Finally graduating

[Lupulus]

After seven straight years of full time higher education, I am finally done with school. After getting a BA in history in 2009, I will be receiving my master's of library and information science in a few weeks. The library where I currently work is expanding my hours to 3/4 time and giving me a raise, which is great since it still allows me to stay home with my two kids for the most part and my parents and in-laws will cover a couple days. Amazingly, I have no school debt at all because the GI Bill paid for almost my entire education. I am so excited to be able to tell my friends that I can actually do things and hang out instead of working on a project, doing homework, or having to go to class; since I moved to New Hampshire with my wife after getting out of the navy, many of my friends have never known me except as a perpetual student.

I don't actually post very much, but I do visit regularly and read a lot. BoB has been a great resource for me when I was stressed out with a project and needed to relax; reading posts for a few minutes and thinking about pipes and my next smoke always helps put things in perspective. The forum also, however, became quite the procrastination tool when I didn't want to get back to work Of course, combining this board, a brain stressed out with homework (and scotch) can also lead to this kind of ridiculousness.

 

[thedeep]

Congratulations! I was also a "Non-traditional" student for many years. I finished the Ph.D. last year. Now, more time for your family, hobbies, and....yourself. Enjoy!

 

[mark]

Congratulations, I predict some serious partying in a few weeks.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Aside from actually "doing things," any job prospects lined up?

 

[Ocelot55]

Congrats!! I just got my MA in May. Now off we go into the cold cruel world....I'm missing college already.

 

[Fishfuzz]

Congrats!

 

[DrT999]

Many congrats on the MA!

 

[Megaluddite]

Major congrats!

I got my MLS in 1990. My undergrad was a BSEE in Electrical Engineering 1980 and worked in Nuclear Power for seven years. I was never a very good Engineer. I started a MA program in History in 1987, but burned our because at UNCC History is a social science and I can only really appreciate it as a humanity. Of course, the main problem is that I'm far too much of a generalist. I like to know a little bit about everything. :study: So I went to the Univ. of NC at Greensboro for my MLS.

I worked at a public library for five years. For the last 15 I've been working at a medical library as an Audio Visual Specialist. I spend half my time doing literature searches for doctors (they better spell the disease right) and retrieving articles for them and the other half of my time making sure VPs laptops talk to their projectors. A little Schitzo, I know, but it works. :roll:

Good luck in the wonderful world of Information Science.

PS. I wish I smoked a pipe in graduate school!
Bill

 

[Lupulus]

Aside from actually "doing things," any job prospects lined up?

No full time job, but my kids are 4 and 1, so continuing to stay home with them is important right now. I will continue working in the small (1,200 students, 4 librarians and 30,000 volumes) university library where I am now but with a few more hours and more librarian-like responsibilities rather than just manning the front desk to check out books and tell people where the printing station is. Hopefully the school will get funding for a full-time position with benefits in the next three or four years and I can just slide into that job.

Of course, one of those benefits is free tuition, so my friends are already making bets on how long it will be before I am working on another degree. Having a second masters degree is quickly becoming essential to getting a job in a university library; some schools won't even consider your application if you don't have a subject degree in addition to the MLS. I would like to continue my medieval history studies (which is what my undergrad degree is in), so writing a thesis in that field really holds an appeal for me.

 

[Megaluddite]

Good luck on the second Masters.

As they say:
BS Bull Shit
MS More of the Same
PhD Piled Higher an Deeper

Or, since you Library degree is an MLS:
BS Bull Shit
MLS Must Like Shit
and of course PhD Piled Higher and Deeper
:lol: