Posted on 02/24/2005 9:12:40 AM PST by Willie Green
A waitress at one of my favorite Strip District restaurants last week used one of the industry's oldest cliches. She delivered a meal and reminded me that she "really didn't do this" for a living.
Waiting tables, she explained, was simply something she was doing until a well-paying job opened up in the field she studied during six years in college.
While this is rote conversation for wait staff in places like New York and Los Angeles, where everyone with a tray of linguini in their hands is waiting for a slot on NBC's "Fear Factor," it's unusual for Pittsburgh.
Or is it?
The waitress, it turns out, spent all that time and nearly $150,000 of her family's money studying social sciences, but after graduating she became disappointed with the entry-level salary of her chosen field.
"I can make, like, twice what I'd make as a social worker waiting tables," she confided, "so I'm probably going to just stay here."
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
$140,000 starting salary at some law firms these days. That's a lot of scratch for a 25 or 26 year old.
KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD
Hmmm mmm mmm. I do stair work and hills. Got taught a little yoga on three different occassions. Great for bringing on immediate relaxing effect and for alleviating pain. I do not have a "yoga" body.
I can kinda identify with where this woman is coming from.
My degree is in Political Science. Most Pol Sci jobs paid terribly and I wasn't willing to wait for something really nice to open...so I looked elsewhere and work for a stock brokerage firm.
Yeah, Washington DC is probably more fun than sitting in a cubicle but the pay is much better right now.
Tuitions about 11,000 a year if you don't need room and board. If your mom or dads a Penn State Employee its about 75% off that. :,)
That's fine by me. As long as engineers, software developers, business people, and other "hard scientists" continue to be completely unable to communicate in English, this liberal arts undergraduate major and liberal arts graduate degree holder will always have a well-paying job.
I think that the dance/college question will solve itself because if your daughter isn't dancing professionally by age 18, she never will. The road into that field is through the professional children's school of a major dance company (I think that New York's American Ballet Theater has one, and I know the Houston Ballet has one-- most other major companies do as well, I believe.) If that isn't an avenue available to your daughter, for whatever reason, then her chances of making it professionally are almost non-existent. The good thing, though, is that she'll know it early enough that she can find another career field.
Of course, just because someone can't dance professionally doesn't mean that she can't make a living in the field-- she could start her own local dance school, work for a major company in a non-dance job, etc.. But like any performing field, there will be very, very few stars, a few more minor performers (chorus for a few years), and a LOT of people who wanted it but just didn't have what it took. For ballet, you know, a big part of that is just the right body style-- if someone has that, I think the next big requirement is a passionate desire.
Good luck to her!
She's not elite college material.
I am about 9 months away from finishing my dissertation work myself and will be thinking good thoughts for you as you get ready to graduate.
What field are you in? I read that, with a little thought, academics in almost any field can do some consulting on the side, it isn't limited to the obvious fields like business or ed. Maybe once you get your feet wet you can start consulting and increase your income? Also, some of the online schools will take people with masters degrees to teach online courses. This might be more doable for you w/6 kids than adjuncting at the local community college, but you could try that for extra money as well.
I don't have 6 kids, but I was widowed young and have had to take care of my 1 boy so I kind of have an idea what you're going thru. Hang in there.
..and "Sometime, A degree is just a piece of Paper" author unknown THE LITTLE BLUE BOOK of Reason"
Well, it IS one of the growing service sector opportunities in Dubya's vision of NWO globalism.
Why invest in any other career when official US government policy is to either outsource your skills or undermine them with cheap, immigrant labor?
"Plan to get my P.E. one of these days"
Do it sooner, not later. Never hurts to professionalize.
Any bachelor degree that doesn't come with a certification or a license is merely a preliminary degree to an advanced degree that does come with a certification or a license.
If there isn't some form of certification or license at the end of the road, then you are right...best to call it a hobby.
You might not like the salary of a teacher, but it is a salary.
A mechanic can do very well in auto mechanics. The key is to be honest and own your shop. The money is there.
As for trades my younger brother does wood trim work for yachts. He makes a gob of money.
