wickedfreethinker

Samsonite, thank you. I'm in FL right now. The cost of living isn't terrible, its just that I can't afford rent, loan payments, my monthly bills, gas and a few small credit card payments with the money I am making in retail right now. I can't even move to full time because our store is so overstaffed enough they slash hours whenever they can. I could potentially try and find a job as a manager at another store, but I have no experience in retail management. Only store associate/customer service. In that respect my degree doesn't help much. Whirled peas, I was thinking CS, web development or nursing. Something close to employable at the bachelors level. I would go for accounting or finance but I don't think I could handle that since I really have no interest in either of those. I thought about marketing/pr but the job outlook for that is spotty and there are so many students at my school graduating with those types of degrees. I some research experience, but there are no paid positions I am eligible for. I can't really afford to volunteer in a lab now because of my finances or I would. I am a caucasian female. My dad went to a four year college, but never finished his degree. He has an associates though so I'm not sure that counts as first generation. Its awful waking up each day knowing that I essentially have a ruined future with no real career options and an unstable financial situation. I feel worthless.

I obviously don't go around telling hiring managers that I don't know what to do with my life or that I have tons of family drama. I answer interview questions they ask. I don't mention anything about my personal life. I am capable of keeping my personal life separate from my work life. I do tailor each resume to the specific position I am applying for. HR and banks would rather hire finance, business or HR majors. I have asked employers and they have said the main reason I can't get hired is because I don't have a degree tailored to the specific position I am applying for. The job market is competitive in my area. My psychology degree seems more of a hindrance than an asset. I can't relocate. I've already looked into it. It requires money that I do not have.

A 3.0 in psychology is abysmal though. The acceptance rate to grad programs is usually much lower for psychology programs, even a master's. The target GPA is around a 3.6-3.8 which isn't even close to what I have now. At the career center I stick to the goal that I am looking for a job in my field. I have internship and research experience. I am applying for all positions that I qualify for because psychology jobs don't really exist at a bachelors level. I have literally been applying in admin positions, HR, banks, any place that has entry level jobs available. In interviews I am extremely good at answering questions and pretending I have a footing at which direction I want to go in. I had no problem finding internships and research positions in undergrad, its the whole job situation that just crushes my spirit. The problem is I can't even get many interviews, I put in tons of applications online and hardly ever get a call back. I even applied for a cashier position at target. I was never offered an interview. I don't understand because I have previous job experience in retail and a degree. I really appreciate the response. I just really don't feel comfortable going somewhere like Korea right now with the political atmosphere being the way it is. Its not exactly safe for me to travel right now. I honestly wish I never went to college at this point because I have tons of debt and no job to pay it back. Going to grad school will just pile on more debt but so would getting a second degree. I am barely scraping by now and I have no idea what I'm going to do when I will be forced to move out in 3 months. I was under the impression that dropping out was far worse than graduating with a degree I am not excited about. But honestly I wish I had dropped out because I am still working the same crap retail job I had in undergrad. I'm starting to feel suicidal at this point.

I graduated last spring with a B.A. in Psychology and I realize I made a huge mistake. I didn't know what I wanted to get out of college, so I changed my major from Physics to Psychology because I was doing so poorly. I have been unable to find any full time employment whatsoever and my looming amount of debt from undergrad is haunting me. I cannot make ends meet on my tiny salary from my retail job. I wanted to go to graduate school, but I wanted to pay my loans down first. I took a few community college classes as nursing school pre-reqs this semester just because I don't know what I want in a career. I am doing well in my classes, but otherwise my stats for graduate school do not look good. I graduated with a 2.97 overall and a 3.3 in the major. I have no honors, did not write a thesis and only 2 semesters of research experience. I am not competitive by any means in the graduate applicant pool. I dread the thought of applying to graduate school. I know my chances of being accepted are extremely low, even for a master's program. I thought about applying to an HR Management Master's program or Health Informatics but I honestly don't know that I could find a job even if I got in and finished. I am contemplating going back to get a second bachelor's; however, I know funding for that is nearly impossible to get. I have tried to secure a full time job for going on a year now. I have been extremely unsuccessful. I have had my resume and cover letter critiqued at the career center and by a career counselor, I have done practice interviews, I apply to at least 3 jobs everyday. And I still find these emails in my inbox: "On behalf of _____, we thank you for taking the time to partake in our application process. However, we will not be offering you a position/interview." Discouraged doesn't even begin to describe it. I'm defeated at this point. I don't know what I should do. I moved back in with my parents, but their house is being foreclosed and I will have to move back out in 3-4 months. I have no savings at this point since I have been paying down credit card debt and paying tuition for classes. I literally cannot stand the thought of being in retail for forever. I also can't afford to continue the cc program because its really not helping me in any way right now. Any advice on what to do? I'm not opposed to changing my career path. While psychology interests me its not really what I want to do for the rest of my life.