Career change?

[sanityisamyth]

I am 35 years old. I have a chemistry,
Biology and education degree very outing as very few have this degree. I love teaching and it's what I wanted to do from school. I'm getting increasingly disillusioned and frustrated with the workload outside of the classroom. I also teach quite differently to "the norm" but the exam results the students get are good.

I am thinking of going back to uni for a total career change. My GCSE and A level grades aren't brilliant but I have huge and important extenuating circumstances for both. I also didn't get Hons for my degree, again with massive extenuating circumstances.

I was thinking about selling my house (lots of equity) to cover tuition fees (I won't get funding for more than 1 year of fees). I have a 5yo DS so I would get some additional support for him. At the moment his in a fee-paying prep school, but I'm struggling to pay his fees, even with the staff discount. It's only going to get worse. DS's father does not contribute to his education and only gives me the very bare minimum in maintenance.

Would applying for a 4 year course to study pharmacy be a totally stupid idea? DS would have to go to a local school (not a problem) but can studying full time, not earning and supporting my son actually work?

Bump. Anyone?

I'd go for it, life is too short for what ifs, if you think you can afford to do so- go for it! In terms of your son if it's not going to be sustainable you're going to need to get him out sooner or later and the sooner the better really for his transition. It's an amazing example to set your son :)

What are your plans for a post degree career? I'm guessing there are options with a pharmacy qual?

Thanks @UserMe18 that's what I thought but don't know how I'll cope with studying FT and bringing DS up. It's a huge change for him and me.

@Lookatmemeow job as a pharmacist would be the ideal. Pays more than teaching with more regular hours (no marking, no reports to write, no planning to do).

Reason I ask is that there are other options with your current degree. I'm in the pharma industry, as an example, where various roles have the requirement of a bio/chem or pharmacy as an entry requirement.
Having said that, pharmacy is a solid option with an almost guaranteed job at the end of it.

@sanityisamyth when you have to you make it work you do, I worked 3-4 days a week with a 0 and 3 year old while studying a post grad with no family around and a husband who works away, when you have a passion for something and a goal you just get it done! Smash it :)

@Lookatmemeow that's interesting. I'd love to go back and do it all again really. My chem/bio degree was awesome but something pretty shit happened in my third year and I was put on compassionate leave so it's not the best I could have achieved. I'm still disappointed and kicking myself, 15 years on.

@UserMe18 that is seriously impressive. Well done!!! Inspirational 👏👏👏

Bump. As many opinions as possible please 🙏

I'm 30 and began a two conversion masters to change career in 2017 whilst working almost full time. I'm fortunate to have a working partner so we have managed to scrape by paying for fees etc (and we still are scraping) but I've managed to get a job on the entry-level rung of my new profession before finishing my course . I feel extremely blessed to have been able to have the opportunity to change career as I was beyond miserable in my old career (horrendous overtime including unsocial hours, contacted by colleagues during time off, micromanaging bosses) and knew it wasn't the correct path for me. It was tough before I got my current job as I was constantly wondering if my gamble was going to pay off but now I've made the career move successfully I cannot convey enough how happy I am and how much it's changed everything. I feel as positive and engaged with life as I did 10 years ago like I am free again. I'd say if you can afford it then do it. It will be tough phase but one day the retraining phase will be a distant dot in the past!

but can studying full time, not earning and supporting my son actually work?

^Yes. You won’t be working so will have plenty of time for your studies.

Thank you both :) it's lovely to hear of success stories 👏👏👏

Life's too short to be stuck in teaching, if you can get a decent career with more pay and regular hours elsewhere

@GreyGardens88 that is very true. I am definitely ready for a change of direction

As a pharmacist with over 10 years experience I'd get some work experience in both hospital and community pharmacy before committing to the course, as it's not a massively useful degree to transfer! The course has probably changed since I did it but it was time intensive in terms of contact hours and lab time so with family time as well probably wouldn't be easy to manage many hours of a part time job. In terms of career afterwards, I only stay because of the flexibility. I've always worked part time (36 hours is considered part time as the days can be up to 12 hours long) and am currently going back to working as a locum as particularly in my area they are paid more and there is no shortage of work. It also means I can have an extended summer break and spend a couple of months in the Greek islands...

Happy to answer any questions

Ohhhh thank you @muddledmidget that's really helpful. I'll see if I can get some work experience to help make my mind up. What did you mean about a useful degree to transfer? Which degree would be more suitable to apply for?

I'm not sure which would be better to transfer, but I've always felt stuck with my degree as it's so vocational, and after the first couple of years it's not even easy to transfer between community and hospital pharmacy (I could but it would mean going from 45k a year for 36 hours to 25k as a rotational pharmacist in a hospital and having to do on call etc). But I guess nontransferability is the price to pay for an almost guaranteed fairly well paid and v flexible job at the end of the course.

@muddledmidget which degree did you do? I'm looking at totally starting from scratch (even with a chem/bio chem background) so would be useful to know which would be the most useful degree outcome :)

Undergraduate Masters of Pharmacy as it's the only one that qualifies you to register and work as a pharmacist unless they've got any postgrad conversion courses now.

Thanks @muddledmidget that's what I'm applying to do. I've just emailed the local hospital and Lloyds Pharmacy to see if I can get some work experience in the school holidays. Feeling excited now 👏👏👏