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I have a quandary (school, career, life).
DaftChris
Spiritually conflicted. Not of this world. Veteran
As some of you may know, I'm currently in college. I only have one more year of undergrad before I go off for Grad school.
As some of you may also know, I want to be a Chaplain. I've also considered working for religious and/or secular institutions as a Social Worker of sorts. As I go to a Unitarian Universalist church, there is a UU seminary which offers degrees that can cater to either of these career paths. In fact, the Masters of Social Change can allow me to work as a Chaplain or for non-profit organizations. This is the site for the seminary. http://www.sksm.edu/
I'm leaning more towards the path of Chaplaincy and I've considered being one for the military. It truly is a calling that I'm feeling. To be a Chaplain, I need an appropriate Masters degree, and CPE training. To be one for the military, I go through the appropriate training and will more than likely be enlisted as an officer.
To get the Masters, I would have to move to go to the Grad school I want to go to (I live in Georgia and there are no UU or universalist-leaning seminaries or colleges in my state). This is not cheap and will cause me to go further into debt. However, this is a path which I feel a strong calling for, so I'm willing to go a few more tens of thousands of dollars into debt to make it happen.
However, when speaking to my Dad (who is former military) about it, he suggested this: after I earn my 4 year degree (which is in Psychology, by the way), I could enroll in the military as a soldier. From there, I could work as a Chaplain's assistant and go to Grad school under the GI bill and other military scholarships. That way, the military could help me pay for Grad school, and I would be making actual money by working for the military for a few years. The school I really want to go to is in Berkeley and there is a military base near San Francisco (I know I don't have much say in where I go, but for school I think they give a little leeway). It also doesn't hurt that I want to be a military Chaplain anyway; I would just be enrolling a bit earlier.
After thinking about it, this could help me in the long run. I won't go into as much debt if I were to just go to Grad school on my own and I would already have my foot in the military. However, joining the military as an enlisted soldier is not a decision to take lightly. It will be a huge change in my life and I will have to change for them. Not the other way around. I will also have to uproot myself from what I'm most comfortable with and be in a completely different world than what I would be used to. I would be separate from family, friends and I would have to sever a few relationships. There are some people I know who put soldiers on the same level as murderers and hold the same amount of contempt for them.
What do you think? Could joining the military after undergrad help me in the long run when it comes to grad school? Or would it just be better to go into heavy debt on my own and enlist as an officer when I earn my Masters and CPE training?
As some of you may also know, I want to be a Chaplain. I've also considered working for religious and/or secular institutions as a Social Worker of sorts. As I go to a Unitarian Universalist church, there is a UU seminary which offers degrees that can cater to either of these career paths. In fact, the Masters of Social Change can allow me to work as a Chaplain or for non-profit organizations. This is the site for the seminary. http://www.sksm.edu/
I'm leaning more towards the path of Chaplaincy and I've considered being one for the military. It truly is a calling that I'm feeling. To be a Chaplain, I need an appropriate Masters degree, and CPE training. To be one for the military, I go through the appropriate training and will more than likely be enlisted as an officer.
To get the Masters, I would have to move to go to the Grad school I want to go to (I live in Georgia and there are no UU or universalist-leaning seminaries or colleges in my state). This is not cheap and will cause me to go further into debt. However, this is a path which I feel a strong calling for, so I'm willing to go a few more tens of thousands of dollars into debt to make it happen.
However, when speaking to my Dad (who is former military) about it, he suggested this: after I earn my 4 year degree (which is in Psychology, by the way), I could enroll in the military as a soldier. From there, I could work as a Chaplain's assistant and go to Grad school under the GI bill and other military scholarships. That way, the military could help me pay for Grad school, and I would be making actual money by working for the military for a few years. The school I really want to go to is in Berkeley and there is a military base near San Francisco (I know I don't have much say in where I go, but for school I think they give a little leeway). It also doesn't hurt that I want to be a military Chaplain anyway; I would just be enrolling a bit earlier.
After thinking about it, this could help me in the long run. I won't go into as much debt if I were to just go to Grad school on my own and I would already have my foot in the military. However, joining the military as an enlisted soldier is not a decision to take lightly. It will be a huge change in my life and I will have to change for them. Not the other way around. I will also have to uproot myself from what I'm most comfortable with and be in a completely different world than what I would be used to. I would be separate from family, friends and I would have to sever a few relationships. There are some people I know who put soldiers on the same level as murderers and hold the same amount of contempt for them.
What do you think? Could joining the military after undergrad help me in the long run when it comes to grad school? Or would it just be better to go into heavy debt on my own and enlist as an officer when I earn my Masters and CPE training?
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Comments
Who's to say they will assign you as you want to be assigned?
If I chose the latter option, I would go on ahead and earn my degree, get the assignment that I know I would get, and use the increased income to pay off my debts. However, debt is still debt, and I would be in, at least, $60,000 if I went to Grad school on my own.
