Here are some of my preconceived notions before the semester started:
- I would be one of the few males in the class.
- There would be a lot of younger classmates compared to other advanced degrees.
- I could find a full time job and handle the class work with ease.
- My classmates would be considered my "competition" in the future job search.
- Again, I thought there would be tons of young, attractive, bookish females in my classes
The reality:
- Surprisingly, there are a lot more guys in my classes then expected.
- A LOT of my classmates are older, like "coworker-older;" a few of them mentioned that they are in career transitions while other are forced retirees.
- Even though my classes are blended courses (online and face to face), the amount of work for projects and papers is pretty hefty. One of my project's requirements is almost a part time job in itself.
- I never realized the spectrum of careers an MLIS can be used for; quite a few of my classmates are planning to work in law libraries.
- Yeah, I'm fairly disappointed so far with the guy-girl ratio.
Yeah, I had the same misconceptions when entering library school. I thought my classmates would be more young, hip people and not so much midlife crisis career changers.
ReplyDeleteI worked part time because I was going to school full time and I felt like I had two jobs. The workload was hefty, but full of lots of projects that were more time consuming than relevant to "real life" work.
To hear you say that the workload is just that - "busy work," it gives me the extra push to slack just a little bit more. I feel like everything is geared towards those planning to work at the reference desk at public libraries, when the reality is that the majority of people in class will NOT end up there.
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