for.
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Oct 16, 2016 14:54
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Just FYI, there's a Grad School apps thread and a general academia thread that may or may not be useful, depending on what fields you're looking at.
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Oct 16, 2016 19:16
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I did lots of grad school and came out of it with a PhD and nothing else, so I strongly advise you not to do grad school unless you have a clear achievable goal and/or a lot of disposable income. Seriously, don't do it unless you're either guaranteed a job when you finish or very very very passionate about what you want to study. And when I say very very very passionate, I mean you'd turn down sex or a relationship with whichever person you consider your A1 sexual fantasy to study your chosen subject more.
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Oct 16, 2016 23:07
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lemonslol posted:You are probably looking for an M.Ed, and if you still want to teach English, then you need to find a school with a TESOL or Applied Linguistics program inside their Masters of Education. If you are thinking of a complete career change, and are willing to take out loans (bad idea), I would probably go to a cheap no-name school and do a Masters in Computer Science or similar. On TFA: TFA is a cool experience, though it can be pretty soul crushing: (living on a stipend, working 40+ hours a week, stupid dress codes, and attending school at night, and possibly food stamps) Especially if you are an adult and have experienced real work and a salary before. An M.Ed is not that great of a return on investment if you can't get it for cheap, or don't have a plan. MA with a TESOL / Applied Ling cert is basically worthless unless he's interested in doing TEFL classes in public schools in the US. It's almost impossible to get permanent or worthwhile employment at a college or university (even a community college) with just a MA. If he's interested in teaching and going abroad on it he would be better served in getting a certification in math or science and experience in a public school system here and apply to International Schools -- math or science teachers are much more heavily in demand abroad than certified English teachers because so many people figure they'll keep doing English teaching on their return to the states and those people are carpet bombing International Schools all the time with applications. Also schools that are willing to fudge on requirements don't have issues finding someone locally that can teach English, they do have issues finding someone that can teach math or science. A PhD in Applied Ling makes him qualified nominally for university level work but there is very stiff competition for those jobs in desirable countries and the treatment of their hires is often worse and the pay worse than what is seen at international schools. In any case MA (or even MEd) in Applied Linguistics is almost always the worst possible choice. raton fucked around with this message at 08:31 on Oct 17, 2016 |
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Oct 17, 2016 08:29
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ultrafilter posted:Teach For America is incredibly competitive. Don't count on being able to get in. I did get this impression from applying. Do you have a link to where I could get some statistics? I would hope that already having 6,000+ classroom hours plus a long history of working with students from lower income levels would give some kind of leg up, but who knows? TROIKA CURES GREEK posted:People that need to ask this question shouldn't go to grad school, op. Better luck next time. Normally, I'd agree with you, but it's quite a difficult situation. My work experience is going to mean close to nothing when looking for jobs in the US, which means I'll probably be stuck on a series of part-time or temporary positions with little hope of advancement. I wanted to know if there were any masters degrees available for career changers which usually led to better employment opportunities that I might be eligible to enroll in. If there aren't, there aren't. Jeb Bush 2012 posted:There's ways of asking a question that reveal you're thinking of things the wrong way, and "tell me what I should study in grad school" is one of them. The thread title is a bit facetious and I thought it would at least attract people to the thread. I do have some ideas about what areas I'm interested in / somewhat qualified for but wanted to know if there were others I hadn't yet considered. I'm not going to enroll in a program unless it looks incredibly interesting and moderately useful--especially when debt is involved. Doghouse posted:I'm not sure this would be useless. You're not? I've been out of the field for ten years, plus, isn't there a shelf-life on undergraduate degrees without work experience--something like 5 years or so? Do you have any evidence to the contrary? Is programming actually easy to get into? I do have some programming experience dating back all the way to high school. Sheep-Goats posted:MEd that includes an ability for you to get a secondary ed cert for math. Two years of teaching experience and then choose to stay and build years for a pension or go back overseas to work at international schools. States have rules for what classes you need to get certified and you may have to expect to do three years of school to clear those. Also schools will generally not pay you at the Masters rate until a handful of years have passed so you'll start out with grad school debt and a pretty scanty salary. Some of your loans would be forgiven if you did five years in needy schools but this is often not worth the negatives of working in those schools. Thank you so much for the astute and on-point advice. I seem to remember that you have some kind of experience in SE Asia as well? This would be ideal, I think. I'm currently getting my undergrad transcript evaluated for physics and math teaching, and the graduate advisor will let me know what courses I would need to make up. Did you do something like this? My GRE scores are from last month, so at least that is not a problem. lemonslol posted:You are probably looking for an M.Ed, and if you still want to teach English, then you need to find a school with a TESOL or Applied Linguistics program inside their Masters of Education. If you are thinking of a complete career change, and are willing to take out