If I went with the former, I could use military scholarships to pay for school, go into less debt, earn money by working for the military, but have no guarantee that I will work as a Chaplain's assistant or be on a base near the school I want to go to.
I would be extremely wary about signing up as enlisted personnel. Taking out a debt may be intimidating, but it would give you more independence. Plus, you'd be SAFE! YOU would decide where to go, you'd have no worries about being sent to a COMBAT ZONE, nor would you have undue worries about suffering an assault from your peers or superiors.
Google around for oddball grants for grad school. Someone on another forum I'm on found a scholarship program for descendants of Civil War vets, there may be DAR scholarships if you qualify (Daughters of the (American) Revolution), and other out-of-the way funding sources. See if the seminary offers work-study programs, or if there might be an opportunity to do some assistant work in a UU Church in the Bay Area to help offset costs. Would you be able to take any of the courses online, while living at home? Would you be able to find a live-in childcare or househelp situation with a member of the UU congregation in the East Bay?
I'm excited for you! Just choose your options wisely, and stay safe!
http://gtu.edu/admissions/financial-aid
Would it be possible to postpone your graduate degree, and work for a year or two? I know jobs are hard to come by, but even something like retail or a temp job in an office setting would allow you to build up some funds, gain some footing in your autonomy and independence, and just be a working adult for a while. My best advice to recent graduates is not to go right back to school again. It gets you away from the pre-set guidelines you'll have followed for most of your life, which can help free up some boundaries you may have taken for granted. Of course, this was a lot easier before the economic crash, but I still stand by my advice.
If it's possible, I would try to find a position with a nonprofit or other organization that works with mental health, counseling, Veteran's Affairs, or other healthcare profession. You might also try a religious organization or a university for opportunities. This will put you in a better position when it actually comes time to apply for graduate school. Schools look more favorably on those with experience.
I did go the higher education route and went in a completely different direction. I have no idea if I'd 'stuck with' the original set of wishes, to be a lay midwife, where I'd be today. Instead, I make pretty good money for a BS degree and have never become a midwife.
Blah blah blah . . . my first thought is yeah, debt is debt, and if you don't have debt, you have something else just as annoying instead of debt. Life supplies annoyances and I'm not sure we do much more than exchange one set of annoyances for another?
Going the military route takes you several steps 'out of the way' of your original set of dreams. It made all the difference, for me -- it derailed them! I don't feel regret, exactly, because I have no idea what my life would have been like if I had not taken those few steps to the side.
I dunno if that helps . . . I'm sort of an idealist, and though I am satisfied with where I ended up, I am aware of the absolute unpredictability of the consequences of any choice that I make. If your current dream is specific and really calls you, walk directly toward it, debt be damned. There are scholarships we never hear about, and post grad assignments that can wipe out portions of the debt. "Owing money" to me anyway is not a reason to avoid going where my heart calls me to go.
Gassho
So far, I'm gathering it may be best to go to Grad school on my own, go into an assignment that I know will be related to my degree, and work my way from there.
Wrong livelihood is difficult to say, IMO - to many causes and conditions come into play. Just be sincere as to what you feel is best for your path.
Do you want to go to boot camp, and be trained to kill? That's what they do in boot camp. Do you want to risk being sent overseas to a dangerous area? Are you tough, both physically and emotionally? Are you up for having every minute of every day micromanaged to (their) perfection by your superiors? Are you willing to face other risks inherent to women serving in the military?
Have you thoroughly researched all financial aid options, to minimize to the extent possible the debt you'd require? If you did take a year off to work and save for grad school, how much do you think you'd be able to save?* @Glow, above, had a fabulous idea; see if you could get a job with the Vet Admin's counseling center (if there is in your area) for some job-relevant experience with your psych B.A. Even if all you get is an office assistant job, it will place you in a career-related environment, and you'd have a job recommendation from the Vet Admin for the future, and for your grad school application packet. You'd learn a lot just from observing, if you could score a job in the counseling office. See your college job placement office re: potential jobs and internships. They're there for YOU, the graduating senior. Also work your faculty for potential job contacts, if there are any who you've done good work for, and your undergraduate adviser. Advisers often know of local employers hiring grads of the program.
Just brainstorming here. You've come so far in your personal development, I'd hate to see your plans get sidelined if you got blown up or traumatized.
*My guess (with an office job, not a barrista or McD job): $15,000, give or take, living at home. Even if you could only find a part-time desk job, you should be able to save $10,000-$12,000.
I know some Americans who went to my university (in Canada) because even by paying the international student tuition, it was at least a few thousand dollars cheaper per year than attending a university back home.
This would concern me too I admit. I remember being in Hawaii in 1991 and there were several troops visiting the Pearl Harbour Memorial before shipping out. I spoke to one really sweet 19 year old soldier (I was 16 at the time so I had an ulterior motive LOL). What stuck with me is he was studying medicine and didn't want to go to fight but because the military were paying for his study, he had no choice.
I never knew what happened to him. I hope he came home safely and became a surgeon. He was a very nice young man.
In metta,
Raven