Help me decide how to live my life: plans for the future

[charloween]

Plan one (or A): go to Glasgow next year, do a one-year MLitt in Television Studies, apply to direct-entry PhD programs in the US this fall before I head off. This plan is contingent on my getting any scholarship money. Required: $30K, gathered all in the next few months. I also won't be able to keep my current job this summer, as you have to be a returning as a full-time student in the fall to have this particular job.

However, it's totally critical that I find an awesome full-time job this summer that will pay me lots and lots. I'll have to apply for more OSAP, take out a line of credit of my own and pray-pray-pray that I can find a job when I get there so I can afford to live on more than instant ramen. It's possible to go, but I'll just be living on way tighter means that I have been.

Plan two (or B): stay in Toronto next year, do a two-year MA at York, apply to the US PhD programs for fall 2010, also apply to various UK schools' PhD programs for the same timeframe. This is attractive because I don't have to move, and will also mean zero financial issues. Getting a job this summer isn't that much of an issue if I do this one because I can keep my current one. I also don't need to scrape together that $30K for July.

If I stay for school in the fall, I don't need to do paid work at all, and could apply to an internship with the Toronto International Film Festival. Staying at York is probably a dumb move, because it looks really bad when I go to get hired some place, to see that I did multiple levels of degrees at the same school.

Plan three (or C): stay in Toronto, don't go to school, and work for the year. I can defer the Glasgow admission until September 2009, and use the time to work and save money to go away. This is the least attractive, because I'll have to start paying back my OSAP and will only be able to save about a third of what I need. At that rate, I'd probably keep putting it off and never go. I'll apply to the fall 2009 US direct-entry programs in this plan, too. I'll just probably never make it to Scotland.

Summary: three plans, all depending on different things. What kind of job I'll get in May, what kind of scholarship applications I wrote back in November, what kind of debt I'm willing to carry into my next degree, what impact I think this choice will have on my career and future hireability.

I visited my parents this weekend and talked to them both about this; they've offered to let me use as much as I can on their line of credit, as a loan. This may make it possible to get to Scotland. I'm just not sure how I feel about taking their money. I never have before - all of my education so far has been paid for by my wages, OSAP loans and scholarships.

I think the actual plan so far is to see how I do for scholarships (and seriously, there needs to be four digits minimum in this) and then decide from there. I've emailed Glasgow to ask about entrance scholarships, and to find out if I'm totally out of the running because I'm an international student. They may be waiting for my final grades to come through. I seem to be totally fucked, but once they get back from their Easter break I'll hear back for sure.

The results of the scholarship stuff won't be released until this time next month. The for-sure thing that I have to do now is to stop worrying about all this, apply to lots of jobs, hope like hell I get the RED Zone job at York because that would make life so much easier and (oh yeah) finish the five papers I still have left to write (one this week, one next week, the other three the week after that). And stop thinking (fretting, worrying) about what country I'll be living in this fall.

So.
[Poll #1158839]

The one certain thing out of all of this mess, though, is that Mum and I will for sure be going to England to see David Tennant and Patrick Stewart on stage in Hamlet. Whether this is a vacation, separate and complete, or the two of us taking a week to do tourist things before I go up to school, it's a locked deal. Maybe we'll see it twice! Bwahahaaaa.

Comments

[guitarromantic.livejournal.com]

I was gonna go with #3 until I saw the part about repaying loans. Over here our student loans aren't repaid until a couple of years after you graduate and when you're earning over £15,000/year or something (and even then it's something like a maximum of £20/month I think).

I want to do an MA somewhere but I'm too poor, so option 3 is for me: work, save up, and eventually get educated somewhere new. Definitely do the abroad thing through, it must be so fucking cool, especially for an anglophile like yourself. Plus we could hang out!

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

A couple of years? Damn. We've got six months, and then BAM. The other kicker is the banks don't let their student line of credit be used outside of the country. If I go that route, I'm paying on interest from the word go.

#3 would be the no-brainer if a Film BA had more earning power than it does. As it is, man... I'll be lucky to make rent and loan payments, let alone all the rest of it.

On the money thing: check out US schools. They're hellishly competitive, but if you get in they waive tuition and give you a nice stipend. That's why I'm looking at heading there eventually.

But yes - we could so hang out! And it's not that I'm an anglophile, it's just that UK television is superior in every way to the American stuff. I can't help it. :)

[guitarromantic.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's about the only good thing in the whole loan fiasco. The government recently tripled the maximum amount that a university can charge for tuition fees and although I luckily started uni a year before that (so pay the old rates), everyone a year younger than me is getting shafted. I'm sure I read somewhere that if we move out of the country permanently, our loan repayments are cancelled. Woo!

I guess compared to the States (not sure about Canada), we do have a better deal, in that the maximum any uni can charge you (as a home student) is ~£3000/year, so you won't pay more for an education from, say, Oxford, as opposed to Grimsby Polytechnic, as long as you have the skillz to get in.

The UK is just superior to the US in general! It's that simple.

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

And as an international student, tuition for a Master's is £9000 (if I was going for an MD it could be upwards of £27K, which is pure madness).

The inverse kind of happened in Ontario: the government changed how it assesses financial need, with the changes being brought in the year after me. Some kids are getting up to 75% of their tuition ($5500/year) essentially waived. Alas, not me. But I think even if you die, your parents have to pay back your loans. Also, pure madness.

