When Dreams Begin to Die.

I know. How dramatic. But I have taken a hard look at things… And I am feeling some dreams start to tumble right off a cliff.

You all know I am in school part time. 2 courses per semester and usually 1 during the summer. I’ve been at this for a few years now.

Right now, to finish my associates (Dietetic Technician, Registered), not including this semester, I have at least another 1.5 years to finish.

Now, this is not horrible. However, for shits and giggles this morning I decided to do a job search for something in the field that I can move to while I continue to pursue my Registered Dietician degree at a 4 year university.

I came across a few interesting things in my short search.

1. There are almost NO jobs as a diet tech. I mean, like, there might have been one in all the search engines I looked in.
2. Diet techs seem to make less money than I do now working as an associate.

Both of these things are bad.

Ok, I think. Let’s go on over to the UNH website and see what I will need to accomplish to get the RD.

I found that, assuming I can take my standard 2 classes per semester, perhaps one in the summer, I will be going to school for an additional 4 years.

BEFORE any internship.

So, we are at 5.5 years, plus internship time.

Then I took a look at the tuition at this University. Obviously it costs more than our community college. You know the only reason I am able to take classes is because my job reimburses me for them. They give me a certain amount per year that cannot be exceeded. It would appear that because of the price difference between the college and the university, I will be unable to take 2 courses per semester. This will add approx 1.5 years to the original time line.

(Let’s not even talk about the minor heart attack I had when I saw courses like Anatomy and Physiology 1 and 2, Microbiology and Organic Chemistry. Remember people, I cried during my entire semester of Math 115)

Now we are at 7 years before the Bachelors degree is completed. During those 7 years, working anywhere in the field looks fairly bleak, because of the lower salary, and because if I leave the hospital I work at now, I will have no reimbursement at all.

You may now be able to see why I am not sure where to go from here. Am I wasting my time right now? Does it make any sense to continue in school for 7 years, staying in a job I dislike, and making a total career change at age 42?

I feel really, really lost right now.