With museum jobs as scarce as truth and justice from the Bush administration, my advice is, do not go into debt getting a credential for a job that isn’t there.
More general life advice is also welcome. All entries will comprise an exhibit at the University of Washington. Details here.
Tough, but true. While I think humanities PhD programs may set the standard for “amount of debt to get a degree”:”number of jobs,” museum studies programs probably compare to, say, journalism school when it comes to the same dismal ratio. Perhaps museum programs are even worse, who knows? At least J schools have attracted the attention of a number of journalists over the years who point out what a dubious cost they represent. Anyway, like so much these days, it’s all just depressing to think about.
Thanks for the inclusion.
I feel compelled to mention that an
M.A in Museology isn’t just a credential. I don’t feel all together threatened by the current job market, in fact I think it has allowed for people to truly realize the importance of restructuring cultural institutions.
If you know what your doing, and you do it well, you’ll find a good job. Though this may be idealistic – I really do believe it to be true.
Thanks for the advice but I think this one is f*cked.
Thank you for the mention, this exhibit should be a very interesting little social experiment.
I would also echo Whitney that if you have set out to get any sort of arts or humanities-related MA as just a stamp on your resume, then you’ve set out on a poor path regardless of the economy in which you find yourself. While the going may be a little tougher, nowadays, people who are leaders in what they do and who have a great track record of innovation will push forward. I see the degree program at UW as something that has allowed me the opportunity to collaborate and innovate, and it’s those projects are what I’ll be standing on, not the diploma. I have the skills to raise both the money and the interest to make the projects I want to happen a reality.
Why don’t we all express congrats on the 2010 graduates!