loans (bad idea), I would probably go to a cheap no-name school and do a Masters in Computer Science or similar. On TFA: TFA is a cool experience, though it can be pretty soul crushing: (living on a stipend, working 40+ hours a week, stupid dress codes, and attending school at night, and possibly food stamps) Especially if you are an adult and have experienced real work and a salary before. An M.Ed is not that great of a return on investment if you can't get it for cheap, or don't have a plan. Also good advice. I was thinking more math or physics teaching rather than trying to get into ESL, since they seem more in demand back in the US (and other places as well) even though it is going to be more work to get licensed. ESL looks like bottom of the barrel as far as subject teaching is concerned, but I could be wrong about that. It looked like TFA salaries are actually not all that bad. How recent is your information? It does look like a lot of work and often in schools with a lot of problems, but it gives you both full-time classroom experience and a way to earn your degree/certification at the same time. Did you do it, or was it people you knew? If I went to the states tomorrow, I'm expecting it would take quite a while to get employed, and I'm not sure any jobs I'd be able to get with my current qualifications would get me closer to work that would qualify as a real career, probably wouldn't allow me to save money, and could very well just end up being a waste of time. It's currently application season for programs starting in fall 2017, so it might be worth applying to a few just to see how it goes and what options there might be for the future. I do appreciate your comments. dirby posted:Just FYI, there's a Grad School apps thread and a general academia thread that may or may not be useful, depending on what fields you're looking at. I've been slowly wading through this one. Thanks. itstime4lunch fucked around with this message at 09:23 on Oct 17, 2016 |
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Oct 17, 2016 09:17
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ALL-PRO SEXMAN posted:very very very passionate about what you want to study. And when I say very very very passionate, I mean you'd turn down sex or a relationship with whichever person you consider your A1 sexual fantasy to study your chosen subject more.
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Oct 17, 2016 09:35
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Does anyone know anything about or have experience with computational linguistics or natural language processing?
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Oct 18, 2016 07:01
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Hey I'm an undergrad trying to get into a masters program for cs, specifically for machine learning. This is anecdotal evidence for schools that I have looked at, but all of the programs want courses like -single and multi variable calculus -linear algebra -statistics and probability -algorithms and data structures Along with X amount of credits from other cs courses. These are the most common classes on the lists and of course it depends on the school. I hope it can help a little though! Xun fucked around with this message at 09:51 on Oct 18, 2016 |
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Oct 18, 2016 09:45
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I taught EFL in Thailand for around two years and have waffled around in various lines of work since. I do not have a long term interest in teaching any more -- in general I no longer want anything to do with a job where I'm not working primarily with peers rather rather than subordinates, but if I did I would go the route I suggested all of the time. When I lived in NYC I applied to their local equivalent of teach for America and honestly I don't think they considered me at all. Many of those programs do not actually want capable teachers, they want people who will teach there for two years and then go on to something else with sympathy for teaching, it's a long term form of advertising. I believe their term is "future community leaders." The schools they place you in are so awful though that it may be better to just take on debt and get a normal job anyway. If you're interested in staying in the US there may be residency issues with schooling you need to contend with. Be sure to contact the registrar at any schools you're interested in now as to what you would need to qualify as in state. Schools often have their own absurd and arbitrary requirements beyond what the state actually requires for residency. I would also suggest you read "The Global Expatriate's Guide to Investing or another similar work so you can plan for retirement. At your probable age it's a pressing concern. raton fucked around with this message at 10:30 on Oct 18, 2016 |
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Oct 18, 2016 10:27
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Sheep-Goats posted:I taught EFL in Thailand for around two years and have waffled around in various lines of work since. I do not have a long term interest in teaching any more -- in general I no longer want anything to do with a job where I'm not working primarily with peers rather rather than subordinates, but if I did I would go the route I suggested all of the time. I will check on residency with the schools in my area. That was a concern that had crossed my mind As far as going the certified teacher route, do you happen to know if it's possible to make up some of those undergrad classes online rather than at the institution I'll eventually be enrolling at for the masters? It seems a little silly to have to take college algebra when I already have up through calc III covered, but apparently that is a requirement for math licensure in the state. To be honest, you should be able to test out of some of these things, but bureaucracy is what it is. TEFL is a really tough skillset to sell back home. I knew that going into it, but I wasn't planning to come home. I was going to turn it into a career. Then I got stuck in one place because everyone said they loved me and the school kept giving me raises and leadership opportunities. Next thing you know, 10 years are gone, a military coup comes along, and foreigners are the enemy--especially ones in the public schools. I don't think I have the stomach to go through it all again in another country. Retirement is slowly creeping up, plus just having basic legal rights and such. I do think another degree is the only way forward.
