I graduated two years ago with a psych degree and a zoology minor and it took me five months to find a job and the agency that finally hired me didn't even require an education beyond high school. The US Dept. of Labor website said that the median annual income for a 25 year old male with a Bachelor's degree was $54,000, but being from a small town, my minimum expectation was only $35,000. Last year, I earned under $20,000 and everyone simply blows it off like it's no big deal. I'm so fucking tired of hearing excuses like "well, you can't expect to make more than that around here." The college didn't reduce my expenses due to where I'm from and the bank isn't going to forgive any of my students loans because I'm from a small town, so it's overwhelmingly evident that the small town paradox is a total bullshit line fed to small town residents to make them feel guilty about their otherwise reasonable expectation to earn a living wage. Then there's that whole "why don't you live somewhere else" fallacy that would actually require me to have the money to move and another job secured before I get there.
Anyway, seeing no point in struggling to pay off my college expenses with GED-level earnings I decided to go further into debt earning a Master's degree in education, because at least teachers have reasonable job security and get paid in grown-up dollars.
Unfortunately, becoming a biology education student requires 18 additional bio credits before I can even be considered for acceptance in the Master of Education program and none of my zoology credits count, even though they discontinued the zoo program for being too similar to the bio program. They didn't actually tell me this until after they rejected my application and accepted my $50 application fee. In the numerous calls I made to the grad office in the months before applying, not a single person thought to tell me that I was ineligible to apply and that I'd basically be sending them a hello card with $50 included and professional references appraising the sincerity of my greeting for some reason.
Now I'm returning to school to take the minimum 18 bio credits, two language courses and a psychology class that was only an elective in the psych program, but is required for applicants to the Master of Education program. I'll basically be a college graduate, living on campus and taking another two years of classes that don't even count toward a degree, merely for the opportunity to be CONSIDERED for acceptance in the education program, because apparently a degree from SUNY Oswego is as worthless to SUNY Oswego as it is to prospective employers.
On the bright side, this gives me probably the only excuse I will ever have to take Chinese.
And at least two additional years of opportunities to meet women at college before I have to try to do it in real life.
