Hi, if anyone could give me some advice, I would really really appreciate it. Sorry if I share more info than necessary here...
Back in high school, I had decent stats for getting into a good college-valedictorian, 4.0, 33 ACT, lots of volunteering, cross country and track captain and mvp, etc. To my amusement and delight, even Harvard and Yale mailed me recruitment stuff. But I didn't apply, for three reasons. 1) Cost - I was going to have to pay everything out of my own pocket 2) Lack of inspiration - I didn't like school much, nothing had sparked my curiosity and 3) I was raised extremely religious, I was loved my life and my friends and my family, and Pascal's wager-ish thoughts warned me to avoid environments that might foster doubt
So I went to a tiny religious college near home, worked 3 jobs during school and 80 hour weeks in the summer and majored in Spanish (to save money by graduating a year early). My plan was to find a scholarship to a decent law school, get the highest paying job I could, and donate 90% of my income to fund as many missionaries as possible since I honestly believed most of the world was going to hell. Well, in a moment of mental weakness I decided to take a year off before law school and go teach SAT prep in Guatemala. In Guatemala, I was out of my bubble, I met an atheist for the first time, and puzzlingly enough, he was nice. We didn't discuss religion, but the mere knowledge that he was an atheist caused enough cognitive dissonance that I had no choice but to confront my doubts, read a bunch, and eventually deconvert from the fundamental Christianity I was brought up in.
Now I'm in limbo. I graduated at 20 and have been having fun traveling as an aupair the past few years, but nagging at the back of my mind is a strange new desire to "achieve my potential" and I'm lost. For the first time, I've stumbled on an academic subject that interests me, decision making (cognitive psychology, behavioral economics, neuroscience, etc...) I LOVE this stuff and read about it like crazy in my free time. This is weird to me, because for the first 21 years of my life the only thing I read in my free time was fiction; I didn't even bother with assigned readings for school. Anyway, now I really wish I could go back to school and eventually work in this field, maybe as a policy advisor or something, I really have no idea and no one to ask for advice either.
So I have a Bachelor's in Spanish. What are my options?
Would I have to get a new Bachelor's degree? If so, is there any kind of funding for someone going back for the second time? I'm guessing I wouldn't be eligible for the usual merit scholarships or maybe even government loans anymore? Would I just have to save up the money before going? Could I somehow apply straight to graduate school even though my college major is irrelevant?
Now I see the value of going to a top school, but I don't think my old high school credentials count for much anymore, do they? In college I got a 4.0, some chemistry award, some records in track and field, and volunteer taught ESL classes, but nothing really exceptional since I was working all the time.
So yeah, I'd love to go back to school, but I'm not sure if it's really financially possible or if I could still get into a school worth going to... any advice would be super appreciated!
Thanks :)
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