Canadian tuition is a bit lower because all our schools get cash from the government to keep it capped. American students sometimes find that paying international fees up here is cheaper than staying at home.

North America does have a lower cost of living. But that's about it. (And - if I can be political for a second - after 5 years in Iraq, most of the world can feel superior to the US.)

[philthe25th.livejournal.com]

Unger wants to do a benefit concert so that you can go to Glasgow and won't accept no for an answer. When I told him you might stay at York he was all "No Phil, we have to make her go. Have to."

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

I will attend this concert. Though, the number of people telling me to get the hell out of Canada is starting to get scary.

'Cause when I go, I'll be gone for like seven years. Except for visits. Yikes.

[firstgold.livejournal.com]

Speaking from me, I would go for A. C is the plan I'm currently on, and I feel trapped. And it's only going to get worse, because once the student loans get paid off, there's retirement to save for. And then possibly buying a place to live instead of renting. There will always be something that gets in the way of going back to school.

B ... I wouldn't think that it is strictly looked down up as bad ... unless you actually want to work at York. If anything, it is a good back up option to A if you can't get the scholarships/bursaries/funds that you need to execute that plan.

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

I hear what you say about feeling trapped (though maybe for a slightly different reason). With a lot of this it feels like my power to make decisions is being taken away, and someone else is directing it all. I like A the best, I'm just not sure yet if it's all that smart.

I don't think that I'll work for the year, not unless I get an incredibly sweet job that pays, like, not-student wages.

B (or 2)* is iffy. I've had a heart-to-heart with Important People Who Know Things and came away from it putting York at the bottom of the MA list. And I would like to work at York someday. York or one of the three universities in Toronto. (sigh)

[firstgold.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see re: B (or 2). *hugs*

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

Silly world and it not operating the way I want it to.

[vulgus.livejournal.com]

OH GOD I JUST DON'T KNOW.

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

PICK ONE.

And who knows, if I get into Berkeley or NYU we could make a game of "let's visit Char as she lives in interesting places".

[vulgus.livejournal.com]

FINE. MY CHOICE IS SCOTLAND.

although it pains me TERRIBLY, because you'd be in a different country, i feel as though it would be the most unique experience.

while everything else would also be great, if you could get the money together, this would be really cool. i mean, you have the fucking chance to go to scotland, do it.

also- this is the best chance to bring me back a scottish husband. you know that this is ultimately what you're doing this for. let's be honest here.

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

*hangs head* Yeah. You're actually right on the money with that.

On the upside, you could visit me! And we could go boy-shopping together! Yay?

[ksaldria.livejournal.com]

Based on my limited knowledge of your situation, I would choose plan B (two) because it appears to be the most flexible. I don't know how student loans work up in Canada but here in the US it's best to avoid them if at all possible :/

Of course, it looks like the plan you decide on depends on how soon/desperately you want to move. If you really want to get out there and you're ready to explore new places I say go for it.

Also, you're going to England to see David Tennant and Patrick Stewart in Hamlet?! I...I have no words. I am so jealous.

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's DT in Hamlet and Love's Labours Lost. Claudius and Hamlet only have a few scenes together, which means there will always be awesome on stage. :D

Good point about how soon I want to move: I've got a great apartment and great roommate, but there's no real reason to stay other than I've got a great thing going on. Hmmm. Another piece of the puzzle.

And the loans are scary, but a necessary evil thus far. The government ones have a six-month grace period before I start having to pay interest. As in, six months from when I'm no longer a full-time student. Woo.

[squonk.livejournal.com]

I really, really, really don't think you should pass up going to Glasgow. I'm afraid you might regret it. :(

I know this is very easy for me to say, as I don't have to raise $30k. But I bet you could do it, yes I do. In addition to scholarships, you could hold a bake sale! And charge a thousand dollars a brownie!

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

And charge a thousand dollars a brownie!

HA! *splorfle* Yes. Very yes. "No, that's not a mistake on the decimal point. You bit into it before you paid. Now fork over the cash, boy." I love it. :D

I wish I knew if I was getting any scholarships. SIGH. /whine

[0skylark0.livejournal.com]

I'm the cautious stay-at-home type, so take my choice with a grain of salt. Personally I'd choose B, because it's the one that keeps you moving ahead without plunging horribly into debt. I'm also in the midst of a C-type thing and god knows I've been regretting it every day that I come to work.

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your honesty. The more I look at it, the less I want to work for a year. Still. There's been so much good advice on both sides (all sides!) that I'm confuzzled.

You've done a Master's, right? How did you decide where to go?

[0skylark0.livejournal.com]

Don't I wish! I wussed out of doing my Masters this year because I was swamped by my Honors and afraid of the application work. Now I'm wishing I'd gone through! When I was contemplating applications, though, I looked at 1) do they have the right kind of biology for me there (I like genetics, so botany profs or such would be a no-go) and 2) do I want to live there. It made a short list since I don't want to travel far!

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

The application process was sure effing scary. I was lucky enough to have a professor who helped me along with everything, but it was definitely a crazy stressful process while also doing my honours stuff. However... I'm really glad I did it.

I'll get back to you in the fall, but I think that grad school sounds pretty awesome. Better than getting a "real job", anyway. I think you should apply!