By earning an online degree in furniture design, you can turn your passion for this fun, hands-on hobby into a great career. When earning your degree, you will gain much needed understanding of the materials involved in creating uniquely designed furniture, such as metals, woods, plastics, and textiles, and how to combine the aesthetic and structural components of your designs. The skilled trade of furniture design is taught through practical education in the technology and technique behind this functional art.

Though traditional woodworkers who design and make one-of-a-kind items for their clients are still able to find work, there has become an increasing need in this field for furniture designers to develop a level of computer expertise. Modern wood shops have automated power tools and machines that will require a deep understanding of mathematics, geometry, and computerized programs; thus, the increased dependence on computer-aided design (CAD) programs have needed to keep current by incorporating CAD training into the coursework, teaching traditional drafting and technical drawing skills along with those that are aided by a variety of 2- and 3-D technologies.

You will need extensive knowledge of drawing, rendering, and color in order to work in the furniture design industry. You will additionally study other areas including conceptual and historical aspects of furniture design and contemporary aesthetics. Practical coursework will focus mainly on wood, welding, metal, and lamination techniques, but may also include ergonomics and research and development.

You can gain the knowledge and training necessary to work in the industry by earning an Associate of Arts or certificate through an online university. You might also continue your education in order to earn a Bachelor of Arts in furniture design, or industrial design with an emphasis in furniture design.

First working in a local wood or cabinet shop can help you develop hands-on techniques that will be beneficial in addition to your educational training. As a trained furniture designer, you may be self-employed or work for a small or large manufacturing company. Once graduated, some designers with one to four years of experience earned an average annual salary of over $40,000 in 2008. The job prospects in this field, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, will depend greatly on economic cycles as well as entrepreneurial skills for those who wish to be self-employed.

With the right combination of technical ability and creativity, you may find furniture design to be an excellent career choice for you.

Earn Your Christian Counseling Degree Online

When studying to earn an online biblical counseling degree, you will explore ways of synthesizing modern psychology with biblical teachings to provide guidance for those who need direction in healing mental difficulties. After completing your degree, you can opt to become a rehabilitation, school, personal or family counselor or professor.

A theological degree program’s goal is to meld scriptural guidance with secular insights into psychology to help those with emotional or spiritual issues work through their problems.

Courses you may take while earning your degree include biblical anthropology, biblical psychology, the history of biblical counseling, teen counseling, family counseling, marriage counseling, premarital counseling, Christian perspectives on sexuality, and Christianity and social science.

When you continue your studies to earn a doctoral degree in counseling, you will be qualified to provide services to married couples and families or lead support groups within a church. You might also consider working at a correctional or rehabilitation facility, begin your own private spiritual counseling practice, become a professor of theology or biblical counseling, or perhaps conduct research.

To earn your doctoral degree in biblical counseling, you will need to conduct extensive research and write a thesis; it takes approximately 2 – 5 years to earn a doctorate.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a growth of 21% between 2006 and 2016 for the employment of counselors; this varies somewhat depending on the type of counseling you choose to do. For instance, employment in the rehabilitation field is expected to grow 23%, while those who become school counselors can expect a mere 13% job growth.

The median salary for mental health counselors is approximately $40,000 annually; school counselors can expect to earn a yearly salary of about $45,000.

Earning an Online Liberal Arts Degree

If you are trying to decide between a vocational degree or one in liberal arts, you may be asking yourself which type of education will be a better choice in terms of the global marketplace.

Here are some reasons why a liberal arts program is the better choice:

Real World Skills

Seven things that educational and economic leaders consider essential for competing in a global marketplace, as outlined by Tony Wagner in the October 2008 issue of Educational Leadership are:

• Curiosity and Imagination
• Collaboration of leadership
• Critical thinking and problem solving
• Effective oral and written communication
• Accessing and analyzing information
• Agility and adaptability
• Initiative and Entrepreneurialism

Most of the companies you will interview with after graduation are looking for employees who possess the type of skills learned through brick-and-mortar or online liberal arts programs. Business leaders want you to come prepared with these skills; they can then train you to do your specific job within the company.

What a Liberal Art Degree Program Teaches Students:

• How to think, not what to think. You will be trained to think independently and analytically along with the ability to do so empathetically and with self-control.
• How to learn. As Albert Einstein once said, “…The value of liberal arts degrees is that they train the mind to think.” (Frank, Phillip. 1947. Einstein: His Life and Times. 185. Alfred A. Knopf.)
• How to be more interesting. The more knowledge you possess, the more you will be able to express your creativity, wit, and wisdom – something employers desire.
• To develop the tools necessary to continue learning new things throughout their lives.
• To better their entire lives, not just their work lives.

If you have an interest in becoming a person of broader knowledge, who is well educated in a wide variety of areas, and who possesses skills desired by business leaders of today, a liberal arts degree is definitely the way to go.

Careers for Those with a Bachelor's in Psychology

To become a psychologist, you must obtain a master’s degree, but if you have a bachelor’s degree in psychology, you do have a number of various career opportunities. In fact, a psychology degree is in a lot of ways much more flexible and adaptable than many other degrees, so your options for a career are actually quite open.

