Now that AcDec is over for seniors, what are you all planning to do with your lives?

I'm going the University of Virginia to major in Comparative Literature and Middle Eastern Studies. From there, I'm hoping to become an editor in a publishing house.

(I hope this is the proper forum for this!)

I'll be at ASU, majoring in Secondary Ed. in History, and probably picking up a minor or two in either Developmental Biology, Asian Languages, Architectural Studies, or something. I want to travel abroad over the summers, and maybe teach a year or two internationally after I'm done with college.

Oh, and I'll be assistant coaching Mountain Pointe's team :]

Wallow in self pity.

Or, become an artist.

Oh wait-

lol Chloe...

After my senior year, I went to UT Austin, eventually majored in History, got certified to teach Math and History, taught Junior High Math then English and History, left teaching for seven years in the IT industry, including 2.5 years supporting Microsoft Exchange, went back to teaching at the high school I graduated from, and found myself in China a few years after that after meeting DDD.

Along the way, I got married (21 years and counting) and had four children. I never stopped learning and every time I had an interview or had to give a speech, my mind flashed back to Academic Decathlon...

.. Was it difficult to get certified to teach without getting a degree in education? D: I really don't want to major in Secondary Ed, because it means all but abandoning history classes my junior/senior year to take a bunch of ridiculous educational theory classes - e.g. "Computers in the K-12 Classroom" - but .. I don't know how difficult it would be to NOT major in education, then get certified, then teach.

Hari, check into the possibility of majoring in history, and then getting your certification as part of a masters program. It will allow you to take more good classes and fewer bad (i.e. education) classes while you're getting your degree. A master's degree will also move you up on the pay scale and make you a bit more sellable in the secondary education world.

I'm off to Barrett at ASU to double major in Economics and Biological Sciences in Genetics, Cell and Developmental Biology.

For the first time, I don't really feel like I have a path I'm trying to follow, which scares me. What will I do with my life? I have no idea. In four years, I can go to med school, law school, work in econ and then go get an MBA, work on a PhD in econ or genetics, or go straight to work in genetics. I'm really at a loss for what I want to do with my life, but hopefully in four years I'll know. I have all sorts of activities and extracurriculars lined up to get involved in and a million things for me to do (study abroad, work for the Attorney General and hopefully work on his campaign for governor, parliamentary debate, etc.), but I'm sort of operating on inertia for the time being. I'll have to self-motivate myself towards something...but I don't know what towards.

Well, I'm a year out, but I think this is sorta relevant. I plan on majoring in economics, with either a minor or double major in history. After talking to my aunt (principal at PHS), she told me I can just take the basic 12 hours of UTeach to get in to teaching. However, I would probably work on my masters over the summers. Is this legit?

I hope one day to have as successful a post-Decathlon life as zzzptm. So far, it hasn't been going all that well for me, and I'm currently in a pretty bad sinkhole without much of a life at all. My advice is to be sensible in the risks you take and make sure to fully commit yourself to whatever you do. There's a lot of great opportunities out there in both academic and personal senses; make sure to pick some and take full advantage of them. (Very vague, I know.)

I will be attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University here in Prescott majoring in Global Securities ans Intelligence Studies.
GSIS is like the social science/land and lit of the world. You have to know everything about a lot of places and understand how terrorists work and what not. It's a FBI CIA training degree, but would be a good start for a masters in history.

And I will be assistant coaching PHS' AcaDec team. Maybe I will see you in Kingman and at states, Hari.

In Texas, certification on the secondary level comes with a set of courses that are separate from the Bachelor's degree.

And, yes, there are ridiculous theory classes, but there are also good ones. Depends mostly on the instructor. I had a great Reading class and a great Discipline class.

I have been out of AD for three years, after graduating in 2006. I am current working on my BA of History with a Concentration in Social Studies. From there, I expect to teach High School social studies (likely History) and also coach AD. My ultimate goal is to transition to being a professor at a University and/or a career in politics.

On my way to Duke, majoring in English (for now), but I'll be taking lots of history, economics, political science, and anything else not math or science classes. Eventual plans involve law school or business school and a really high-paying job so that I don't have student loans hanging over me on my death bed.

Oh right, serious post:

Heading off to Carnegie-Mellon's School of Art next semester, but seriously considering trying to transfer into the Bachelor of Science and Art Program for second semester. I consider myself very lucky; everything actually seems to be working out pretty well right now. I got the best financial aid from them (well, they matched my highest offer), I love the campus, I loved the people I met there, and I'm excited for these next few years.

