Korean Job Discussion Forums

[pangaea]

I have a Bachelor's degree in English which has turned out to be not worth the paper it is printed on at home. I had to work full time while I was in school and didn't have the time or the money to take on unpaid internships which might have boosted its value. With $30,000 dollars in student loan debt, I am beginning to regret getting it in the first place. It did get me to Korea, which I do appreciate because I have always wanted to travel and live in a foreign country, but I can't find a decent job in my home country.

I am definitely planning to go back to school, either for an Associate's degree in a health related field, or for a second Bachelor's in something that leads to certification, like Dietetics. I used to look down on community college associate's degrees, but not anymore. Now I realize that a 2 year degree in Radiology, Physical or Occupational Therapy Assisting, or Dental Hygiene, among many others, earns twice as much money or more than my much more expensive and time consuming Bachelor's degree. If I hadn't gotten my B.A., I wouldn't have been able to come to Korea, but knowing what I know now, maybe I would have just opted for an Associates degree.

I know some liberal arts degrees are probably more practical than others. Just wondering how others on this board feel about theirs.

[Fox]

My philosophy degree gives me value every single day of my life, and I have never for a moment regretted it. I also didn't go into debt to get it, though. "X being seriously worthwhile to study," and, "X being worth taking on large amounts of undischargeable debt to study," are very different things.

[computermichael]

It depends where you live. I'm quitting Korea in September and think I can make it back in the US with my BA in hogwash. A lot of my friends from Pittsburgh have managed to get decent jobs out of college without relevant experience and with equally irrelevant degrees. I don't actually know of anyone I went to school with who is unemployed or underemployed, though some of their jobs seem soul crushing.

There are some states where there are even labor shortages. If you're willing to live in North Dakota, you could probably get a job that pays well, but most people don't want to live in such a void.

I'm sure it's not easy getting a job in California, New York, or anywhere else that people flock to though, but it's not that hard to save enough money in Korea to move to wherever. I'm just going to assume you're American because you mentioned having lots of student loan debt.

[tatertot]

Fox makes a good point. Even if your degree doesn't have monetary value (in that it helps you to generate income), it may have value of other sorts.

My degree was in Electrical Engineering (not Liberal Arts, but I think I can still post in this thread). Immediately after getting my B.S. in 2006, I started a job which paid $63,000/year. I hated it so much that I only lasted 16 months before I quit. Every successive job has paid less than the one before it, and now I am in Korea making appoximately $24,000/year as an English teacher/babysitter.

That doesn't mean that my degree was worthless or even a bad investment. Like Fox, I get value from my education every day. One of the most important things I learned in college was "learning how to learn." I still use that skill all the time.

[ESL Milk "Everyday]

Yeah... you know, to be honest I wish that wayyyy back when everyone was supposed to follow their hearts and dreams to become the person that they wanted to be, someone would have told me that there's a pretty good chance that your life will suck if you don't follow the market. But then, I probably wouldn't have listened-- unless you've got your stuff together, when you're 18, you're not really in any position to make long-term life choices for yourself. If I have kids and the time comes, I'm going to force them to have a lot of long talks with me about what makes the most sense in terms of their career, and what they can relegate to a hobby or independent project.

A lot of those arts degrees are the absolute worst... they sort of attract a lot of young clueless idealistic liberal sorts (like me) who think that because they like it and it's 'for real', they're going to be able to put up with the life of abject poverty and desperation that it promises... a mindset that always changes when they realize what that life really entails.

Definitely go for the associate's degree... that's one of my biggest regrets as well, not going into something more practical. I like my job here (I'm definitely not a clown or a babysitter), but there isn't a lot of respect for ESL teachers (I've learned to ignore this because it's not really warranted anyway), and I can't help but think about the people back home with wives and children and nice homes who are doing plumbing or are electricians or into drywall or something like that.

Basically, the less 'intelligent' kids from my high school actually seem to be doing better than (some) of those who were pushed towards 'the big honorable prestigious Universities' in order to realize their 'full potential'. The 'general' kids have never left their small towns and have used their connections/roots in the community to set up businesses that are doing really well... but the 'advanced' kids are mostly stuck in dull jobs, putting up with all forms of BS in order to finally get to some unknown point in the future where they will no longer have to do it.

I don't really see much difference between waiting there and waiting here... except Korea is a lot more interesting, the lifestyle is more laid back, and I get to take a pretty sweet vacation once or twice a year.

[murmanjake]

[Globutron]

I said this when this thread was posted by someone else about a month ago...

Am I the only one that just went to Uni to study what they wanted to learn about? Something they love to do?

Earnings have never really crossed my mind other than the countless occasions other people bring it up.

I just don't hold money as close to my heart as y'all seem to. As long as I'm alive and doing what I want to do...

[rumdiary]

[NYC_Gal 2.0]

Did nobody else get an internship and/or hold a job or two in their arts-related field while in university?

[sadguy]

[Free World]

I got my BA in 2004 and with no idea where to look for work I turned to Korea. That enabled me to travel all over the world.
Now I'm back in Canada in a well paying job that I love and it has nothing to do with my degree. I am still with the girl I met in university and although I didn't need a degree to work for my company, just having that postsecondary education helped me get to the position that I'm at within the company.
University also gave me the desire to continue learning throughout my adult life.
While I think my arts degree has been valuable to me, I do worry about my youngest brother who is graduating this spring with a Philosophy degree... I doubt he'll find a job in a related field but I hope that it will prove to have other beneficial effects as mine did.

[TECO]

Like many things in life, it's not a black and white answer. My degree got me the visa to teach legally here and in Japan, but it did not help in terms of establishing a long-term career back home. Any degree would have allowed me to obtain a working visa in Korea and Japan and Taiwan, so it really did not matter what my degree was.

Now I make a good living and have lots of personal time for myself and enjoy a good quality of life here. I love it and could not have obtained this kind of lifestyle without a degree - any degree.

But, with a Liberal Arts education, I am lucky I am not sleeping under a bridge. I smile to myself almost every night when I go to sleep on my comfortable bed in my highly subsidized apartment.

The bottom line is, I consider myself to be very lucky, considering the degree(s) I have.

[Louis VI]

My Philosophy major courses let me write and speak what I want, taught me how to accurately represent the ideas of others and to think critically about the most basic assumptions, and prepared me esquisitely for my years as a newspaper journalist. And now as an English language teacher I get to teach what I want, how I want, really an extension of the freedom and responsibility borne of a Liberal Arts education. The fearful thrown-to-the-wolves approach of the hagwon industry has served my temperment well. Further thanks to my degree, my work is always reflective, creative, and challenging, for me as well as for the students. The Humanities is anything but boring. The upshot here is: a degree in languages, literature, history, and philosophy helps prepare one skillswise and mentally to deal with the variety of differences one encounters while working abroad.

Those who got degrees in Business, Nursing, Communications, and Computer Science really had a very different kind of education, and most of them aren't hereabouts.

There are quite a few Science, Economics and Psychology majors in Korea, and I guess grad school is their ticket to cashing in their degree, put crudely. I've met surprisingly few Sociology and Anthropology majors, despite the obvious advantage they'd have adapting to life abroad.

[Died By Bear]

In the end, I'd rather be poor and happy than rich and miserable. On the other hand, if I won the lotto....

Fast fwd to 49 seconds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhEI31pXSMg

[pangaea]

Globutron wrote: