Another One Shilling for College Minus

[socalrules]

I love how he left out what he's doing at that law firm. The way he talks makes it sound like he's a lawyer. At best he's a paralegal, probably a secretary. He says "research assistant," but with how much he's stretching it in the video, for all we know he's a secretary who is occasionally asked to look something up. And what is a juries doctor associate?

I wonder how many times he'll sit the bar. And it's not cheap each time he does.

A law degree is a Juris Doctorate. Associates are just attorneys at a law firm that are not partners. If he hasn't passed the bar, he cannot be an associate. I doubt he is a paralegal because a lot of what they do isn't taught in law schools and they usually graduate from a paralegal program. At least the good paralegals do. Paralegals do a lot of secretarial work or work that an attorney cannot bill the client for performing. I would guess that he is a law clerk, which is what most law grads who haven't yet passed the bar do. They just research issues and maybe write motions, if they are really good writers. Law clerk work isn't that complicated. Also, you cannot represent yourself as an associate when you have not passed the bar and taken the oath. The state bar will be on your ass fast.

That was the biggest piece of shit video I have seen in awhile. Could they have shown his profile more? It's as though he was speaking in platitudes, which always pisses me off. He is way too smug. You would think he was law review editor at Harvard, not a graduate of a barely accredited law school. He would be eaten alive in court because there is nothing a judge hates more than smug attorneys who think they know more than the judges. It's interesting that he didn't say what he did at Thomas Reuters, my guess is customer service or something. College Minus is not going to get you a job at a large financial firm doing anything where there is a lot of responsibility.

Word of advice, buy new clothes and give the ones you are wearing back to daddy. That shirt was too big and his askew tie was driving me crazy. Someone needs to tell him that attorneys need to always be presentable when it comes to representing their firm.

[pomology]

They learn one narrative of history, as if there is only the one, and answer questions about the facts, the who and when, on a test. That's pretty much it.

Jesus Christ, I had to do more than that on my AP US and World history exams. Which were like child's play compared to my easiest college history courses. Which themselves are pretty lax and don't require all that much analysis compared to upper level seminars and writing a thesis.

[YPestis]

Does it seem odd that the few ultra-fundies interested in education seems very focused on law?

I guess those that are willing to swim with the unGodly heathens do so to focus on a political career. You know, to stop the persecution of Christians and turn the country back towards a Godly path etc. Not many seems interested in utilizing college to become professors or accountants or engineers. There doesn't seem to be any interested in a science career. Of course, you'd really have to engage with evil secular people with all the lab requirements.....

[emmiedahl]

They are very oriented toward law, probably because it is the logical entry into politics. The boy in the CollegeMinus video compared it to being a doctor and I snerked a bit. Sure, many lawyers do great things for our nation, keeping us safe and protecting our rights. All majors have the potential to be a 'calling' and all workers can make a difference in the everyday lives of people around them. But this kid is probably shuffling papers around until he finally passes the bar and can advise on small claims cases. Really now, keep it in perspective.

[Daenerys]

*blink* She's about to get her BA in English and she writes like that? RUN AWAY!

As someone studying for a proper BA English at an ebil secular state university, it makes me want to bang my head against a brick wall.

I'm currently writing a 2000 word essay on comparitive semiology in the early twentieth century and its applications for postcolonial readings of literature... I doubt Jasmine would even be able to understand the title, and I just go to an averagely 'good' university, not Oxbridge!

[slickcat79]

Jasmine's always going to be an exception to the typical SAHD, royalty or otherwise. She is much more intellectually curious and isn't afraid to read things that don't conform to her lifestyle- Hunger Games, the Help, Room. (I mean really pride and prejudice isn't a fundie princess novel but we've already discussed how the average SAHD misinterprets it because inferential thinking and literary synthesis aren't high priority SODRT skills)

this College plus student claims she got into Georgetown, University of Virginia and William and Mary, nothing to sneeze at. Probably the most successful college minus student who've I've seen in terms of getting into competitive schools. http://www.collegeplus.org/acceleration ... uate-story

I wonder about that student. For one thing, she seems to be very intelligent and very motivated, just the type of person who would excel at online-based education. Despite the "coaching" from CollegeMinus, you'd still have to be very skilled at self-directed work to get through back to back CLEP tests for weeks on end.

OTOH, W&M's law school page definitely says that they require at least a bachelor's degree from an accredited university, and that they pay particular attention to the quality of the school you attended as well as your program difficulty. If that woman actually got her degree from TESC, she must have been more intelligent and confident than their average applicant. I have a feeling, though, that CollegeMinus is being deliberately vague about what she did between her CLEP tests and being accepted to law school. It's possible that she actually completed coursework for another school, and that they were the ones who awarded her degree.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Does it seem odd that the few ultra-fundies interested in education seems very focused on law?

I guess those that are willing to swim with the unGodly heathens do so to focus on a political career. You know, to stop the persecution of Christians and turn the country back towards a Godly path etc. Not many seems interested in utilizing college to become professors or accountants or engineers. There doesn't seem to be any interested in a science career. Of course, you'd really have to engage with evil secular people with all the lab requirements.....

I'm no lawyer and not religious either so this is rampant speculation on my part, but it seems that the law itself might be somewhat fundie-friendly in that a large part of the work involves looking backward and analyzing existing texts to pick out or discover new fine details in the meaning, but you have to accept the previously existing case law as binding.

In that way, it's not all that different from religious law systems, people can dig around to find loopholes and leniencies or argue about what part of the law applies but there's a reverence for those who went before, and you can't just say "well, we know now those guys had flawed information going in" and reject it all, there's a careful process.

That, plus possibly ideas about applying knowledge of the law to the various social issues they're interested in, I can understand the appeal.

[lilwriter85]

I wonder about that student. For one thing, she seems to be very intelligent and very motivated, just the type of person who would excel at online-based education. Despite the "coaching" from CollegeMinus, you'd still have to be very skilled at self-directed work to get through back to back CLEP tests for weeks on end.

OTOH, W&M's law school page definitely says that they require at least a bachelor's degree from an accredited university, and that they pay particular attention to the quality of the school you attended as well as your program difficulty. If that woman actually got her degree from TESC, she must have been more intelligent and confident than their average applicant. I have a feeling, though, that CollegeMinus is being deliberately vague about what she did between her CLEP tests and being accepted to law school. It's possible that she actually completed coursework for another school, and that they were the ones who awarded her degree.

I also got that feeling while reading about Brittany. Things did seem vague and there was focus mostly on the CLEP tests. I think Brittany seems very intelligent and she seems better than the guy who attended Ave Maria. I have heard a lot of bad things about Ave Maria from a high school classmate who went there. He only attended law school to help his career in sports management. He said Ave Maria is poorly run and the guy who helped found Tom Monaghan is a bit of an asshole.

[chaotic life]

If the LSAT is given as much weight as the MCAT, an insanely high score can override a questionable undergraduate degree. While most medical schools TELL you that the MCAT is not the end all, be all, the reality is that most put high emphasis on that test score because it correlates to how well someone will pass their steps on their boards. My suspicion if her grades were strong and her LSAT was phenomenal, then she could satiate the questionable degree with other markers, just like you can for medical schools.

Seriously, I know someone who did what is considered impossible and got into medical school with a 2.8 GPA in large part because of his 34 MCAT score (98% on the test).

And yes, I would absolutely argue that Social Sciences are harder to accomplish via online degrees. After searching for a non-profit ability to complete a Sociology degree online for years, I finally bit the bullet and went back to a classroom rather than settle for a "Social Sciences" degree. I did take a few online classes through my University, including Sociology classes. However, finding a full degree in Sociology strictly online is hard.

[emmiedahl]

2.8??? 34??? The MCAT is scored out of 45 and that is not a great score. But volunteer work, personal statement and other things can make a huge difference.

I am about to start the application process and this gives me hope. I thought my 3.6 was pathetic. I have been told that I will need to get a rock-star score on the MCAT and emphasize that I did this while going through a medical crisis, raising 5 children, working full-time, being active in the community, etc. I doubt a SAHD would be allowed to do the "right" volunteer jobs or able to write a compelling essay.

[YPestis]

2.8??? 34??? The MCAT is scored out of 45 and that is not a great score. But volunteer work, personal statement and other things can make a huge difference.

34 is a pretty good MCAT score (90-95th percentile). Only 25% of testers get above a 30 and each point above 30 is exponentially harder to get. In other words, you need to get more questions right to move from a 33 to 34 than to move from a 27 to 28.

Honestly, there is probably more to the story than the 2.8/34. My fiance got a higher MCAT score than that plus a good GPA and was only able to get into a couple of 'decent' med schools. That person may have had exceptional circumstances (death in family, depression etc), a really bad semester, or he had the really bad grades from years ago and came back to school doing very well.

The person probably compensated by showing A's in the sciences in the tail end of his academic career. There's no way that person could trend a 2.8 and just get in with any MCAT score. Or maybe the person got into a D.O school? Osteopathic schools are typically more "forgiving" for reasonable past academic mistakes than M.D schools....

Also, the adcoms looks more closely at your BCPM GPA than anything else. Maybe this kid had an excellent science GPA (and good reasons for failing classes---there must be an excuse for every grade below a C!).

I am about to start the application process and this gives me hope. I thought my 3.6 was pathetic. I have been told that I will need to get a rock-star score on the MCAT and emphasize that I did this while going through a medical crisis, raising 5 children, working full-time, being active in the community, etc. I doubt a SAHD would be allowed to do the "right" volunteer jobs or able to write a compelling essay.

Well, to be honest, that advice is not too far off the mark. If I remember, you are from Washington state, correct? U dub is one of the most competitive medical school in the nation (unfortunately). While a 3.6 is a good GPA for most state med schools, the University of Washington will probably require you to do very well on the MCAT with that. My roommate went there. You get an elite med school education for a state school price.

Take heart though, it's not rocket science to get into med school. Just hard work and a lot of patience!

[YPestis]

double post

[emmiedahl]

Well, to be honest, that advice is not too far off the mark. If I remember, you are from Washington state, correct? U dub is one of the most competitive medical school in the nation (unfortunately). While a 3.6 is a good GPA for most state med schools, the University of Washington will probably require you to do very well on the MCAT with that. My roommate went there. You get an elite med school education for a state school price.

Take heart though, it's not rocket science to get into med school. Just hard work and a lot of patience!

My BCPM is identical to my overall GPA, which I guess is weird. :) Yes, UW is the goal. But I know straight-A students who were rejected. My doctor is friends with one of the admissions people and he said that the interview is everything with them, they consider it more than any other factor and can be quite forgiving if you are "the right person" and bring something new and interesting to the cohort. Also, if you say the mandatory: I want to be a family doctor in an underserved area. Which is true in my case, most of the time at least.

Everyone seems to know these solid-B students who got into medical school, but I have never met them. My adviser thinks I have a shot but not a really awesome chance or anything.

Like most pre-med students, I have researched pretty thoroughly what makes me a better candidate. I was VP of our pre-med club last year and most meetings were spent passing rumors and tips even though that was not the official goal. That is another thing you don't get from CollegePlus: talking to other students in the same boat, providing support for each other and passing along ideas that improve your chances. Maybe I have an extraordinary peer group, but there is no nasty competition or underhandedness. I assume getting into law school is the same deal in terms of putting together a sparkly admissions package and knowing the unspoken rules. So, I just don't know how these student do it. And I bet it rarely comes together as neatly as CollegeMinus implies.

[NurseNell]

Everyone seems to know these solid-B students who got into medical school, but I have never met them. My adviser thinks I have a shot but not a really awesome chance or anything.

Like most pre-med students, I have researched pretty thoroughly what makes me a better candidate. I was VP of our pre-med club last year and most meetings were spent passing rumors and tips even though that was not the official goal. That is another thing you don't get from CollegePlus: talking to other students in the same boat, providing support for each other and passing along ideas that improve your chances. Maybe I have an extraordinary peer group, but there is no nasty competition or underhandedness. I assume getting into law school is the same deal in terms of putting together a sparkly admissions package and knowing the unspoken rules. So, I just don't know how these student do it. And I bet it rarely comes together as neatly as CollegeMinus implies.

I've never known a solid B student who got into medical school. My Dh had a 3.9 and a very high MCAT score. He was older, being a Viet Nam vet. He was accepted at the 5 schools he applied to, went to the University of Michigan.

I think law school is easier to get into than medical school. Vet school is supposed to be the hardest to get into.

Good luck Emmie, it sounds like you stand a good chance at being accepted.

[YPestis]

My BCPM is identical to my overall GPA, which I guess is weird. :) Yes, UW is the goal. But I know straight-A students who were rejected. My doctor is friends with one of the admissions people and he said that the interview is everything with them, they consider it more than any other factor and can be quite forgiving if you are "the right person" and bring something new and interesting to the cohort. Also, if you say the mandatory: I want to be a family doctor in an underserved area. Which is true in my case, most of the time at least.

Everyone seems to know these solid-B students who got into medical school, but I have never met them. My adviser thinks I have a shot but not a really awesome chance or anything.

Saying that is mandatory for any med school interview. :lol:

During orientation, our dean made a speech telling us he's sure we all still want to do rural family medicine, right? ;) Yeah, that got a huge laugh from the class. I believe ~15-20% of my graduating class matched into one of the primary care fields.

When I hear that the interview is "everything", I always think what it means is the interview can make or break IF you already got decent scores, good GPA, solid extracurricular etc. Some schools, such as the med school attached to my undergrad, care mostly about grades and scores and don't as much factor into interviews.

I've also heard that if you bring something unique blah blah, they can overlook blah blah. My personal experience is that take it with a grain of salt. If you don't have the grades, they won't accept you. It's nice to have diversity but med schools have been put on probation for far less things than having a high board failure rate. Given that the average med size is around 150, letting even 15 people who have no proof of solid academic work could pull their board passing rate down and have the LCME come after them.

I personally don't know solid B students who got into med school either. Most had to do masters or add a bunch of classes to pull up their GPA. However, you hear and you hear....

[NurseNell]

During orientation, our dean made a speech telling us he's sure we all still want to do rural family medicine, right? ;) Yeah, that got a huge laugh from the class. I believe ~15-20% of my graduating class matched into one of the primary care fields.

My DH did set up practice in family practice in rural northern WI. Three different M.D.'s joined his practice had received their med school loans forgiven if they'd practice in a rural area. All 3 were internists, they each did their 2 year mandatory time and then were out as fast as they could, back to the big cities (2 to Minneapolis, 1 to Boston).

[mockingbird]

I don't know any solid-B students who got into med school. I DO know plenty of people who did not get in even though they had excellent stats. My guess is that they were deficient in another area and/or didn't interview well. I got into two medical schools, which I hear is the average. I am still waiting on a decision from another. Kind-of pissed off at one of the schools I got accepted to though because I think they sent me on another "shadowing experience" to assess my level of "disability" (I am very short... I do have some chronic health issues but nothing that would affect my job and I didn't say anything about them anywhere in my app). I think I could have done better on my MCAT, especially the bio section. I didn't spend as much time studying for that as I maybe should have because I was really worried about organic chemistry and regular chemistry (chemistry is my worst subject). I got a 29 which was pretty average, and when I retook the SAT in high school I went down, so I stuck with it. I also got a T (perfect) in writing and didn't want to give that up. LOL I'm sure Jasmine would not have been able to accomplish that even with her English degree ;)

What I have heard about interviews re: "make it or break it" is that if you make it to the interview you most likely have the stats the school wants or they wouldn't move your application forward to the next level in the first place. Now they want to see who stands out and would fit in the most. If you do poorly, it probably means you're not accepted, but for others it can depend on the school and how much they rate the interview against other factors. I have heard it can pull you up but don't depend on it if your stats aren't the greatest for that school. The school I am waiting on apparently takes their "superstar" students first and puts everyone else on hold for a decision. Not waitlist - just no decision until they finish interview season and review everyone. They are very much a reach school for me, and I believe I got an interview because I worked for one of their hospitals.

I didn't say I wanted to be a family practice doctor in rural areas... because that is like the total opposite of what I want to do lol. I couldn't lie. If I was open to it I would have listed it as an option but I'm not interested. I want to work for a big hospital in a big city, because part of why I want to be a doctor is because I love that environment so much. Anyway, I just said I was interested in doing something with peds, maybe a subspecialty, but as I go through the rotations and learn more about them I'd be open to other options. One school did ask me if I would stay in-state (it's a state school) and I said I'd be open to that because I would be, depending on where I get a residency and everything. Just at a big hospital in a city. hahaha I think universally they just want to know that you're not locked into one specialty and eliminating any other options before you even have exposure to them. I have wanted to be a peds heme-onc for pretty much my entire life (I was optho until I realized you had to do eye surgery and... yuck), so I'll be damned if that changes but I know it might. I worked for a derm department and it's um... very tempting.

I have heard it is easier to get into law school but the school you go to makes more of a difference in your career, so getting into the "right" school is still very competitive. I haven't applied so this is just hearsay though.

Edit: I don't know why any fundy would even want to apply to medical school though because aren't doctors ebil? And they'd have to learn about evolution ;) :naughty: Also, I do know some (accredited) schools where "premedical sciences" or "biomedical sciences" is a major. I think it's like a bio degree maybe? A lot of schools also have a "pre-med" track where they help you set up the courses you need and everything. My friend is in one, she is a history major, but they have a "liberal arts pre-med" track which is like a program you enroll in (not on a degree though) that helps arrange things and I think they have meetings/advisors. We have a class you had to take to get the committee (school) recommendation letter, but it was pretty worthless. Hers seems to at least help with scheduling, while I had a terrible time with that because apparently no one at my school realizes you can be a non-science major and still be pre-med. The advisors told me my English activities were worthless/irrelevant. Cool thanks.

Anyway, appropriate song for Jasmine (though IDK if College- gives you "plenty of knowledge"):

(I'm not sure how to embed? The "youtube" tags aren't working...)

Edit again: OMG she wants to do an MFA?!?!?! What a joke. You actually have to be able to, you know, write. That's not something you can get in on based on grades or GRE scores alone. They don't really matter so long as you meet the basic requirements (I'm pretty sure most don't even require the GRE but I could be wrong) - creative writing MFA admissions are all about your skill as a writer. Getting into one at all is pretty prestigious from what I have heard. That was my other big career option. I eventually decided I could write on the side but not do medicine on the side, lol. But I'm definitely leaving the option open to someday apply to an MFA's summer session (easier with a job to take off a few weeks? unless I found and got into an MFA that worked with my job schedule - the summer sessions are still pretty competitive especially at places like Iowa), or a writing fellowship/artist colony/etc. Also, Jasmine, you DO NEED a degree to be a teacher. Many places are now requiring a master's. Unless you are a homeschooling teacher, I guess...

[JMarie]

Ah, the "dangers" of a public university:

Petition for a class on LGBT legal issues at the William and Mary Law School

By signing this form, you are co-signing on the following letter:

Dear Deans, 


I am writing on behalf of the William and Mary Law School LGBT Equality Alliance to request a class in LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) legal issues to be taught at least once a year at the law school as a one-credit elective seminar or a three-credit elective survey.

A class in LGBT law is not only ideal for those who are considering a career in advocacy, but it can potentially benefit almost every student entering the legal profession. LGBT issues affect almost every area of the law, so many William & Mary law students will be likely to serve an LGBT client at some point in their future career. LGBT rights have changed drastically over the past twenty years and will continue to do so in the future. A solid understanding of these issues is therefore an essential part of our toolbox as we enter the world as citizen lawyers. Additionally, this class could provide valuable opportunities to current law students who are willing to play a substantial role in researching material and in developing the initial syllabus.

A class in LGBT law also serves as an example of the law school’s commitment to diversity to the community and to prospective students. In a letter on the school’s website, President Reveley states, “The greater the cultural dexterity a person has, the greater his or her capacity to make a difference for the better and to thrive in the 21st century, where living and working amid diversity is the norm.†A class in LGBT issues shows that the law school is committed to endowing its students with the “cultural dexterity†needed to work “for the better†as public servants and as citizen lawyers.


Sincerely,

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Required

Do you co-sign on the letter pasted above? * Yes

No

[Buzzard]

The thing with law schools is that adding one more doesnt really hurt a class. Most (good) schools like to take a flier on an unknown to see what happens. So long as they can become employed (which we all know fundies will do) it wont hurt their rankings. So.... shitty GPA plus awesome LSAT score and cool story can get you accepted. Just because you're accepted doesnt mean you wont fail out or even pass the bar.

In the girl's case I'm guessing she blew the LSAT out of the water so they took her - we dont know how she's doing... As for Mr. "attorney", Ave Maria has absolutely AWFUL bar passage stats so accepting him cant hurt. Youre only an attorney when you're admitted to the bar. Before that youre just a law school grad... so keep sharpening those #2 pencils!

[chaotic life]

34 on the MCAT is 97%. He got into both Oestopathic and Alleopathic medical schools. He did not apply to Carribean schools and no, none of his acceptances came from them either. Yes, he has other parts to his story beyond either his GPA *or* his MCAT score. He had phenomenal LoRs from highly successful physicians, was able to claim disadvantaged student status and had a pesonal story second to none. He was also a non-trad who killed his interviews.

The point is that ONE bad mark, even if it's a very bad mark, on a professional school application CAN be compensated for. So, having a CP degree based upon CLEPping but having high LSAT scores and other high markers can offset the CP background.

[chaotic life]

Interestingly, or scary, enough there is a fundamentalist Christian medical school opening up in the midwest that intends to base all of it's sciences upon Creationism. One has to wonder exactly how their graduates will perform on their steps, given that all of their foundational sciences will be incorrect in the first place.

[pomology]

Interestingly, or scary, enough there is a fundamentalist Christian medical school opening up in the midwest that intends to base all of it's sciences upon Creationism. One has to wonder exactly how their graduates will perform on their steps, given that all of their foundational sciences will be incorrect in the first place.

Wait, WTF? I don't get it. So, basically, like... they aren't going to teach modern medicine? Are they going to depend on leeches or something? Wait, that has to do with humors and is Greek or some shit like that. Are they just gonna have their students pray and hope it heals somebody? I really don't understand how medicine and creationism are even remotely compatible.

[YPestis]

Interestingly, or scary, enough there is a fundamentalist Christian medical school opening up in the midwest that intends to base all of it's sciences upon Creationism. One has to wonder exactly how their graduates will perform on their steps, given that all of their foundational sciences will be incorrect in the first place.

What is this med school called? The LCME have pretty strict curriculum requirements in regards to accrediting medical school. It's very hard for even legitimate universities to start up an allopathic med school because it requires a great deal of money, the cooperation of the state legislature and local hospitals and also the state medical board.

I've never heard of any attempts to supplant evolution with creationism in med school, even among religiously affiliated med schools like Loma Linda. I'm doubtful a med school that wants to base their teachings off of Creationism would ever see the light of day given so many reputable schools have tried and failed to establish one.

It's not just passing the boards that would be worrisome, but much of the basic sciences and applications of medicine are based on the ideas of evolution. How else are you going to explain MRSA or VRE? Why we can still use penicillin on syphilis and not on other infections? Why we have third and fourth generation cephalsporins? You'd have to skip most of pharmacology to avoid evolution (and much of biochemistry, all of micro....).

34 on the MCAT is 97%

Your friend did well on the MCAT but the AAMC states 34 on the MCAT is 91-92 percentile

.....the 97 percentile just sounded too high. I knew quite a few that scored in that range, and I know I can't be attending school with the top 3% of premeds in the country. Congrats on your friend, tho! I was also a nontrad. It's good to hear of another nontrad success story. We have to work harder than traditional students but I think we bring our unique flavor to med school! :clap:

[ladidah]

That's where creationist keywords like "macroevolution" and "microevolution" come in handy. You endorse the "microevolution" of viruses but draw the line at "macroevolution." I'm not sure exactly where you draw that fuzzy line, but I do know a few MDs who are creationists. They're good MDs, too, though they're flat-out wrong about what they'd call "macroevolution." If you asked around, you might be surprised at how many people with professional degrees don't fully endorse evolution in the usual sense. Creationism really did a number on '80's evangelicals.

[LucySnowe]

Edit again: OMG she wants to do an MFA?!?!?! What a joke. You actually have to be able to, you know, write. That's not something you can get in on based on grades or GRE scores alone. They don't really matter so long as you meet the basic requirements (I'm pretty sure most don't even require the GRE but I could be wrong) - creative writing MFA admissions are all about your skill as a writer. Getting into one at all is pretty prestigious from what I have heard. That was my other big career option. I eventually decided I could write on the side but not do medicine on the side, lol. But I'm definitely leaving the option open to someday apply to an MFA's summer session (easier with a job to take off a few weeks? unless I found and got into an MFA that worked with my job schedule - the summer sessions are still pretty competitive especially at places like Iowa), or a writing fellowship/artist colony/etc. Also, Jasmine, you DO NEED a degree to be a teacher. Many places are now requiring a master's. Unless you are a homeschooling teacher, I guess...

Thank you for saying all this so I didn't have to.

I was reading a lot of threads late last night, thanks to having stupidly drunk caffeine over the course of the evening, and when I checked out this blog entry I was in danger of waking my husband with my repeated snorts.

Given the proliferation of MFA programs, I expect anyone can find one that isn't too picky. I spent a year in one where the advanced fiction course was so basic, it wasn't clear whether in the introductory level course, you were working on individual sentences. And here's a Christian one with low-residency requirements: http://www.spu.edu/prospects/grad/Acade ... osophy.asp

She claims that a degree in English Literature 'It's what my dad calls a non-degree, one of the ones that is least likely to secure you a job after graduation'. Notwithstanding all the 'do you want fries with that?' jokes, the ability to write clearly and think critically are transferable to quite a lot of jobs, thanks. But then, her degree doesn't seem to be doing either of these things.