Today is my first day back. I've got seventeen and a half credits, but it looks like a light load on paper. I've still got a lot of things that need figuring out. Here's issue numero uno: what the hell am I doing with my life?
Yeah, so that's the question I need to answer in the next week or two. Here's my deal: I already have a degree. I finished my B.A. at William & Mary in English in 2006. The only reason I majored in English was because I couldn't make up my mind what to study and I thought English would be the easiest thing for me to finish (William & Mary throws you out after four year, degree or no, so I didn't have time to waste soul searching or whatever). Great reason to go to school, I know. Well, somewhere along the line I decided that I'd missed my calling to formally study music. I've been playing guitar for more than ten years, it's the most important thing in my life other than Wicca (and family, blah, blah, blah). I moved to North Carolina SPECIFICALLY to go to Central and study jazz. I worked for a year, qualified as in-state, and a year later, here I am: a sophomore jazz studies major with another two years of undergrad ahead of her.
Cue life trauma! The economy goes to hell and my already nebulous vocation of choice becomes even more nebulous. Freak Out! So I decide to declare a double major in English Education and Jazz Studies, that way I can finish what I came here to do and still get a degree in something that (hopefully?) guarantees a job post-graduation. The downside is that my William & Mary English degree does not transfer cleanly into Central's illustrious literature program:
Advisor: I've been going over your transcripts. We can transfer most of your degree, but you'll have to take World Literature I, and Public Speaking. Oh, and Grammar I. We couldn't find any record of you having taken grammar at W&M.
Me: Uh, William & Mary doesn't offer grammar classes as part of their English program.
Advisor: That's odd.
Me: I think they pretty much just assume we've already learned it.
So I have to take remedial classes before I can start on the education requirements. In other words, two years might become three years. I can't decide if this is okay or not. It seems like an awful lot of time and money to spend on Plan B.
Secretly I'm praying that in the next couple of years, more universities will have a Pagan Studies degree (instead of just "Religion and Nature" down in Florida) and I can just drop everything else and do what I really want to do.
Tags: School
