I’m a German nurse unhappy with nursing and I’m in my 40s.
I wrote I need because my current job as a nurse is physically extremely demanding and I know I don’t want to do this till I retire. My life cannot be to hope to advance in this field by moving up to a position within the hospital where I don’t actually have to work bedside. In Germany nurses don’t need a bachelor to practice, they only need an apprenticeship (Ausbildung).
Something I always liked as a child is music, either the classical guitar or the piano, so I talked to 2 professors, one for piano, the other one for classical and electric guitar. There is no question that east Asians dominate the piano market, they are insanely good and securing a spot in a piano bachelor would be very difficult, but a bachelor of classical and electric guitar is not as looked after like the piano, which could be my way to do something I enjoy, earn more than now with regular, predictable working hours, small groups of students when I finish the bachelor and stop doing something that’s physically destroying me.
About job options after I finish the bachelor, the professor I talked to, a classical guitarist with several prizes I’m not naming said that nowadays all kinds of music teachers are retiring and he constantly gets calls asking for new guitar teachers, that all his students who finish the bachelor have contracts even before finishing the bachelor and the figures he offered regarding salaries are higher than what I earn now, because I’d have a bachelor.
Now I don’t know if this professor is overselling his program, but this is a renowned music school in a city next to mine, which means its close, I wouldn’t have to move and the bachelor would cost me nothing but 100 Euros per semester, provided I prepare for a year for the admission exam, checking my progress every 3 months with this professor, something this musical school offers free of charge and actually passing the exam.
I don’t believe this professor was lying: salary figures I checked match what he said and he proposed I prepare for the exam, check with him my progress and if I get admitted, study for a year to see if I like it, because I can always use my apprenticeship as a nurse to work nursing, radiology instead of bedside nursing or work for a healthcare insurance company. If I do this I’d work part time during the bachelor.
I’ve been playing the classical guitar for the last 8 years if that helps and I learned musical theory and piano as a child.
The other option would be to study a bachelor of science and become a physician assistant, but to do this on a respectable public university and not with a private, online diploma mill that only wants my money I’d have to relocate, which is something very risky (new city, new hospital, no social contacts), or pay for a second flat for 4 years, which would be expensive. The medical side of nursing has always interested me and I enjoy explaining organs to patients, and I’m not ready to simply ignore the last 7 years of my life, the time I’ve been working as a nurse, but bedside, as said, is killing me, but relocating 3 hours away for 4 years...
I’m split. Both paths offer a way out of my current situation. I wouldn’t mind working as a guitar teacher for the rest of my life, nor would I mind working as a physician assistant.
ETA: thanks to all of you for your input, including those post I didn't comment on.
The reality is you don't have enough information to decide yet. I never trust anything any teacher or school or college or univiersity says about the lucrative future waiting for graduates.
And if the job market for PA's is verifiably good, that sounds more secure (and easier to verify), plus your background willl be helpful.
One thing to consider is if you do go to any program, you'll be competing with your graduating class and that can be tough because of age discrimination.
Assuming you want private students, what's stopping you from teaching guitar now part-time? Or gigging?
how do I get more information to make a better decision?
would you explain further?
true
If I started teaching now I'd be a dilettante. All I know about the instrument I learned on my own, but any student of mine is going to need technique, which I also need, which is the main reason to study this bachelor. Technique to teach, but also to create my own stuff.
I like playing the guitar but I mostly do it as a hobby with mediocre technique.
Gigging doesn't make much sense because you have to find groups that would pay you enough to make the commute and audition worth it. And I have a stable job, a job I'd keep if I study this bachelor.
Colleges are always trying to sell the idea that going to them will yield you a better future. If they couldn´t do that, nobody would go to them. I once looked at a Teaching English as a Foreign Language school and they were bragging about two placements in Japanese schools. Well, I looked into those two placements, and they were people from some top performing schools, like Yale or Cornell--and that probably had more impact on their job prospects.
For your guitar school, see who they are bragging about. Are they people with circumstances similar to yours? Or are they child prodigies?
If you just want to learn to play guitar, you absolutely don´t need to go to a college. You can pay teachers privately. And you can learn theory on your own and do your own ear training (I recommend practicing play melodies by ear if you can´t yet). All you really need a college degree for in this space is a credential that says you went through a recognized program. That might be worth it.
And for me, college is outrageously expensive, so I wouldn´t go unless it directly and definitely led to a better economic future in which I could pay down the debt I would have incurred getting the degree. Your mileage in Deutschland may vary.
Can you busk? Play on the street? I don´t know what you have in mind, but I was thinking restuarants and other venues that might want a little background music.