If he loves cars and you want him to go to college check out Clemson University in South Carolina. Great school.
Some of the dumbest people I have met have phD's.
Some of the most intelligent people I have met have a High School education.
Bottom line, you only get out of an education what you put into it.
Even the dumbest beast can graduate from medical school if he or she is tenacious enough. But it won't make them a good doctor.
Conversely, Being at the top of you class in Medical School won't necessarily make you a great doctor.
A college should teach you how to think critically and refine that process for you. The paper only really means something to someone who is as shallow as the paper.
On a separate topic related to college students and cost or dept from their college years, the credit card companies have really started to prey upon them and many leave college already in negative financial growth most likely also picked up by the parents. With the value of the dollar in decline and those who finance our national dept in the area of credit cards seeking higher or equal returns, it will require higher interest rates on these credit cards. With the higher interest rates whether initial, increased by late payments, or by changes in the laws that may restrict the limit of the interest rates, students could face interest rates double or more of the current rates. This would concern everyone with a credit card but my point is refined to college students. If anyone knows this to be untrue feel free to correct me.
From the website:
Vision: To create a university that equips its graduates both with the skills and confidence to build and participate in sustainable businesses, and with a dynamic orthodoxy of faith for passionate practice in the work place and marketplace.
Mission and Core Purpose: NCU will shape innovators, leaders and entrepreneurs at the intersections of business, technology and communications media, guided by the spiritual, moral and social teachings of Jesus Christ
~~~~~~
There is a huge need for this type of college. There are enough Liberal Arts majors who are working in minimum wage jobs.
Sad to say but not true..... WPI is at nearly 40,000 a year including room and board and that's a
technical school, hardly "elite". Ivy League is more like 60k at this point...
Well, some. My mother has been a professional dancer for 50 years, but on the contemporary dance side, not ballet. So you need to take this with the understanding that conditions may be different on the ballet side (there's probably more money for salaries, for one thing - which ain't saying much. Dance is not for folks who want to make a killing, or even a good living. Mom always relied on the fact that my dad worked too to put food on the table, or we probably would have all starved!)
Dance is very, very hard to break into. Your daughter has to be old enough to realize what a life-changing decision this is, and she has to really have the fire in the belly to put up with the dull scut work of being low man on the totem pole for YEARS, with very little pay and extremely stressful working conditions. There's also the problem of her health - anorexia and on the job injuries could not only end her career, they could trouble her for the rest of her life.
You don't say how old she is, or where you live, but here's what I would do. If she is studying with a teacher connected with a dance company, I would meet with her teacher and the director of the company and get a brutally realistic assessment of her talent, body type (this is crucial in ballet, less so in CD), work ethic, and her chances of "making it" as a professional dancer in a regional or local company. If her instructor is not affiliated with a company, I would make an appointment with the director or ballet master of a local company and ask for an evaluation/consultation. Offer to pay a consultation fee.
If the signs are right and she is really determined to make a go of it, you should look into apprenticeships/scholarships offered by local or regional companies. There's no point in looking at the national companies unless she has a really incredible talent - and I assume she doesn't because she would already be being recruited in that case. Most companies have periodic auditions for apprenticeship spots.
The important things are to have a heart-to-heart with her teacher and to research the positions that might be available to her.
If she isn't willing to go to the wall for dance, there are plenty of alternatives. Plenty of good colleges offer a dance program that you can participate in while you're working towards a degree in something a little more practical.
I took that route myself. I am physically not cut out to be a dancer - short and stocky with a long torso and short legs, the exact opposite of what you need (I took after my dad, but my daughter is leggy and willowy like my mom. My son is short and stocky like my dad and me. So relieved it didn't turn out the other way!) So I took courses in dance at my college and graduated with an Honors degree in History (went on to law school) and a Certificate in Theatre and Dance. I enjoyed myself and kept up my dance, and I have continued to dance socially (in Scottish Country Dancing, which is a blast, and you can keep it up into your old age.)
FWIW, a friend's daughter was very into ballet in high school (to the point that she was dancing star roles in a regional company) but she decided to go to business school. She may eventually get into the dance business, but not on the performance end.
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