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I was in college for about seven years getting my Associates and Bachelors degrees, and training to become a Radiography (x-ray) Technologist. Lost my job a year and a half ago and even with all my certifications and my two degrees, I have been unable to secure a job.
I have been thinking lately about returning to school, but I am so unsure b/c I do not want to take out more school loans that I may not be able to pay for down the road, especially if I end up in the same situation.
I have thought about going back to become a Radiology P.A., but it is quite intimidating. And while I was getting my Bachelors I took courses in Business/Marketing, English, Math and numerous courses in Psychology. For a degree in Psychology, there seem to be more career opportunities and chances for graduates in that field. Would anyone agree or disagree?
So, if I do go back to school....does anyone have any suggestions as to what career fields I should look into AND what schools to look up information on as well?
To work as a psychologist you would probably need a PhD., and even then the field my be heavily glutted. (When times are tough, are people really going to want to spend money on psychological counseling? If our nation's economy continues to deteriorate this could be an awful field to invest in.) It's one of those "easy" liberal arts fields that boatloads of people major in. You should probably avoid it.
I think the most practical thing would be to try to stay in the med tech field in some sort of a way. Have you ever considered becoming a registered nurse? Would a Radiology PA dramatically increase your employability? (I don't know; I know nothing about this area.) What makes you think the market for Radiology PA's is better than that for radiology techs?
What are your Associates and Bachelors degrees in? It seems like the job market in just about every field is bad now except for certain health care areas and I have read anecdotal reports saying that even newly-minted nurses are having difficulty.
First, are there no jobs any where for X-ray techs? I mention this because sometimes new grad nurses have trouble finding jobs in certain places (and those certain places are many these days) but there are some out of the way places, often far from nursing programs, that do have positions. If you can relocate maybe there is something?
School, though, was your real question. I think PA may be a good choice, as mid-level practitioners seem to be getting to be a popular choice for keeping hc costs down. I am not sure how saturated that market is now, though, because I have been hearing that for a while. It might be almost as bad as nursing and x-ray tech.
You have some experience in Radiology and so I will assume you know about the other areas besides just taking x-rays. My suggestion would be in Interventional Radiology, or Nuclear Medicine as examples. A poster earlier mentioned the med tech field and I agree. Outpatient procedures are huge and are only going to get bigger. Techs are in demand. Cardio (cath lab) Nuclear and multiple other lab tech positions are the way to go. IMO you won't have any problem after you show your skills, and get the requried certificates.
Good Luck
As a fellow tech, I'd move. The key to any job in any industry is to be portable because nothing is guaranteed. The next suggestion is to have your own business if you have the gumption to be able to do so. And last, never stop learning in your industry because I've been at it for fifteen years and only have my A.S. (associates degree) but I have a education trail ever since that shows I'm a growing with the industry. That's a common mistake middle agers (myself included;heaven forbid) make, resting on their laurels.
Don't know how similar or difficult it is to get into. But have you considered non-destructive testing? Xray welds, equipment, structure for defects? Bridges, machinery, etc....
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Master of Medical of Physics Program (http://www.physics.upenn.edu/graduate/mmp.html - broken link)
(link is for descriptive purposes only, of course)
I don't know how many pre-requisites you will be faced with knocking out, but a neighbor of mine was a physics major in college - realized that he wasn't going to be able to do much with that, didn't want to invest the time or the money for a PhD and so, as a compromise, pursued a masters degree in medical physics. He does pretty well (I think but can not warrant that he earns in the $150,000 range) and is employed by a major specialty hospital heading up the calibration and maintenance of radiation machines.
With your experience it may be a good next step to consider.
EDIT: I just realized that the OP was from January...
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