On the off chance that anyone not related to me stumbles upon this I'll start with a little introduction.
I got my BA back in the day in Broadcasting. I liked shooting and editing things. But before I settled down I wanted to have an adventure so I went to Slovakia for 2 years and taught English. That was everything I wanted it to be. But when I came back it felt like too much of an unrelated bunch of time so I went off to Ithaca College and got an MS in Corporate Communications. It was a lot of instructional design and corporate training and this new (at the time) world of the web. I do not regret that degree. It got me exactly what I wanted which was 15 years of making educational media.
For the last 4 years I've been doing that as a freelancer. What I've discovered is that to be successful you have to be a good business person, not just good at what you do. It hasn't quite worked out the way I wanted. So I looked at all the work I've been doing lately and what I liked best that I might want my next "day job" to be. Well, I've been teaching as an adjunct professor (which means part time only) at George Washington University and I like that a lot. It's not just getting to do the stuff I love, but also getting to teach others to do the stuff I love. What I've discovered though is that I can't teach production full time because I have the wrong degree. It requires an MFA (or a PhD but that's more for the theory folks than the production folks). And not just for GW, but for every opening for a professor that I've been able to find.
At first I thought, I don't want another masters degree, I've already got one. But after much thought I realized that if teaching is something I really want then the MFA will be worth it. And if I can find the right school where they will have a lot to teach me and I can really grow as a filmmaker in addition to just getting the degree then it will not only be worth it, but fun as well. And so here I am, 21 years after getting my bachelors degree, going back to school.
I think it'll be fantastic.
Three cheers for you! I am very proud of you for taking this courageous step in life. Its going to be a lot of hard work for sure, but hopefully very much fun as well. Glad you decided to blog so we can keep up with what you are working on and (hear how Boston is too).
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