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[Hastur]

Fake your death, start a black market business, move to a socialist country and marry a citizen. Profit. I'd add Bankrupcy but i dont know how that works.

[Astral]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXGELjbc&feature=player_embedded

This song, for whatever insane reason, always gives me a faint bit of hope on my endeavors, in addition to a good number of goosebumps. Like one uploader said "Like a religious experience, but without the delusion."

[Phmcw]

Graduate alone is useless, but there is still hopes : try to apply for a master abroad.
France, Belgium, Germany, and generally northern Europe have good university and are a lot cheaper than America's. In some case, provided you pass the entery examination, you get paid to do your studies.
http://www.ens.fr/spip.php?article155
This is the relevant section of the ens' website. I'm not sure you're eligible, but from what I've seen it seems so.

[zilpin]

Of all your courses, you managed to pick two degrees which have little demand in the workforce.

With all those extra classes, I'd recommend a graduate program.
Be sure to finish out all those extra minors.
Aim for your PHD.  You will make crap money, but if you keep your expenses low and don't mind the debt, it's a good life for someone who loves to learn.  What's better than getting paid for going to school?  (albeit poorly)

While at it, you may consider talking with the folks in the ROTC office.
Strategists and logistics planners are needed.

[Vector]

If you go for a PhD in math, pretty much all of your expenses will be paid for (in many cases) and, once you've finished it, you'll be extremely valuable.  Everyone wants someone whose degree is pretty much in concise communication and problem-solving.

That said, it sounds like you're burned out, so maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea to go for.  It's a lot of work in the best of situations.

Something to think about down the road, though, just in case.

[Solifuge]

Sadly, I'd be lucky to  be allowed to clean the floors at Nasa. You'd need a Ph.D or Masters, and even then its pretty stiff competition. I even broke down and tried applying for about 6 civilian military jobs. Signal Analysis, etc. Didn't get any of them. For one of the positions, 240 people applied....I did manage to make it into round 2/3 of the selections though.

I've searched Monster.com and Craigslist.com like mad, but find nothing, or no-one replies to me. Most of the jobs I don't even qualify for, because they want an engineer or 4+  years of experience, and the ones I do qualify for, I never hear back on. I havn't filtered by area at all...I'd go anywhere, I just want a real job.

If you want to be able to just start doing your own research, you pretty much need to get a Masters Degree or higher, yes. If you don't want to go that route, you'll need to find a way to get your foot in the door somewhere that would allow you to get into a job or career you'd like.

Internships are a good direction to go... in fact, on the NASA note, I met one of their recruiters at an experimental aircraft show a year or so back, and she mentioned a lot of internships for Bachelors-holders in a number of disciplines. Heck, I could get work there as a Biology Graduate, doing research on the effects of zero gravity on plant and animal development. I'd wager you could find relevant work as well. (EDIT: Link 1, Link 2)

Another alternative for you; while your knowledge and credits are fresh, go back and get a duel/triple major while you look for work. That way, you can keep deferring your student loans (you're still a student) and use the credits you have to net yourself another degree or two, while you wait for a snazzy job to pop up. A good friend of mine is doing that... he just went back to school to get a Bio degree while he waits to get into med school, after snagging one in Environmental Law/Policy and Pre-Medicine.

[Zrk2]

So thsi is what I get to look forward to? Shit. Hopefully over the next seven years (ish) it clears up so I can get a real job.

[forsaken1111]

So thsi is what I get to look forward to? Shit. Hopefully over the next seven years (ish) it clears up so I can get a real job.

Don't despair, it's really hit or miss. Luck is a large factor.

That said, some people like me with no degree can get excellent jobs as well.

[Footkerchief]

If you go for a PhD in math, pretty much all of your expenses will be paid for (in many cases) and, once you've finished it, you'll be extremely valuable.  Everyone wants someone whose degree is pretty much in concise communication and problem-solving.

I think "everyone" is a little optimistic.  If you pursue math, career paths will close up.  Almost every department has a pitch about how valuable and versatile their graduates are.

[MonkeyHead]

I am an honours degree space physics graduate. I was in the same situation. Bar work forever, scraping by on a bit of lab teaching or researh assistanting here or there. I tried teaching. 7 years later i am still doing it, fucking good at it (despite clearly being mental I am trusted to train other Physics grads how to teach...), and loving it. In the UK if you are a Physics grad people will kill to get you teaching Physics.

[Vector]

If you go for a PhD in math, pretty much all of your expenses will be paid for (in many cases) and, once you've finished it, you'll be extremely valuable.  Everyone wants someone whose degree is pretty much in concise communication and problem-solving.

I think "everyone" is a little optimistic.  If you pursue math, career paths will close up.  Almost every department has a pitch about how valuable and versatile their graduates are.

Bah, you're right.  I was thinking of a very specific everyone.

Let me put it this way: A lot of jobs (as far as I know) have a heavy emphasis on problem-solving and communication, as well as non-laziness.  I've heard (on NPR, a few years ago) that there's in fact a large number of companies that are going exclusively for music and math people, because "it's the only thing you can't fake."

That said, you probably would need to develop a number of applied secondary skills to get those opened positions.  A math major is an excellent background.  A math major who knows no programming at all, trying to get a coding job... not so great.  I guess that what I'm saying is that it seems like you have an equally great theoretical background, and it might behoove you to take one of those not-so-fabulous jobs for a while to work on applied skills in the evenings.

Meh.  I hope that makes more sense.  I wasn't really thinking straight when I posted last time.

[Footkerchief]

That said, you probably would need to develop a number of applied secondary skills to get those opened positions.  A math major is an excellent background.  A math major who knows no programming at all, trying to get a coding job... not so great.  I guess that what I'm saying is that it seems like you have an equally great theoretical background, and it might behoove you to take one of those not-so-fabulous jobs for a while to work on applied skills in the evenings.

Oh yeah, then we're on the same page.  CS is similar, to a lesser degree -- it's hard to go through the major without picking up some general programming skills, but you spend so much time on theory (and math) that you have to keep an eye out for the internships and few classes that'll give you real career skills.

[Grakelin]

If you're as great at school as you say you are, you could try getting scholarships for a Master's and Ph. D program. You can try to pay off the debt from undergrad by doing TA work. It will be tight, but, hey, your life already is.

[Spreggo]

At least you didn't go to art school. I know people who went to art school and are in the same amount (or more) of debt as you. And they didn't even learn how to draw.

But yeah, from what I understand you need to get in a program for your Master's and get on a research team.

P.S. It is a scam. Education will not make you - you need to go out and grab life directly by the balls and twist them in order to get anything. Abandon the student mentality. Time to take orders from yourself.

[Virex]

Note that the American dream is only supposed to work for newspaper delivery boys, not for students.


What exactly have you been trying to do so far? You might just have been looking in the wrong places.