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S'alright, time for the make-or-break moment. I have a Plan.
I've learned that I do enjoy teaching. I just finished a trial year (okay, three students in the fall, one independent-study student in the spring), but I've got another year lined up (ten students, come the fall!). I'm pretty confident that I can teach at a high school level (though I'd probably prefer a private school); I would probably do better teaching college level. But, I've become comfortable with choosing teaching as my next career phase.
So... next week, I'm going to start tracking down friendly faculty (i.e. those who know me on a first-name basis, there's a sizable handful) in the Microbio/Immuno department here on campus, and broach the following idea:
I'll return to grad school, here at UM, and get the PhD. Given that I survived four years at a harder school, I don't want to go through all of the bloody stupid prelims--especially rotations or qualifying exams. I'd only want to work with my current boss, and I've already a half-dozen potential project ideas in mind, so I can easily work a full proposal up out of one (or several) of those. And I'm not interested in gearing up for research post-docs--I'll be doing it only for the purpose of being able to teach anywhere, from high-school up through graduate-level classes. I'll do classwork to make up the difference between my extant transcript and the desired spread here, but otherwise, it'll be education classes.
Given that of the faculty to whom I'm familiar, one of them's the department chair, and another's one of the longest-serving, and most respected in the department, if I can get their support, I just might pull the sucker off the way I'm planning. My boss is already gung-ho about the idea--in fact, when I told her, she gave a shout of joy (guess she likes me).
That's Plan A. If that one looks like it's not going to work, I'll go with Plan B, and go hit up Eastern Michigan's post-baccalaureate program for a teaching certificate. (EMU is generally considered one of the best teaching-focused colleges in the country, so I should be learning a lot)
In either case, once I'm done with the program, I'm leaving Michigan, and heading back to the West Coast (sorry, New England, but the folks are there, and getting up in years). So, around 3-4 years from now, I should be done (though the EMU program might be significantly shortened, given my extant classwork).
A Plan, Options, and a Direction. Doing alright, I think.
I've learned that I do enjoy teaching. I just finished a trial year (okay, three students in the fall, one independent-study student in the spring), but I've got another year lined up (ten students, come the fall!). I'm pretty confident that I can teach at a high school level (though I'd probably prefer a private school); I would probably do better teaching college level. But, I've become comfortable with choosing teaching as my next career phase.
So... next week, I'm going to start tracking down friendly faculty (i.e. those who know me on a first-name basis, there's a sizable handful) in the Microbio/Immuno department here on campus, and broach the following idea:
I'll return to grad school, here at UM, and get the PhD. Given that I survived four years at a harder school, I don't want to go through all of the bloody stupid prelims--especially rotations or qualifying exams. I'd only want to work with my current boss, and I've already a half-dozen potential project ideas in mind, so I can easily work a full proposal up out of one (or several) of those. And I'm not interested in gearing up for research post-docs--I'll be doing it only for the purpose of being able to teach anywhere, from high-school up through graduate-level classes. I'll do classwork to make up the difference between my extant transcript and the desired spread here, but otherwise, it'll be education classes.
Given that of the faculty to whom I'm familiar, one of them's the department chair, and another's one of the longest-serving, and most respected in the department, if I can get their support, I just might pull the sucker off the way I'm planning. My boss is already gung-ho about the idea--in fact, when I told her, she gave a shout of joy (guess she likes me).
That's Plan A. If that one looks like it's not going to work, I'll go with Plan B, and go hit up Eastern Michigan's post-baccalaureate program for a teaching certificate. (EMU is generally considered one of the best teaching-focused colleges in the country, so I should be learning a lot)
In either case, once I'm done with the program, I'm leaving Michigan, and heading back to the West Coast (sorry, New England, but the folks are there, and getting up in years). So, around 3-4 years from now, I should be done (though the EMU program might be significantly shortened, given my extant classwork).
A Plan, Options, and a Direction. Doing alright, I think.
