Looking to further my education

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I somehow managed to graduate from SUNY Potsdam with a BA in history back in 2003, years before I was officially diagnosed with Aspergers by two professionals. As of now, I'm still in the Grocery Store cashiering jpb I've had since the fall of 2003.

I recently came into 10,000 dollars, which my deceased grandfather left to me. I plan on using it to further my education. Finding a direction has always been tough for me, and finding a feasible way to obtain my goals has always been a challenge.

I've decided to go for a technical degree to go with my liberal Arts degree, and since I have an especially good sense of hearing, I'm thinking of pursuing a career in something involving audio equipment, stereos and such. I also want to improve my math skills before I go after this degree, since math has always been my weakness, one that I want to overcome.

Trouble is, I'm not sure which school has what it is I'm looking for, or if they'll have me. My searches through the University of Phoenix, and RIT thus far, have come up fruitless. I'd appreciate it if someone could offer me some advice on how to pursue all of this, as I feel rather overwhelmed, and unsure of what to do every time I approach this.

RIT is a nice place, and filled with Aspies to boot.

I don't think sense of hearing is the main thing that determines whether you'd be good at dealing with audio equipment. Doesn't mean you can't work in those things, but good hearing isn't a reason to pursue a field.

What exactly do you want to do? Why'd you get a history degree?

I don't know where you live, or if this would be of interest, but I'm looking into the Connecticut School of Broadcasting for myself. It would be more than $10,000 but they have a lot of benefits that make it worth the cost. They have something like 21 locations all over the US.

Again, don't know if that's something you'd be interested in, but good luck with whatever you choose!


EDIT: Sorry, I reread your post and saw that you actually said "degree." This is just a certificate program. That's probably not what you want but I'm leaving the suggestion in case you or anyone else is interested.

If you're looking to be a technician (i.e., repairing things), check out your local community college. Your $10,000 will get you a lot farther in a technical training program in a cc than it will towards a second degree at a four year school (you don't seem like you're looking for a 4-year diploma, but one can never be sure).

If you're looking for something generically dealing with sound, have you considered sound design? It's a relatively new field, but is heavily in use in theatre, motion pictures, etc....

Well, I got the history degree with the pretense that I would be able to get a journalism minor along with it. I had an interest in that as well, as I was the movie critic for the school paper. Unfortunately, the minor didn't become available until it was too late for me to get all the required credits.

Frankly, I don't know what I want to do. I just want to do what my Father was able to do until his death, and that's be able to perform and plan stage productions with other people, while also having a well paying career that allowed him to support a family. I want to be able to move out of my mom's house and support myself. I basically want to make more money than I do at my current grocery store job, hehe.

I have so many different interests...writing, movies music, games, radio...the trouble is not only finding one thing to focus on, but to find a way to make money with it. The reason I want to work on my math, is that it seems all the really well-paying jobs now go to people who are really good at math.

If I seem a bit lost and confused here...it's because I am, lol.

No problem.

Might I suggest, for your day job, that you analyze your skills, then look through some of the current literature on the job market and see where you match? Then, go for the highest paying one you can currently manage, then learn OTJ, then move up.

It's a hard row, especially if what you have to do for 8 or 10 hours every day is not something you especially enjoy doing, but the object of the day job is to get you fiscally sound enough to be able to do what you love in your "off" hours. If the night job/avocation starts paying off enough, you can cut your day job. It takes time, but almost every actor/production tech I've ever met has gone that route.