tell me about your crazy career switch

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First thing: Ask yourself - 'what can I do with my doctorate right now?'

And then 'where do I want to be?'

When you have an education already, often-times all you need is a certificate in your area of interest to move into that field. So your doctorate is still very useful.

Good example: I had an undergrad in psych. Completely useless. Added a MS in Information Systems, along with some courses in programming (and skills in) and I became (in my company's eyes) a computer professional who also could talk to people.

Have you thought about writing a book about your experiences teaching? About something else you are interested in? Starting a small business on the side so that you are transitioning?

What are you interested in? The key to your career change lies there.

a PHD in humanities? What a waste. If one is going to go that far, WHY should someone not just get their MD so they can have flexibility and actually make have an ROI.

This is OP. Thank you for the replies so far. To the above PP, yes, this is exactly what I'm saying. In the time that it took to do the PhD, I could have gone to either law school or med school, and now I would be earning a much better salary, etc. Hindsight is 20-20. Can't take it back, can only move forward.

To the constructive PPs, I'm still on the bottom of the totem pole at the high school (and FWIW, it's a pretty decent high school, well-regarded in the area). Because many people have worked there longer than I have, regardless of educational background, I don't get to teach any advanced courses. The PhD training was ideal for teaching AP or IB courses- it's completely irrelevant to what I actually teach. Because I teach only introductory courses (which most students pass in middle school, leaving only students who really struggle or who don't care in the high school), I deal with behavior / management issues about 75% of the time. The work is not intellectually stimulating at all. I leave with a migraine every other Friday.

As the former English teacher said, I feel that all of this training / experience won't translate to anything in another field. Is it worth it to jump ship entirely and look for an intro-level government job? Or should I appreciate the mom-friendly hours, the built-in vacations, etc. and just suck it up? The idea of spending another 20-30 years in this drudgery is nauseating, but maybe things will improve in the long run?

Maybe you should work at excelling at what you're currently doing before you find out what else you could do in an half-assed manner?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here again- just thinking out loud- but recently someone mentioned to me a job as a college admissions advisor, but not someone who is employed by a university, someone who instead works with individuals in high school to help them prepare their applications. A coach of sorts. I began to think that this might actually suit me quite well. After my (seemingly interminable) slog through the PhD, I am quite acquainted with higher ed. I am also a highly-trained writer and could see myself helping students edit their college personal statements.

I simply have no idea how to even begin something like that, though.

That's me.

Three routes:
Option 1: Get a job at a university in admissions, even as a PT application reader (yes they do this during peak season). The more prestigious the better. Do it for a year or two and join an admissions consultancy.
Option 2: Get an MBA or masters or phd and skip step 1, and approach the firms in question. In parallel go approach h your alma mater and volunteer to assist in their admissions. The point here is to make yourself marketable. "Diane, with a PHD in neurobiology from John Hopkins was an alumni admissions interviewer..." Vs "Diane who did lab work for a few years..."
Option 3: Go to businessweek, gmatclub, topmba, usnews, etc and start posting your ass off. Build a brand and in a few years you'll get there.

Upsides:
You work whatever hours you want to work.
It's low stress work
Work from home
Do 98% of it via email

Downsides:
It's a spikey business. July to Dec are the busy season, jan to July is dead.
Some candidates are annoying as fuck and demanding.
Many many candidates are non US: that means occasional oddly times calls

I can check to see if my firm is hiring. We have a PHD focused arm.

Thank you for this- the positives are exactly what I had heard, and the negatives don't surprise me (given that I teach high school, I'm aware of the personality possibilities of potential clientele , and of their parents...). I REALLY should look into this.

As for the poster who said I should excel at what I'm currently doing rather than try a half-assed job at something else- I fail to see the logical leap that led you to the conclusion that I suck at my current job? Just because I don't love it doesn't mean I'm not good at it. I'm actually quite good at it- even the students say so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here again- just thinking out loud- but recently someone mentioned to me a job as a college admissions advisor, but not someone who is employed by a university, someone who instead works with individuals in high school to help them prepare their applications. A coach of sorts. I began to think that this might actually suit me quite well. After my (seemingly interminable) slog through the PhD, I am quite acquainted with higher ed. I am also a highly-trained writer and could see myself helping students edit their college personal statements.

I simply have no idea how to even begin something like that, though. [/
quote]

Could you do this on your own, while still employed or does the School district not allow that? Sounds a little like tutoring and DS used to be tutored by someone who was a FCPS teacher. I would think clients would not be too hard to find.