I ATEN'T DEAD....yet.

[ladymirth]

Once upon a time, when I was young and naive and belived in the goodness of puppies and litte children, I thought I had my life pretty well figured. I was going to transfer from ANC to York University or McMaster in Canada and double major in Anthropology and Mass Communications. I'd get a work permit in Canada and work in Mass Media for a while. I'd help out my parents while they put my sister through her much more expensive biomedical engineering degree, until I had established myself enough to work part-time while doing my Master's degree in Anthropology. Then I would apply for permanent residency in Canada. I'd settle down there and possibly join the Peace Corps, which would mean that I'd get to travel all over the world if I was lucky. 

And now, five and a half months before I'm due to transfer, Reality has Bitten me. Hard. 

Student of U of California: "Anthropology and Mass Communications are both better known as 'Underwater Basket Weaving' degrees. You might want to reconsider."

Director of ANC, Dan Kelch: "Why would you want to go to Canada when the U.S has the better job market, more ethinic diversity, and a higher currency exchange rate? And if the standards of Canadian education are just the same as the U.S's, why do thousands of Candian students come to the U.S for their degrees every year?"

My bleeding history instructor who pulls in 200 grand a month from teaching at ANC: "Canada does encourage the immigration of skilled workers, but I doubt they're hankering after soft-core degree-holders like Anthropologists."

Student: "Well, maybe you could minor in something else, like Economics. Actually, I think you should major in Economics and Anthropology and maybe minor in Mass Comm. Mass Comm is a subject that can be learned practically a lot better than it can be learned theoretically. But of course, doing two majors and a minor will likely kill you."

Student Counselor: "Why York U? Why not universities like Chicago and Maryland, even if you do want to do anthropology?" 

Personal Development Counselor and Psychology instructor, Dr. LeValley: "Whatever you choose, don't drop anthropology. You ARE an anthropologist. It's what you were born to do."

Dad: "You don't know where the world will end up. The world you will enter when you graduate isn't the world that will be in another 20 years time. There's no such thing as job security. Money isn't everything, and it can't buy happiness."

Quotes from Kelch which essentially boil down to: "Life ain't a Disney movie. It's all very well to say "follow your heart", but you've got to take other considerations into account too if it's gonna cost you $20,000 a year. What do you mean, money isn't your primary objective? Look at you. You're a fashionably dressed girl who hasn't paid a bill in your life. Believe me, the moment you start, money will become the primary objective. You can't have your parents invest their entire life savings on you and then get only a measly return on it."

My own inner voice: "Your parents were naive and they were victims of circumstance. If they had kept their eye on the ball rather than their ideals of family loyalty and keeping everybody happy at whatever cost, your family would have already migrated to Canada by now and they'd have been five times richer and they wouldn't have to scrimp and save to put you through college now. Don't fall into the same trap. You know what it's like to live without any financial stability. Or do you want to live in the Rocking Horse Winner your whole life?"

Cousin residing in Aussie: "Have you considered Australia? It's a lot warmer there, and you know you start freezing anytime the thermometer drops past 25 degrees (77 F)."

...

I've been living in a Disney movie. The reality is that I'm going to spend all my parents life savings on getting the inside scoop on underwater basket weaving, then then move into a slum shelter and eat at soup kitchens because nobody will give me a job. Canada is going not going to let me stay because they do not appreciate my mad underwater basket weaving skillz, Australia is not going to let me in because it has enough of those, and the U.S is going to laugh in my face. I'm going to have to come back to Sri Lanka with my tail between my legs and earn back what my parents spent on my college tuition in another thirty years time, if I'm lucky. And I'll be able to do neither the job I love, nor gain a return on my parents investment, nor make a comfortable living for myself. 

Or maybe the gods will grant my wish, I end up being an anthroplogist and I grow to hate the job because I never have enough money and people keep snubbing me for polluting their capitalist, high-powered lifestyle with underwater baskets. 

