chriswethi

Yeah, I know about the lack of jobs for history professors. It's very unfortunate. My backup for Classics would be to get involved in archaeology/historical preservation. A former professor of mine teaches during the school year, and in the summer leads digs to various sites in Italy, Greece, and Turkey. I went with her once for a two week excursion sort of thing. Though it's not the highest-paying profession, I know I'd love it. I've also thought that going the Japanese Studies route would give me more options. Even without an MA in Japanese Studies, I have taken the JLPT (Japanese Language Placement Test) and scored a "Level 2" (1 being the best) and that could really get me all kinds of jobs with Japanese companies. That's just not the sort of career I want, though. But, that's why I thought that perhaps two MAs might also give me some more flexibility. Thanks for your reply!

Hello all, new member here with a question/dillema. I graduated from my first university with a BA in History and minors in Japanese Studies and Classical Civilzations. My eventual goal is to become a professor, but I've been torn between going one route or the other. History is my main focus, but for a MA program I'm trying to decide between Classics or Japanese Studies. My fiance is Japanese, I've been there at least 10 times, lived there for about two years, and have studied the language for around 5 and am quite capable at speaking/reading/writing it. My knowledge of the Classical languages (Latin and Greek) is a little more mediocre with around 2 years of study for the both of them. Now that I'm applying for grad studies at my chosen university, I come to the dillema of which program I really want to choose. Ideally I would like to have a MA in both, but I'm not sure how good of an idea that is--if at all. As I said I want to become a history professor so I think having a mastery of two completely different subjects could increase my chances of finding a solid position in the future. Then again, would a second MA really be worth it, or just a waste of time? I've been accepted into the grad school, but I'm not sure which program to go with. I had decided on Japanese first, then switched to Classics, and now that the time has come I'm back to Japanese haha. If I want to go with both--and the professors approve it--I had wondered whether it would be possible (or wise??) to do them at the same time, or back-to-back, etc. Any advice or words of wisdom, opinions (in regards to the dilemma) would be greatly appreciated. If any of you have completed two MA programs (simultaneously or not) I'd love to hear how you did it. Thanks!