Thanks so much for the advice! I'm honestly considering working as a university employee for that exact reason. If you don't mind me asking, where did you and your wife decide to get your MAs? I've noticed some universities are less generous than others in terms of employee education benefits.

Also, where do people usually find their no-fee apartments?

Not a Boston native (trying to relocate there!) but there is public transport in my city and I have a bus pass. For me I like to slide my pass in a card holder, that I hook onto my bag's key ring! I did the same when I visited Boston last year and took the T.

This one from Muji is great and can hold two cards: https://www.amazon.com/Muji-Soft-Metro-Card-Pass/dp/B00E5YANOK/ref=asc_df_B00E5YANOK/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167144043525&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4420826060118171735&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9005169&hvtargid=pla-305497048280&psc=1 You can find it in their physical location on Newbury Street too :)

Definitely. He'd be making a little less than me since he'd be going back to college---so either financial aid stipend or a part-time job---but we would be double-income.

The thread is a bit of a train-wreck but it confirmed some of my thoughts that I'll probably get by being satisfied with less---some people want a lot of extra disposable income but for me who doesn't drink or go out and prefers the free things the city has to offer (parks, museums, etc.) I think I'll be alright at least for a couple of years or until I go to grad school

Wow thank you for your insight! May I ask how you get to work (walk/drive/take the T?) There seems to be this dichotomy of people who love the T and others who say it's unreliable (I hate driving so I certainly want to love the T and utilize it for my commute, or just walk to work).

Our situation sounds similar--my partner would be going back to college so I'm assuming his contribution would be around $30k in the meantime, either from financial aid or a part-time job. In any case, it would be a little less than mine.

And thank you so much for sharing the HireCulture board! I've just been checking LinkedIn/Handshake and had no idea about this.

No need at all to apologize! I get the confusion pretty often.

While I have my career aspirations in the museum/cultural institution sector, when push comes to shove i'll be thankful for an office job that pays a living wage as a backup plan, especially graduating in this economy! So thank you so much for sharing this!

I see your point! I think I'm kind of an exception in terms of what I find fun though haha---I'm from rural Appalachia so I can't lie, I'm pretty easily entertained just taking advantage of the free things the city has to offer like parks and museums! Plus neither my partner or I are the drinking/partying type. We're more than happy to save a little bit over time to do fun things on occasion.

This has helped tremendously! Thanks so much again!

I had a feeling that the big apartment listing sites were steering me wrong. I'm guessing most people get their apartments off FB or Craigslist? I'll have to start looking there.

Big facts on the trust fund kids thing---I'm a first-get college student and was only able to afford 3 degrees because I had an academic scholarship! Right now I'm focusing on networking with my professors and honors program to try and help me get ahead.

As someone who can't live with roommates, this thread rocks. Thanks for plugging!

Thanks so much for your insight! My partner would be going back to college shortly after we move so I would have more credentials than him, but either way he would split costs with me using financial aid from school or working an entry-level job. In any case I would probably be contributing a bit more in the meantime while we make the transition---do you think $50k would be doable if the other person is making around $30k? Anticipating the worst-case scenario. I mentioned $50k because that's just under the starting salary I've recently seen for those holding only a BA at places like the MFA which are well-endowed, but naturally it makes sense that smaller nonprofit museums would have less to offer salary-wise.

I'm doing two part-time jobs---one working in a rare book and manuscript library where I'm getting some professional development experience with conservation and curation as well as working with researchers---"the kind of thing many people do for summer internships but instead year-round", according to what my boss has told me anyway. I've been doing that for 3 years. The other is working as a historical manuscript transcriptionist/paleographer for a local cemetery's digitization project, which I've been doing for 2 years. I almost secured an internship at an art museum before the pandemic happened and they were forced to close, and I'd be trying for that again after graduation if no other opportunities materialize in order to boost my resume.

Definitely heard curatorial assistant take a lot more credentials---meant that as more of a placeholder for museum/library jobs in general like collections, archives, museum education etc. (I should probably go edit that!) As for PR that's because my Media Production/Communication degree would technically qualify me to do that as well content creation. Definitely a totally different path from History or Classics but I wanted those hard skills to offer to the museum space or even if I needed to pivot to a totally different industry.

Hi! It's interesting because at my university it actually is considered 3 separate degrees rather than a triple-major (I just learned this myself so I was pretty surprised...unless I was misinformed).

Can you work in consulting without a business/accounting/finance degree? Im not as familiar with the corporate sector so this is brand new info for me.

Not too worried about food. My partner's a great cook and we can squeeze a penny when it comes to groceries. We also both despise driving so ditching the car and using public transport will be an easy transition!