The day will come when the gods will grow angered at the self-congratulation and self-obsession of us Earthlings, vainglorious in our manipulation of science and nature and rampant in our consumerism. They will send giant tidal waves and earthquakes to submerge the corrupt capitalist civilizations deep under the sea, there to be lost forever more. Then will the people will need underwater baskets to proffer their offerings, swearing their penitence for ever having snubbed the Liberal Arts and begging for mercy and salvation. And there shall be no underwater baskets for them! And they shall be sorry!

But until such time of divine intervention...I'm basically screwed. 

HELP!

 

Comments

[un-sedentary.livejournal.com]

I scoff at the director of ANC... Toronto is known to be the most diverse city in the world, and seriously it shows. Many places in both the US and Canada are breeding grounds for pretty much 99% white Christians (not that I'm against white Christians or anything), while big cities have diverse populations. And Toronto pwns all American cities. So there. ;)

It's all very well to say "follow your heart", but you've got to take other considerations into account too if it's gonna cost you $20,000 a year.

A lot of people study abroad and pay 20k/year for it... in fact, a lot of people NOT studying abroad still pay 20k/year for their education. So it's doable. I refuse to believe every single one of them was born into a family that craps diamonds. So don't let anyone kill your plans... there will always be someone who thinks they have a better plan. Do what you want to and if you fail at least you'll know you followed your own dreams.

For the record, I don't think you can do a double major AND a minor at York... it works out to be too many credits. An honours BA is 120 credits where 6 credits is a full year course. (30 credits/year). A major is usually about 45 credits, so a double would be 85-90; a minor is 24, so together it's 110-115, and you would also need to do 18 General Education credits outside your field, which goes over 120. And you can't do a major and two minors, either, which is just teh stupid and what we call "getting Yorked." -_- It should be possible, though, I think, to do a major/minor and a 24-credit certificate program, which would count as a qualification (I'm doing a certificate in teaching English as a foreign language, though I'm also putting English down as my minor, heh).

Doing a double-major won't kill you in terms of workload, as it's the same amount of credits you'd usually do, but while it sometimes doesn't matter if, say, you get a C in a first-year elective philosophy course, you'd have to keep all your grades up. And if you plan to stay here for the summers, you can totally take some of your courses in the summer semester(as long as they are offerred in the summer, that is), so your regular yearly credit load is lighter (and since you pay by credits, it wouldn't cost you extra).

Sorry if I just repeated things you already knew, I know that can be really annoying. I really hope you don't let anyone destroy your plans. *hugs*

[ladymirth.livejournal.com]

I ran a google search, and it says Toronto is the most diverse city, f you discount the U.S. Anyhow, that's good enough for me. I stayed there for a couple of weeks when I was visiting my uncle. It was weird for me to fathom that this was a big city. Having lived in a hopelessly overcrowded, underdeveloped city for most of my life, there were two thoughts in my head right after I arrived in Toronto: a) My God this place is big! b)Where are all the people?!

I kid you not.

Anywho, I loved Toronto, but I loved Ottawa even more. I basically just fell in love with Ottawa. It was so purrrty! *sigh* *cuddles Ottawa*

Thank you so much for all the info about York! I actually did not know any of that stuff (yes, my research sucketh. That'll teach me to go spastic without having all the facts in hand!) and I find the certificate program thingy extremely interesting. Must explore that.

There's no way I can stay over the summers though. I would die of Boy withdrawal. A girl's gotta make time for love, after all. ;-D

**hugs you** Wouldn't it be awesome if we met up next year? **squee**

[un-sedentary.livejournal.com]

I've never actually been to Ottawa! But I hear it's pretty. The river freezes in the winter and becomes the world's longest natural ice-skating rink. There are universities there too, though - University of Ottawa, Carleton (well, near it).

No problem about the info! If you need any more info, don't hesitate to ask. ;) And you can also dump your questions upon yorku. The certificate programs are specific, so look up if anything you want to study is offerred in cert. form.

We have boys here, ya know. ;) Even very pretty ones.

And yes, it would AWESOME if we did, and I have to admit 10% of my encouragement has an ulterior motive *g* But I truly do hope you'll do this for yourself as well. *HUGS*