Things might just be okay.

In my second (but Junior) year at Texas A&M, studying accounting (tax track) in a 5-year (4 and a half years for me) program where I'll graduate with a BBA in Accounting and a Masters in Accounting (Tax), as well as be prepared for CPA certification. I've been taking things pretty easy for the past couple of years, but I'm still on the right track, preparing for an internship in spring 2010 (getting companies narrowed down...)

I left my college where I started out about 5 months ago due to mental health issues/unstability etc etc fun times, and now I'm working a part time job and piecing my life back together. Plans include: Making more money, working less, somehow accomplishing that paradox. Fo reals though: I want to get back into college before I've lost much more time, hopefully somewhere further away than the college closest to me, but I won't complain. Ideally I could be transferring up to Eastern Michigan University next spring or fall and have free housing with a buddy of mine who's probably going up there as well.

What do I want to *do* with my life? Well hell, I don't quite know myself. I'm intensely interested in psychology nearly to the point of obsession, but I've learned that I hate biology with a mad passion. I've considered counseling, but what irks me is that none of these careers capitalize on my greatest talent, my writing. So along with all this I chase after copywriting apprenticeships that I'm not quite qualified for and slowly grind my keyboard into dust just letting my consciousness go.

Hopefully someday I'll just start writing and never stop.

Me? I had grand plans for college. I had a laundry list of things I was gonna do, but just about all of them fell through. Do I regret it? No. I've been extremely lucky with all of the opportunities that have fallen in my lap. I was hoping to give campus tours at college. Instead, I've found myself with my hand grasped firmly around the first rung on the ladder to Athletics administration, and I love it to death. Even sitting at the baseball stadium waiting out a rain delay was oddly fulfilling. Here, it seems like you are judged by what you are a part of, and to me that's something that is far more unique and fulfilling than going greek or being in SGA. Granted, I'm not sure if that's what I want to do with my life (and it's certainly not something I'd do for the money), and that's why I'm going to school. I figure a major and two minors ought to give me enough to get at least a foothold in some field come 2012. My major, supply chain management, is what brought me to tcu. Learning that graduating classes in that field were in the 30-50 range, I felt even further from the madding crowd of accounting/finance majors here. I'm equally excited about my energy minor. Partisan drabble aside, oil and gas are going to be around for the forseeable future (and politicians would do well to acknowledge their necessity). Alongside that, I just heard about a possible joint venture with waste management to use reclaimed landfill to power our campus (wind turbines, methane gas extraction, etc) and I may have started drooling a bit. I guess that goes with my "forward looking" mindset, which really comes in handy when you are entering college and already know what you want to do with yourself. Anyway, I also threw in a polisci minor, because if all else fails, I'll be graduating in time for an election cycle, and lord knows that's the only time polisci majors can find work...

TL;DR version: It helps to look to the future, but only if you are willing to take what comes and not get hung up on what doesn't.

Also, I have this nagging desire to start an AD team at a nearby high school. Maybe someday I'll put together a powerpoint and go pay the principal a visit...

I started out as an English major with a theology minor at the University of San Francisco. After my first year, I realized that theology was my primary passion, not English, so I swapped my major to theology with a minor in Catholic studies and social thought. The more I got into my studies at USF, the more I realized they couldn't offer me the intensive theology I thought I needed to be prepared for grad school, etc. I transferred to Marquette University with a major in theology and a minor in Catholic studies. My highbrow theology classes here don't enrapture me, and the Catholic studies minor is moribund at best. I will say that coming to Marquette has challenged me to take a stand in ways I never had to at USF-- the gift of the adversary is something I could have never understood without making the move to Milwaukee.

I'll graduate next spring unless I take a hiatus for Scholar's Cup purposes, which seems ill-advised. At any rate, my interests are veering toward clinical pastoral theology or medical ethics at this point. Deep down, though, I'd love to be a stay at home mom who does consulting work on the side.

My plans for my future are so FUBAR it's not funny. At this point I have it narrowed down to wanting to do something vaguely biological or maybe psych.....

I hope to be an oceanographer or astronomer when I grow up.

Welcome to the club.

I hope to have the resources to pursue a hobby of mine when I am your age, EDC...

wait a minute......

Ya. Why would you ever want to grow up?

Most states have alternate route certifications that involve some type of standardized test (here it's one of the PRAXIS--but don't remember the level) plus X years of experience. Here, you are hired as a "provisional" until you get the required years of experience, but you get paid just as any beginning teacher. Check out your state's dep. of ed.'s website. There should be info there.

I am entering my second (but, like SA, Junior) year at Duke University. I entered Duke pretty certain I wanted to major in Econ, but after a year I've decided to swap my original plan, so now instead of minoring in Stats I'm majoring in it, and instead of majoring in Econ I'm minoring in it. I could get a double degree and still graduate in three years, as is my current plan, but I think it would be an undue burden and there's no reason to overtax oneself when you can cover everything you need for less. My freshman year wasn't fantastic -- my GPA is about .3 lower than I was hoping for, I didn't get an internship or exogenous research opportunity this summer, and I don't know if I worked as hard as I could have in 1 or 2 classes. But it was a pretty solid year anyway -- my GPA is (even if lower than I wanted) still about B+ range, I've gotten involved in a variety of decent resume-building and enjoyable activities, I held a job, and I've built some very solid professor-student relationships. And I made a lot of friends. I'm on the right track to do OK, and I have faith that I'm smart enough to do well no matter what life brings me at this point.

I'll be attending Princeton in the fall, planning to major in Either Chemical Engineering or Political Science/Political Theory. Lol, the two are so far removed from each other, but I am equally passionate about both. Regardless, I plan to concentrate in Pre-Med and go on to medical school, but I'm not planning too far ahead yet.

Next year I'll be going to Bard College to be studying the unknown. Currently very much enjoying the free time now that decathlon is over.

I'm an environmental studies major at USC and I'm looking forward to staying a student FOREVER YAY. Well, I'm really in to climate/ocean/environment stuff, and I really like research stuff, so going to grad school for some phd stuff seems like the best option for me. If I get to TA, that'd be great too, because a part of me would love to teach (the shy part of me wouldn't, but whatever). That's the plan so far, but I have enough time and enough background in other areas to switch if I wanted to.

The truth: most of the time, I like to just convince myself that I have control over where my life is going, but in reality, that's never really the case. Not that it's bad, but uncertainty can drive me bonkers sometimes.


edit;; AD bonus! it's the 2007 curriculum which got me interested in this stuff. /nerding

I realize that I will probably never leave school. By the time I finish my degree in god-knows-what, I'll probably turn around and do research/be a prof at some college. I'm fairly comfortable with that outcome too.

It all depends where you go to university. I majored in History, minored in English and got certified to teach secondary ed back when lifetime certificates were called provisional. That was back in the ancient days of the mid-eighties. In fact when I was doing my practicum at Irving High School, I remember researching the outlines for AcDec that year - something to do with Tchaikovsky if I remember. That was what got me going with AcDec. At my university you were strongly encouraged, not to major in Ed but in your discipline. Speaking now as a Dept head whose interviews prospects at job fairs, be careful with alternative programs. So many are fly-by-nights.

But I would also add to this the warning of majoring in education and not having sufficient content knowledge. I can't even begin to tell you how many teachers know nothing about their subject outside of the textbook - and some don't even know that!

I think we need to do away with Education as a major. Require like 9 hours of classes, along with your majors of what you want to teach. That's good enough. Those education classes are a waste of time, you don't learn anything in those. I learned all my stuff by actually walking into a classroom.

thats fine until you then have to figure out where you are going to find high school math, physics, chemistry and computer science teachers. even among those coming out with degrees in their intended fields of instruction, significant numbers did so through modified degree program options.

for example, the 'teacher certification' option for math majors at one school with which i am familiar requires the typical calculus sequence, the typical intro to linear algebra and differential equations classes, the discrete math and real analysis (into to proofs) sequence, 400-level classes in modern and linear algebra... and then three dumbed-down classes covering combinatorics, geometry and probability. in other words, these students are graduating with degrees in mathematics having taken exactly TWO 'advanced' undergraduate classes: modern and linear algebra. the other options require upwards of ten.

is this program sufficient for teaching high school math? probably, though i would hope that a high school calculus teacher would have taken the schools analysis sequence. is it an undergraduate mathematics degree? no way.

of course, it has to be that way as im not sure its in anyones best interest for flagship state u to be turning out fewer than ten certified math teachers every year.

Honestly, what Kate said struck a chord with me... we really don't have any clue what's about to happen to us...

When I graduated high school, I saw myself graduating from UT/Austin in four years with a degree in Chemical Engineering. What really happened? Let's take a look at all the major events NOT on my master plan comin' out of high school in 1986...