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Oct 18, 2016 11:54
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itstime4lunch posted:I will check on residency with the schools in my area. That was a concern that had crossed my mind As far as going the certified teacher route, do you happen to know if it's possible to make up some of those undergrad classes online rather than at the institution I'll eventually be enrolling at for the masters? It seems a little silly to have to take college algebra when I already have up through calc III covered, but apparently that is a requirement for math licensure in the state. To be honest, you should be able to test out of some of these things, but bureaucracy is what it is. This may vary by state quite a bit but in general you should not expect to have to take Calc again if you can test out of it. However there are classes like "How to teach geometry to high school aged students" or "how to teach algebra to high school aged students" that you will probably have to take because those are required by the state. If you end up in an MEd program a lot of your fellow students will have done all of that bullshit as undergrads and already be working as teachers. You'll have to clear at least some of those plus Masters coursework. Additionally you should probably start working as a substitute teacher in your district once you settle on a school. The pay is atrocious but it can help a lot with connections. If you're capable of teaching math and science you will be in strong demand once the math and science teachers find out about you because most subs are deranged grannies who have some liberal arts degree and can't give you an equation for a line. Many districts have a rule where if you clear enough hours as a sub they have to consider you for hire ahead of the rest of the pack in that district once you are certified and in competitive districts (which is everywhere you'd want to live anyway) it might be your only hope of getting in even as a math teacher. Hiring for subs is basically automatic if you have a degree and can clear a background check. I would suggest you contact the education department at the schools you're interested in to clarify exactly what classes you will need to get your certification and clear your degree. Contact the secretary for the department (generally this is the person who gets emails if you send something to mathed@gently caress.u) tell them you're probably going to be an in incoming student and would like to get an idea of the courses you need for your situation. Mention your ten years of TEFL and have a scan of your transcript ready to send to them if they ask. Be sure you have gathered recommendations from your school in Thailand before you come back. Get written ones now that you can distribute to those who will accept them and email addresses for those that want something fresher (along with phone numbers for HR forms). In general they will take the written ones because they don't want to deal with international calls and time zone issues. Of course when you are subbing you should go out of your way to make connections with the teachers you are working for -- go back to the class the next day they are there to say hello so they can put a face to the report you left on their desk. It's your best chance (along with professors) to reconnect to the world in an employment sense. If you intend to stay in the US until retirement it's super critical that your compare teacher pensions in states you are interested in working in. This is very difficult to do but Google "My State teacher pension" and see if there is any bad recent news. I would never consider being a teacher in NY for example because they gutted their pension system and many states are on the brink of doing the same. This is a huge problem as most teachers earn something like 1.5MM in their career but get a pension that if cashed out would be worth ~2MM in financial security. Newer pension plans are sometimes worth less than a fourth of that and of course states didn't up the salary payouts anywhere near to the point that that would be compensated for. Also maybe pm Genesplicer, GBS mod and high school science teacher, and search out other school teachers on the forum as well. E: Two other notes: 1) if you decide to expatriate again you will not have a pension fund to access and should expect to have to save around 20k a year over 20 or so years to build something similar. The best international schools will strongly desire you to be certified for multiple grade levels, this means for high school and elementary school in the US. The classes required for elementary school certification are almost all completely different from the high school ones. Being a teacher of an in demand subject may get you past that hurdle but maybe not. 2) You absolutely can be a TEFL teacher in public schools in the US, the main problem being that schools with desperate need of TEFL teachers are generally schools in bad parts of town with shittier student populations. Your math cert should let you out of Knifesberg after a few years, should you want to go, your ESL cert will keep you employed but also potentially keep you in a place where your car gets broken into in the lot and there are metal detectors on the doors. Additionally there are more likely to be TEFL subject courses they require you to take (linguistics stuff) since you don't have anything like that on your US transcript (never mind your ten years of recent full time field experience and that you're probably a better EFL teacher overall than your professors are). raton fucked around with this message at 17:31 on Oct 18, 2016 |
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Oct 18, 2016 17:24
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Come back when you have two years of unsuccessful job market hell.
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Oct 18, 2016 17:30
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Cyrano4747 posted:Come back when you have two years of unsuccessful job market hell.
