Fork in the Road

The past few days have been rough. We have this big project at work and my brain is fried before I even go to class and attempt to learn. I have a theory about this: if I can get my head to absorb much of the information on the first pass attempt, that will result in fewer hours studying for exams. It's hard, though, when I'm overtired and have looming deadlines. Our office is closed tomorrow, in observance of Good Friday, so I will *not* be setting my alarm. This is my first day off in a long time, y'know, apart from vacations. :)

I encountered another interesting fork in the road. I received a phone call from the director of admissions for the doctorate in hospital administration program I applied to last fall. I received conditional acceptance back then, dependent upon my actual completion of my Master's. I still have 28 days until I graduate (but who's counting?) and they formally accepted me. This is cool and I feel honored, but my plans have changed since then.

After talking with a few folks in senior leadership, I realized that I would have a ready niche in bioethics. While healthcare is a "degreed" field, meaning you're better off with more degrees after your name, the administrative coursework seems a bit dry to me now. I'll be living this education in the 'trenches' of hospital administration, next year. I don't think I should 'waste' five years and $50,000 achieving this doctorate after all.

This reminds me of a little joke my high school physics teacher told me about the hierarchy of degrees: B.S.= bull sh*t. M.S.= more sh*t. Ph.D.= piled higher and deeper.

I'm transitioning over to Loyola's doctoral program in bioethics and feel this is the best avenue for me, for now. Who knows what will happen over the next year…but I am taking the summer and fall semesters off from school, adjust to my transition and to let the microns of sanity repopulate. Plus, I need to log some weekend pool time this summer!