1987: I get married. Big one there. Did NOT see that coming.
1987: I also change my major to undecided.
1988: Change major to History.
1989: Graduate, get a job delivering pizza.

And there I was, in June of 1989, a National Merit Finalist Scholarship Recipient, highest Scholastic AD scorer in the state of Texas, a-schleppin' pizza for a living.

I decided that wasn't for me and chose to get my teaching certification.

1990: Move from Austin to Rockport, TX and take certification classes at CCSU, now Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
1990: Get a job teaching middle school math in Aransas Pass, TX.
1991: Move to Dallas to get out of Aransas Pass. While applying for jobs, I find that Robin Hood has led nearly every district to institute a hiring freeze - only Dallas ISD is hiring. I consider a possible career with the CIA, but choose not to because of the high level of secrecy required. I then look into joining the Air Force as an officer.
1991: I get placed at the Arts Magnet High School in Dallas ISD. It's wonderful. I tell my AF recruiter that teaching's the job for me.
1991: Two weeks after that, DISD lays off over 300 teachers, including myself. I get my job back after suing the district, but it's a hard road, with DISD retaliating against me.
1995: DISD staff commit defamation per se against me and I resign from teaching. Did NOT see that coming, either.
1995: I get a job as a temp with Microsoft, supporting Windows 95. So begins my unanticipated career in information technology. I eventually get back to Microsoft as a full-time employee in 1999, just in time for the MSFT stock price to tumble - before I have a chance to exercise any stock options in my favor.
2001: My son Jarom is killed in a hit-and-run car accident. I think of him every day still. I also decide I need to get back to teaching.
2002: Richardson ISD hires me and I teach history at the school I graduated from, Berkner.
2003-04: I start coaching AcDec.
2005: I meet Dan Berdichevsky. This is a good thing, but, again, I did NOT see that coming.
2006: I find myself in China, courtesy of Mr. DDD.
2007: I'm touring the Southland on a Civil War trip.
2008: Mexico...
2009: Here I am at the end of a long chain of unexpectedness. I'm fortunate to have had my faith to comfort me through all the hard knocks I received and equally fortunate to have realized that success is something other than the size of a paycheck.

1. Pay teachers more - create competition in the market.
2. Require teachers to major in the areas they want to teach - at least at the secondary level.
3. Require them to take 9 hours in education if you want to get a teaching certificate (Educational Psychology and Philosophy, Curriculum Development and Class Management, and Educational Law).
4. Create a mentor program, where a new teacher is buddied up with an experienced teacher their first two years of teaching.


I don't understand how the math example above would resolve the issue. How is majoring in Education going to create better math teachers? That sounds like a problem for being a math major. I am a history teacher, taking more history classes is going to make me a better teacher. It's been my experience that so many high school teachers are not knowledgable about their subject area - especially academic teachers, outside the textbook. And it seems like most of those teachers were Education majors who took very few classes in their subject area.

I was a political science / philosophy major in college. Then got my MA in philosophy, then spent two years working on my Ph.D. in philosophy. Quit that, went back to school and took education classes to get my certification. I'm only speaking from my expereinces. My education classes were a complete waste of time, I learned nothing in those. My real learning did not come till I actually walked into a classroom for the first time.

Well, as some of you know, I graduated from Holmes HS in June 2006, then went immediately to UTSA and became a History/Teaching major. To my absolute shock, I'm still on that tack.

However, I have joined organizations on campus such as SGA (Student Government Association), CAB (Campus Activities Board, which does programming on campus), VOICES (volunteering) and I am contemplating others. I entered only wanting a degree, but I've found that unless you get involved on campus, you run the risk of losing out of a far broader horizon.

Of course not everyone needs this type of experience, and I understand that fully. That's OK. But I feel that I am a far better student from such experiences thus far. I suppose it's all a matter of choice.

Today was my last day of school at McDowell Senior High School, so I've been making preparations for college. I've been accepted to Edinboro University. I will be going in undecided, but I was thinking of getting a degree in political science and I also want to take some courses in labor studies. If that bores me and I get through college without any underage's, I was also looking into education. My parents are both teachers (mother is a college professor, my dad is a high school teacher that is now on disability), and I've inherited the outgoing and interpersonal parts of their personality that got them interested in teaching also. Most importantly, I'm concerned in building and solidifying links with my community and other mass organizations. I feel that getting a degree in political science will help me do so.