making a living

February 20, 2006

As a soon-to-be graduate (April), I've been following this discussion with

interest.

My first point/question would be that my understanding is that certain places,

especially

California, are harder to make a living in than others. Most of the folks

weighing in on this

discussion seem to be from there. Other parts of the country with fewer

practioners I've

been told aren't as bad. Would others agree?

Also, of course education is a business. If I had any doubt about this, all I

have to do is

look around at all the advertising. This is true for OM schools, colleges,

universities. I

don't really think it matters if they're for or non profit--there are still

fat-cat

administrators. Whether or not there are jobs waiting for graduates is

immaterial to most

educational institutions (well, maybe, law and biz schools are exceptions, where

their

employment stats affect their desirability). I'd like to think this is because

education

should be it's own end, not a job, but realistically we all need to eat.

By way of explaining my perspective, as an undergraduate, I studied classical

music

(opera) in conservatory. How may of my classmates are now making a living as

performers--and this was a very competitive school? Maybe one or two, some are

teachers

or arts administrators, many have moved on. I spent 10 years working various

" other " jobs

so I could try to do what I really wanted to do ... So, OM may look

comparatively rosy to

me!

--Sarah Rivkin

saydit

February 20, 2006

On 2/20/06, Sarah Rivkin <saydit wrote:

My first point/question would be that my understanding is that certain

> places, especially

> California, are harder to make a living in than others. Most of the folks

> weighing in on this

> discussion seem to be from there.

I don't know if the areas outside of the influence of the Asian population

or TCM schools are over saturated. However, making any business plan that

includes being within ten miles of a TCM school is probably not so smart,

unless you're full of confidence as Z'ev suggested.

My problem with confidence is that it doesn't necessarily produce a better

practitioner, but a practitioner with patients who are seeking out a guru or

some other strong personality to tell them what to do.

Elsewhere in the country/world, you'd probably have better luck with setting

up a practice. Acupuncture is still enjoying good PR overall, while herbs

are dealing with Ma Huang issues or herb interaction paranoia. At least

that's what I've run into more lately.

Other parts of the country with fewer practioners I've

> been told aren't as bad. Would others agree?

Yes, I would agree. But then, the grass is always greener on the other side

of the Colorado river.

Whether or not there are jobs waiting for graduates is immaterial to most

> educational institutions

We had a consultant at Emperor's College about ten years ago. His name was

St.Germaine. That always stuck with me. I was in charge of

marketing/outreach for the school at the time. He sat me down once during

his two week tenure there and told me the single most important word that

the marketing branch of our school needed to know. The word was

" placement " . In other words, does the school help get its graduates

employed? if the answer is " yes " , that school would do very well indeed.

I've never heard of any school having a placement department or any kind of

professional development program. While opportunities pour into Emperor's

on a regular basis, they aren't especially available to the student body at

large unless it ends up on one of the bulletin boards and these are

generally for a room for rent, or an office position available, that sort of

thing.

One thing that I do like about the doctorate program however is it seems to

be associated with new opportunities, thanks in part to a new guy who's over

there going to bat for people like me and others in the doctoral program

there.

I guess we're more accustomed to hearing about placement as a function of

technical schools rather than professional schools. Still would be nice to

see some movement in that direction, though.

By way of explaining my perspective, as an undergraduate, I studied

> classical music

> (opera) in conservatory.

That's a reasonable analogy to TCM school, that some of us learn it to

primarily appreciate the information and insight, etc. Still, it would

probably be to the advantage of the schools if they could actually help us

find work...

--

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

February 20, 2006

Sarah,

Other parts of the country must be considerably easier to make a living than

CA, given what I've read online from the CA coalition. Though I know many

who don't do well, it is usually due to poor understanding of OM and perhaps

a lack of some very basic business sense that causes them to suffer. Many

more seem to do quite well, often rivalling MD's.

Mark

On Behalf Of Sarah Rivkin

Monday, February 20, 2006 8:25 PM

making a living

As a soon-to-be graduate (April), I've been following this discussion with

interest.

My first point/question would be that my understanding is that certain

places, especially California, are harder to make a living in than others.

Most of the folks weighing in on this discussion seem to be from there.

Other parts of the country with fewer practioners I've been told aren't as

bad. Would others agree?

Also, of course education is a business. If I had any doubt about this, all

I have to do is look around at all the advertising. This is true for OM

schools, colleges, universities. I don't really think it matters if they're

for or non profit--there are still fat-cat administrators. Whether or not

there are jobs waiting for graduates is immaterial to most educational

institutions (well, maybe, law and biz schools are exceptions, where their

employment stats affect their desirability). I'd like to think this is

because education should be it's own end, not a job, but realistically we

all need to eat.

By way of explaining my perspective, as an undergraduate, I studied

classical music

(opera) in conservatory. How may of my classmates are now making a living as

performers--and this was a very competitive school? Maybe one or two, some

are teachers or arts administrators, many have moved on. I spent 10 years

working various " other " jobs so I could try to do what I really wanted to do

.... So, OM may look comparatively rosy to me!

--Sarah Rivkin

saydit

February 20, 2006

going to bat for people like me and others in the doctoral program

there.

>>>>>

Al, what does that mean?

Oakland, CA 94609

-

Al Stone

Monday, February 20, 2006 9:00 PM

Re: making a living