More thoughts

[feuervogel]

I could take a couple classes at UNC (though not this semester, since it's too late for that).

I could get a second bachelor's and transfer all my general education stuff. I don't know how my existing courses would transfer, or how I'd fit into the requirements. (I think option 2 is the one I prefer? Since I'm interested less in the literary stuff than in history and non-lit culture?)

I could apply to a different program entirely? Various people have suggested Comp Lit, which, well, I don't really want to compare two literatures. Though I like the idea of queer/feminist studies.

But what would I *do* with that? I think I want to teach German as a foreign language. I've taught before, but not full time on my own. I did a rotation on my residency where I taught pharmacokinetics (I was pissed about that; it's my worst subject). I made lesson plans, gave homework, lectured, and gave tests. Yay. I've also done patient and peer education, which is a bit different, since you just give a seminar on a topic.

I need advice. From someone involved in the field. Who can tell me whether a research-oriented PhD is overqualifying. Who can tell me what types of jobs I can get (other than academia) with a PhD.

Uncertainty is very stressful for me. I do not like this.

Comments

[tsubaki-ny.livejournal.com]

Oooh, posted again before I saw this. Running out of the library now -- will reread this, think harder, and respond in a bit.

(Also you should be blaming Angeli AT LEAST as much as me, I meant to say!!! Harrumph!)

[feuervogel]

You and Angeli are such enablers!

[a-nightengale.livejournal.com]

LOL. :)

I'm sorry to be so quiet on this discussion; I *am* reading it and I feel for your uncertainty, but as I don't have anything beyond my BA, I'm pretty much useless on giving meaningful suggestions on steps forward. I can commiserate on the "don't know how to get where I want to be" state of mind, though.

[feuervogel]

In comments on dreamwidth, I just figured out that I would happily do a thesis on the integration of Turks (and possibly North Africans?) into German football, starting with Mehmet Scholl and going through Mesut Özil to Ilkay Gündogan, and the youth teams. But I have no idea if that's an acceptable thesis in a German Studies program :(

(It boils down to "I need to ask the right people questions, but I need to figure out what questions to ask so I sound intelligent.")

[tsubaki-ny.livejournal.com]

I'm not laying out a proper and precise plan of action here, but it should be feasible for you to decide on what topic you want your final project to be on (e.g. as you've done above) and then contact/speak to an academic who could advise you on what course/topic to apply for in order to make that happen most efficiently.

[feuervogel]

Dr Layne, the prof I want to work with, did research on leftist skinheads in Berlin (between her BA and MA/PhD), so I hope she'd be able to give good advice on this subject. I just don't want to contact her inappropriately, you know? But they've got email addresses on the website...

I also don't know if this thesis hasn't already been done. I tried googling for lists of German studies PhD theses and eventually found Duke's archive of them, and UMass has a link straight from the departmental website. Other schools make it hard to find... If I had access to the library's journal search, I could see what scholarship already exists on the subject. (I need to go in and get a borrower's card...)