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I know not ALL cities but I know places like berlin, Poland, parts of Bulgaria etc. ive seen are pretty reasonable.
Berlin is very expensive.
Poland is a country. Warsaw is it's capital city...
Bulgaria is cheaper, and so is Croatia.
I'd be focused on the "experience part in fashion"...What's an English degree have to do with "fashion"??
Have you attempted to get a foot in the door here in a fashion related field to see what that's like? I'd start there before spending money on any degree.
You would probably be wiser to look into positions based on Internet copy rather than magazines. You can do this even without a degree, to be honest. (I write and edit web content for businesses, and it's more lucrative than you might think.) And traveling is never a waste of time; by immersing yourself in a foreign culture, you will, quite literally, be gaining the best of both worlds, you'll understand yourself and your own culture better, and you may become fluent in another language. I would encourage my own kids to pursue a path similar to what you are planning. Even better, you can learn the ropes of web copywriting/copyediting and continue to do that while living in a low-cost foreign country! (Laughing a bit at the suggestion that there are no cheaper cities in Europe... )
I think you have a decent plan if your goal is to choose a career where you can write/edit and enjoy working from anywhere in the world.
Dude. You live in Kansas City. Go to one of the Metro Community Colleges specifically in a program that's designed to transfer to a 4-year college, then go to the local University of Missouri at Kansas City.
Both myself and my wife went to UMKC at night, got bachelors' degrees, and have made great enough careers for ourselves that it looks like we're going to be able to retire in our 50's!
You're in one of the most perfect spots to do exactly what you're wanting to do. . . .
My ex of ten years was managing editor of a Conde Nast book, so I've been around that industry, and I can tell you that the main thing you need to do in order to get in the door there is to have friends and connections. You'd probably do better for your plans getting a busboy job in Chelsea or a cabana boy job on Fire Island than going to school for English.
Poland is a country. Warsaw is it's capital city...
Bulgaria is cheaper, and so is Croatia.
I'd be focused on the "experience part in fashion"...What's an English degree have to do with "fashion"??
Have you attempted to get a foot in the door here in a fashion related field to see what that's like? I'd start there before spending money on any degree.
Well studying english CAN lead to editor positions and I'm not talking about the big fashion magazines like vogue,W, harpers Bazar etc.. There Are PLENTY of online fashion websites that still do tons of coverage and what not.
My ex of ten years was managing editor of a Conde Nast book, so I've been around that industry, and I can tell you that the main thing you need to do in order to get in the door there is to have friends and connections. You'd probably do better for your plans getting a busboy job in Chelsea or a cabana boy job on Fire Island than going to school for English.
How will that get me anywhere working at a restaurant? My chances of bussing tables to getting a job at a magazine with NO college experience isn't great. Id rather have a worthless degree than to go in cold turkey with absolutely no writing background at all?!?!
You would probably be wiser to look into positions based on Internet copy rather than magazines. You can do this even without a degree, to be honest. (I write and edit web content for businesses, and it's more lucrative than you might think.) And traveling is never a waste of time; by immersing yourself in a foreign culture, you will, quite literally, be gaining the best of both worlds, you'll understand yourself and your own culture better, and you may become fluent in another language. I would encourage my own kids to pursue a path similar to what you are planning. Even better, you can learn the ropes of web copywriting/copyediting and continue to do that while living in a low-cost foreign country! (Laughing a bit at the suggestion that there are no cheaper cities in Europe... )
I think you have a decent plan if your goal is to choose a career where you can write/edit and enjoy working from anywhere in the world.
The biggest advantage of an AA degree in English is that you *should* learn to properly write term papers, etc. so that you can do better with the remainder of your college career. As an associate degree it's not bad, assuming you'll be pursuing a degree in something more demanding.
My background is in publishing. I got there (daily newspaper editor, publisher, corporate v.p.) without any degree, but that was a few years ago. An applicant with an AA in English would not have caught my attention whatsoever. I had a few employees with bachelors of English, but they were generally hired at a basic salary.
I recall one employe (English BA) who was a typesetter at a newspaper for which I was doing some consulting work. She wasn't happy with her income so was going back to college for a second degree in psychology. Those are two degrees that are pretty meaningless for a living wage. They're both fun and easy degrees to earn, and I think both can add to your life but not much to your income. Her father was an Army General, and that was her main income.
A few stray observations in response to the op and other posts on the thread:
1. An English undergraduate degree is not unmarketable. I've had one for almost twenty years, and have without fail been able to work in an array of fields of my choice.
2. Getting an associate's degree in anything is obviously a means to an end, not an end itself, in most cases. There are some two-year programs that are indeed terminal, but in general, an associate's degree in anything is going to be a springboard to later completion of a bachelor's degree at the least. Whether doing the associate's degree in English is a beneficial thing depends greatly on what your projected next steps are.
3. Publishing is a tough game. No matter your degree. I worked in it from 2001-2007, and it was tough then, and it certainly hasn't gotten any easier. The field has changed a lot, corporate merging and downsizing is rampant, positions that used to exist no longer do (somebody mentioned proofreading, and the truth is that print media in general has long stopped hiring people who exclusively proofread, and many online outlets desperately NEED proofreaders, but either do not have them, or do not have competent ones). Cost-cutting measures are as common in publishing as they are in every other field.
Print's evolution to online is a thing, sure, but ultimately, content writers are content writers, same online as in print. Somebody needs to generate copy. The thing you find online is that so many people want to do it, nobody really has to pay for it. If you are trying to get paid positions writing content for anything (be it print magazines, fashion blogs, whatever), you are NOT going to be making bank, and you're going to be competing against any number of freelancers who are doing it for free or a pittance and driving what you seek to make down. Why is somebody going to hire you to write for them and pay a competitive wage, when they have contributors lined up who are willing to do it for free or very little?
I'm not saying that focusing on online content, web editing, etc. is a bad move. It's just not guaranteed to be lucrative, and you may end up taking what you can get. When I moved from newspapers to another field, in the interim, I looked at and interviewed for different content writing and editing positions, and of those actually offered me, none of them interested me. As a former newspaper editor, columnist, and feature writer, writing and editing compliance blurbs for a hospital's website or an insurance company's website were not to my taste. They did pay reasonably well, however. The personal satisfaction piece wouldn't have been there, however, and I would have been bored to tears writing and editing copy for them. However, they were hiring.
4. The more reasonable, affordable way to attend school in other countries would be to forgo getting a two-year degree in the States and then trying to parlay that into getting into a four-year program abroad that may or may not accept your already-earned credits. It would be to attend a domestic four-year program that offers numerous study abroad options. I did three different study abroad stints during my (American) undergrad at a liberal arts college that prioritized international ed. It was much easier than seeking a degree directly through a foreign institution when you are not a citizen of that country.
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