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Oct 18, 2016 18:30
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Cyrano4747 posted:Come back when you have two years of unsuccessful job market hell. Hello there.
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Oct 19, 2016 00:35
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Get a JD, the US always needs more lawyers.
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Oct 19, 2016 06:09
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itstime4lunch posted:The thread title is a bit facetious and I thought it would at least attract people to the thread. I do have some ideas about what areas I'm interested in / somewhat qualified for but wanted to know if there were others I hadn't yet considered. I'm not going to enroll in a program unless it looks incredibly interesting and moderately useful--especially when debt is involved. I think you're missing the point. Stuff like this itstime4lunch posted:Does anyone know anything about or have experience with computational linguistics or natural language processing? makes it clear you've decided to go to grad school and then want to decide what kind of grad school to go to. Which is not a good way to be thinking about things! Going to grad school is a bad idea more often than not, and if you do it it should be because there is a specific thing you want to do, not because you decided you wanted to go to grad school and it seemed like the best of the grad school options.
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Oct 19, 2016 06:21
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Sheep-Goats posted:This may vary by state quite a bit but in general you should not expect to have to take Calc again if you can test out of it. However there are classes like "How to teach geometry to high school aged students" or "how to teach algebra to high school aged students" that you will probably have to take because those are required by the state. If you end up in an MEd program a lot of your fellow students will have done all of that bullshit as undergrads and already be working as teachers. You'll have to clear at least some of those plus Masters coursework. You've been an invaluable resource, and I want to thank you for taking so much time to write advice on the internet for someone you've never even met before. This kind of information is exactly why I made the thread, but I wasn't sure what the chances are that someone with so much guidance to offer would respond. I'll definitely go with math teaching as plan A, perhaps subsidized by ESL and substitute teaching plus some online freelance stuff I have going on and will look more into computational linguistics, which is very much a field of study that fascinates me and is closely related to several research papers I wrote during my masters study. Perhaps spend the next year reading up on the field and then apply sometime down the line in case the teaching career is not planning out. Thank you again for your observations, and please feel free to add anything else if it comes to you. I'll look into the things that you have mentioned. Jeb Bush 2012 posted:I think you're missing the point. Stuff like this All right. I expected to get a lot of responses like this, and I'm not going to argue, because it won't do any good. Yes, grad school is a serious undertaking and leaves many people in debt or floundering around for many years because they haven't thought it through enough, but this idea that people automatically are aware of all the fields available in the world through osmosis, or that they should find exactly what they want to do without searching and asking questions is also a little frustrating. Whether or not I apply to grad school soon or sometime later in the future, it's probably going to be a necessity to have any sort of chance for a career. We've gone over how little bringing TEFL back to the states can do for you. I get that many people have had bad experiences in higher education and that the US is chalk-full of over-educated, under-employed people, but learning about what options are available can't be a bad thing.
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Oct 19, 2016 07:58
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I think the idea is more if you want to go to grad school you should be able to put in the research to find a program that matches your interests instead of picking ones that are "easy to get into" because all you know is that you want a masters.
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Oct 19, 2016 11:23
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Jeb Bush 2012 posted:Going to grad school is a bad idea more often than not our lives suck so bad that we want to prevent anyone else from making the same mistake we did, unless you're just as obsessed as we are
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Oct 19, 2016 11:49
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itstime4lunch posted:All right. I expected to get a lot of responses like this, and I'm not going to argue, because it won't do any good. Yes, grad school is a serious undertaking and leaves many people in debt or floundering around for many years because they haven't thought it through enough, but this idea that people automatically are aware of all the fields available in the world through osmosis, or that they should find exactly what they want to do without searching and asking questions is also a little frustrating. Whether or not I apply to grad school soon or sometime later in the future, it's probably going to be a necessity to have any sort of chance for a career. We've gone over how little bringing TEFL back to the states can do for you. I get that many people have had bad experiences in higher education and that the US is chalk-full of over-educated, under-employed people, but learning about what options are available can't be a bad thing. You're still missing the point. It's not that you should be "aware of all the fields available in the world through osmosis", it's that it's absolutely ludicrous to come to the conclusion that going to grad school is the correct decision if your idea about what that means is so vague that you're saying "maybe I'll get a master's degree in one of a dozen unrelated fields, or a phd, or who knows?". The vast majority of careers do not require a graduate degree. Most graduate degrees do not point towards a viable career, and those that do still mean a large investment in taking a specific direction that you might find out you don't care for. It's not like a bachelor's, where having one automatically gives you a leg up in a wide variety of potential careers.
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Oct 19, 2016 18:22
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