By this summer, I’ll have successfully completed five years of post-secondary education, earning an honours bachelor’s degree in History, and a diploma in Journalism. The tricky part now is deciding whether to continue onward with education, or begin working in a career.
There are some decent career options available for me, and I have sent out applications to many of them. I have also applied to universities (at the undergraduate, and graduate levels) and colleges, just to make sure I keep my options open for the fall of 2010. The question, which I attempted to address in my recent Shield article is, how much education is enough? Is a diploma and a HBA enough? I don’t really know.
Sure, I could find myself in several careers that would be well-suited for me, and offer me a chance to advance, but what would be waiting for me if I took a few more years of education and specialization?
Could I combine the two streams, and hop into a career, while also doing distance/online education to further my studies? Sure, but do I want to juggle both of those demands?
At the moment I work and attend College, and I’ve been able to keep both up without either suffering for it. That being said, the challenge of it does not scare me, but I worry about the enjoyment in it. Would I be happy working full-time, and studying part-time? Who knows.
Today I stumbled upon some more research about Finland (which should not surprise anybody), which suggested that several of its residents speak English, and are accepting of English-speaking people. This discovery led me to once again look up English programs in the Finnish education system. As always, I was attracted to a few of the programs.
I wonder though, is it a pipe dream? Could I honestly travel to Finland for a few years to pursue my graduate degree? Could I leave Sudbury behind, along with my friends and family? I believe that I could.
The issue right now is money. Five years of post-secondary education come with a hefty price tag. My parents have helped me when they could, but I am still left with $19,000 in student debt. That sort of debt has a crippling effect on one’s freedom to pursue higher education abroad. I’ve been wondering if there is some way to get a grant, or some form of money, that would let me pursue my dream, but have so far not found anything.
Maybe if I work for a few years, I could save up enough money to explore educational opportunities in Europe, and not have to worry about the pressure on a student loan anymore.
However, I fear if I do not follow some of my dreams soon, while I am unattached and free, I may never get the chance to do so. Unfulfilled dreams and ambitions seem to be a life-long sentence for regret, and the last thing I want to live with is regret.