By Tracy Walsh
Illustrations by Lydia Nichols
Mulling a career change? Want to spice up your résumé? Higher education is usually a solid investment, but that doesn’t mean you can’t pursue your passion for opera, cheese or high school productions of The Wiz. Do a little digging, and you’ll find there’s a graduate degree program to prepare you for just about any career.
Master of Visual Arts: Costume Studies
WHERE: New York University
PERFECT FOR: The hipster who can put together an outfit with a vintage cloche, cowboy boots and glitter—and make it look fabulous.
CURRICULUM INCLUDES: Textile history, costume history, art appraisal, fashion photography.
UNUSUAL STUDENT RESOURCES: The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, a cofounder of NYU’s program, has 30,000 ensembles to study.
PREPARES YOU FOR: Staging the next haute couture retrospective at the Smithsonian; elbowing Anna Wintour out of the way at Vogue.
SAMPLE SALARY: $71,000 (fashion designer)
Master of Sacred Music
WHERE: Boston University School of Theology
PERFECT FOR: The Sunday school volunteer who’s ready to go pro.
CURRICULUM INCLUDES: Organ building and maintenance, training handbell choirs.
UNUSUAL STUDENT RESOURCES: A library of organ sheet music (35,000-plus songs) and the nearby headquarters of The Hymn Society of the United States and Canada.
PREPARES YOU FOR: Rocking St. Patrick’s Cathedral; leading the best kids’ choir in town.
SAMPLE SALARY: $39,000 (church musician)
Master of Opera, Directing
WHERE: Florida State University College of Music, in Tallahassee
PERFECT FOR: The Goethe-reading romantic.
CURRICULUM INCLUDES: Opera production, opera literature, opera directing.
UNUSUAL STUDENT RESOURCES: At least one FSU professor has held his own on stage with Placido Domingo.
PREPARES YOU FOR: Waving a baton while someone else sings “Figaro, Figaro, Fiiiii- garo” at the top of their lungs.
SAMPLE SALARY: $64,000 (opera conductor)
Master in Package Design
WHERE: Pratt Institute, in New York City
PERFECT FOR: The friend who makes wrapping paper so cool you forget about the present inside.
CURRICULUM INCLUDES: Visual perception, corporate image design, typography.
UNUSUAL STUDENT RESOURCES: Instructors include an award-winning perfume bottle designer, and Madison Avenue is less than an hour away.
PREPARES YOU FOR: Designing rococo wine bottles and minimalist sunblock tubes.
SAMPLE SALARY: $53,000 (commercial designer)
Master’s of Dairy Science
WHERE: The University of Wisconsin-Madison
PERFECT FOR: The stressed-out banker who wants to leave Wall Street and start life again as a cheesemaker.
CURRICULUM INCLUDES: Dairy herd management, comparative animal nutrition, lactation.
UNUSUAL STUDENT RESOURCES: More than 300 cows live on university property, producing about 22,000 pounds of milk each year.
PREPARES YOU FOR: Farming; cheesemaking; applied dairy research.
SAMPLE SALARY: $29,000 (small-time cheesemaker)
Master in Leisure Studies
WHERE: The University of Iowa, in Iowa City
PERFECT FOR: Weekend warriors who take their relaxation seriously.
CURRICULUM INCLUDES: Leisure in contemporary society, therapeutic recreation.
UNUSUAL STUDENT RESOURCES: Students hone their leisure skills on internships for the Iowa Park and Recreation Association and other nearby organizations.
PREPARES YOU FOR: Running a youth center; working as a recreational therapist.
SAMPLE SALARY: $38,000 (recreational therapist)
Master in Quilt Studies
WHERE: University of Nebraska-Lincoln
PERFECT FOR: Your mother, your grandmother, your great-grandmother.
CURRICULUM INCLUDES: History of quilts, family history of the U.S., advanced fiber art.
UNUSUAL STUDENT RESOURCES: More than 2,300 French, Amish, African-American and other types of quilts are available for perusal at the affiliated International Quilt Study Center & Museum.
PREPARES YOU FOR: Working at one of the nation’s dozen or so quilting museums.
SAMPLE SALARY: $47,000 (curator)
Master in Theatre for Young Audiences
WHERE: University of Central Florida, in Orlando
PERFECT FOR: Small-town actors with big dreams.
CURRICULUM INCLUDES: Dramatic literature for children, puppetry, circus arts.
UNUSUAL STUDENT RESOURCES: MFA candidates stage kid- friendly shows like Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business and If You Give a Pig a Party at the Orlando Repertory Theatre.
PREPARES YOU FOR: Directing The Lion King, The Little Mermaid or the next Disney film to be adapted to Broadway.
SAMPLE SALARY: $53,000 (drama teacher at a performing arts company)
Master in Folklore and Folklife
WHERE: University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia
PERFECT FOR: The natural storyteller.
CURRICULUM INCLUDES: Proseminar in folklore and folklife, fieldwork in ethnography, recent issues in theory of folklore.
UNUSUAL STUDENT RESOURCES: The on-site folk archive holds reel-to- reel tapes of Newfoundland fishermen playing the pennywhistle and accordion.
PREPARES YOU FOR: Working toward a Ph.D. in folklore and folklife; appreciating stories on public radio in a whole new way.
SAMPLE SALARY: $56,000 (professor)
