I'm just curious, what did everyone here study in school and why? I think that I MIGHT have a (well established) interest in Education, Early Childhood learning, early language acquisition, curriculum design and also teen and adult education. However, I dont want to study it when I go to University. I've considered myself an Engineering major since January, but now I'm not certain I want to study engineering, I dont know if I want to accept the consequences of being an pre-engineering major (IE, Tons and tons and tons of Math HOMEWORK, just to get in the school. I'd have to take Algebra, Trig., Pre-Calc and Calc 1-3, Physics 1 and 2 and Chemistry....) That list of prereqs alone will take me AT LEAST one calendar year to get through...BUT, I hear that Engineering is as awesome as I've hoped. A lot of people have told me that being an Engineering student sucks, especially in the first 4.5 years*, but it gets better after that. (Thats a joke. Its a 4.5 year degree. ) Anyway, I'm just wondering what the different people here did in college and why? Or if they went to college at all. Anyone?
The first time I went to college, I studied Theater. This time, I'm getting a BS in Communication Studies. When I go on to get my Master's, I'll get a MFA in Theater.
I got my BA in psychology with a minor in sociology, and my MSW (Master of Social Work). Then I worked twenty years in public schools as the school social worker, and spent tons of time in classrooms observing at all grade levels, and assessing 0-5 yo, tons of time developing classroom interventions, doing interviews with parents, writing IEPs, and conferring with the assessment teachers, psychologists and psychometrists, speech pathologists, OT, PT, APE teachers, classroom teachers and principals.
Associates degree in Early Childhood Education with a minor in Children with Special Needs. Someday when the kids are older or I get the time now to student teach I will go back to get my Bachelor's duel credit in Elementary Studies and Teaching CHildren with Special Needs.
@ Lindina: I thought, very seriously, about doing an MSW for a few months. But I want to get a degree thats marketable on a global scale, because I hope that I can live, work and travel abroad, so I'd like a degree in an expanding or highly usable around the world. If I got an MSW, it seems unlikely that I would find quality employment in Asia or South America because isn't Social Work very law-dependant and the laws are different all over the world. If I persued an MSW be forfieting my dream of being able to work abroad. Then, I read on a list that Social Work made it #1 on a list of the worst paid majors, and I know well what a highly stressful and heartbreaking job it can be, so with the thought of limited travel, bad pay and lots of emotional stress, I gave that up... However, I was considering my MASTERS in Social Work, and the list was talking about BACHELORS degrees, do you think I made a bad decision? Its not too late for me to change my mind...:?
I majored in Secondary Ed (high school teacher) and English but didn't finish college. If I went back, I am sure I would not pursue education again. Still don't know what I want to be when my kids grow up.
BA in Theater (Production-there were different "lines") and Education, Second in Psychology, and minor in Spanish. But I don't think I "studied".
Education. Before all was said and done, I was certified to teach regular elementary, Hearing Impaired preK-12, and Orthopedically/Health Handicapped preK-12. I was planning on going back for a MA in Early Childhood Education with emphasis in special needs, but got married instead. As of now, I am no longer certified to teach anything (though my husband swears I am still certifiable, lol!) I taught 10+ years in an Orthopedically Handicapped elementary classroom.
I'm going to sound so odd! At 16, I had the chance of a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London (for piano performance), and I hoped to be a composer of film music. (Whereas I'd written a piano concerto when I was 15, I knew I needed formal classes in composition.) When I turned 18, however, I decided to drop music and signed up instead for a degree in chemistry. After a year, I switched to physics, so my first degree ended up being a BSc (scl) in physics. I continued the academic route by completing a PhD in physics. About 8 years ago, I decided to go back to school to obtain an MBA. At the time, I was traveling the world on business and couldn't attend classes in person. The University System of Georgia had just started a pilot scheme whereby you could obtain an MBA online. The course material and the professors were the same as for on-site classes, but all the work was done online. It was a whole lot of fun - chatting with teammates while staying in Russia or China or Brazil or India. I remember quite vividly submitting a statistics assignment from the Kampala Sheraton in Uganda. What I'm desperately missing, however, is some type of qualification in common sense. That's where I'm really lacking.
I have a special education degree I don't know that I'd return to education if my kids were up and out though... all the red tape zaps the joy out of teaching when you do it in a school, lol. ETA: I started as a music major, but I started losing my love of music because of how competitive everyone was in the department. It was pretty cutthroat. I kept up, but it was becoming so much of a "job" that I didn't like it anymore... so I switched to education! I loved college, and I loved teaching for the 6 years that I did it. However, now that I can really teach untethered, I've found a whole new love for education.
Double major in Psychology and Sociology. I was 2 classes from also having a minor in Children's Ministry. I didn't need a minor with 2 majors, and it would have kept me in school another semester. My plan going into college was to go straight into a Master's and then a Doctorate. I started dating dh during my sophomore year, married him between my junior and senior years, and was pregnant with my first just after graduating. God had different plans.
I'm another elem. edu major here and everyone I know seems to think this gives me some sort of leg up in my homeschooling journey...I've explained that my classes were mostly theory and classroom management and since I have only 2 kids I can manage the classroom without that knowledge.
Sorry, Steve, that degree usually comes only from the School of Hard Knocks. Either that or it's a gift from God.... (along with spelling, you either have it or you don't.)
Bachelor of Science in Speech Language Pathology and Audiology with a minor in English. I almost completed a minor in Psychology, but didn't like it so I switched to English. Master of Arts in Speech Language Pathology.
