Career Contemplations

This summer is both a time of relaxation and a nonstop continuance of the previous school year. I’m taking classes online and working part time, but overall my workload is much easier than during the school year and I have time for long term goals. So I find myself applying to grad school – Indiana University, Bloomington is my first choice. The program I am interested in is the dual Master’s in Library Science and Musicology, a combination which does not exist anywhere else in the country, and seems tailor-made to my favorite career choice: music librarian. While writing my personal statement for the application, I decided to revisit my goals before codifying and concentrating them to 500 words. Here go my thoughts, starting slowly.

I love school, and I love work. I want to combine all I love about education - learning languages, dissecting and enjoying music, meeting contrasting points of view – with what I love about work – connecting people with information or services, a long-term pattern of variety within continuity – and having worked in a library setting, I would love to work in libraries for the rest of my life. Being at UNH has given me free access to much of what comes under the heading of “culture:” different people, different traditions at all scales, a wide focus on learning and learning everywhere, and an appreciation of history and histories. Because of this broad range of experiences, I have grown as a person and a lifelong student, and I want to continue to experience new things through the lens of a university town. No, New Hampshire is not the most diverse state, but you get out of UNH what you put into it and through effort and the internet you can get a lot in this small white-bred state. Of course, in order to access the important next steps of my career I have to leave New Hampshire and join a new intellectual collection. Indiana’s proud reputation as a language school fits my goal to learn as much as I can about as many languages as possible. The Jacobs School’s partnership with the Library Science program will allow me to prepare for a career of helping people and working with information, with a view towards the historical uses and meaning of music in culture. The community of Bloomington will be a place to grow and pursue intellectual avenues only available at a large university.

Other options include Florida State, University of Maryland, University of North Carolina, and University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. All of these will require major relocating and culture adjustments, and each has its own merits as an institution. The dual master’s degree is unique to Indiana, but all my other top contenders offer me the option of successive Library Science & Musicology degrees with small cross-enrollment possibilities.