An undergraduate degree in psychology gives you the tools you need to be a good citizen and critical thinker; and the skills and experiences you acquire make you marketable for a variety of employment opportunities. This means a bachelor’s in psychology is a great way to become a well-rounded, well-educated citizen and employee.

Here are a few of the options you have with a bachelor’s degree in psychology:

Administration: An administrative position with the government or another organization would be particularly easy to obtain if you minor or double major in business.

Public Relations: Public relations specialists work with the media writing press releases and the like, doing research, fundraising, organizing events, and more.

Community Relations: Community specialists might work as advocates, outreach coordinators, event coordinators, and more.

Human Services: Local, state, and federal government offices in addition to non-profit organizations will hire employees with psychology degrees to work in the human services field.

Teaching: Combining your degree in psychology with a degree in teaching allows you to work in a private or public school.

Advertising and Market Research: Advertising agencies may hire those with a psychology degree to formulate advertising strategies.

Retail and Sales: Professionals with psychology degrees can help retail organizations understand customers, which will ultimately help boost sales.

If you choose to continue your education and pursue your master’s in psychology, you will qualify to administer tests as a psychological assistant, conduct research in laboratories under the supervision of doctorate-level psychologists, conduct psychological evaluations, counsel patients, or perform administrative tasks. You might also teach in a high school or 2-year college, work as a school counselor, or counsel addicts.

Job Outlook

The outlook appears to be quite good. Those with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, can look forward to continued job growth. Psych majors seem to be especially well positioned in the job market due to their training in critical thinking and creativity, and because they are skilled communicators.

Help Change the Future with a Degree in Engineering

The field of engineering is one in which scientific and mathematical solutions to problems are provided in order to achieve a practical end result. As an engineer, you will design and manufacture systems, machines, and economical structures. One of the largest professions in the country, the U.S. has more than a billion engineering professionals.

As you may already know, being an engineer gives individuals a great deal of prestige. It is a career that is rewarding, usually offers a high salary, and has a positive job outlook despite economical woes. Engineers are in constant demand in corporations responsible for creating new services and products. You can find employment in industries, factories, software development, and with a wide variety of other prestigious companies. Many who work in the field are production or process engineers whose responsibilities include development, testing, and maintenance of specific systems.

If you like challenges and often solve problems in innovative ways, engineering could be the ideal career for you. There are a number of online degrees in engineering you can earn from many leading universities. There are quite a large number of engineering specialties to consider, so selecting the proper online engineering degree program is imperative if you want to become successful in this competitive field after graduation.

A few of the specialties you can choose from are the following:

Electrical

Electrical engineering graduates are typically offered many career opportunities with companies doing installation, maintenance, and operation of electronics equipment and systems. Electrical is considered the largest in the field of engineering. As an engineer with this specialty, you will be primarily involved in designing a wide variety of electronic or communication systems. You could work in defense, in space, or for a large research company that employs engineers to design signal processing systems or other complex devices.

Civil

As a civil engineer you will apply science to the planning, designing, construction, management, and operation of public works. This discipline is one of the broadest and extends across myriad technical specialties. Civil engineers are responsible for designing and planning a project, after which he or she constructs the project to scale and maintains the product. If you enjoy working with others and find it fascinating to develop solutions to the challenges of the past, present, and future, civil engineering is for you.

Environmental

Environmental engineering focuses on the conservation of the environment at local, state, or national levels. You will find that a variety of organizations employ environmental engineers. They include: local, state, and federal governments, engineering consulting firms, and manufacturing companies. As an environmental engineer, you will conduct studies concerning hazardous waste management for which you must evaluate the extent of a particular hazard, provide analysis for treatment and containment, and help to develop regulations to prevent future problems from occurring. Engineers in this field may also work on air pollution control, waste disposal, recycling, and public health issues.

Computer

When studying for a degree in computer engineering, you will learn skills and knowledge in methods of troubleshooting, as well as an assortment of computer applications. Your key studies will involve in-depth instruction in Microsoft Windows Network and Desktop Operating Systems, and installing and configuring world-wide networks, network wiring, network security, and a variety of other network activities. You can expect to work in various service organizations as a computer engineer, including: public utilities, airlines, banks, and other commercial industries. The need for computer engineers is expected to continue to grow.

Talented and creative, students wishing to study art will often wonder which art schools are the “best.” Obviously, students want the best possible education they can get so they have the best career opportunities available to them when they graduate, but there really is no easy answer to the question of which school is best.

When you look at any “reasonable” critique, it will mention cost, class sizes perhaps, courses you’ll be required to take, and, most importantly, the percentage of students who are able to secure positions once they’ve graduated. The critique might also tell the average amount of time it took the students to get the jobs and the average salary of those jobs.

These bits and pieces of information are somewhat helpful, but not really substantial enough to base your ultimate decision on. After all, you are an individual so a “one-size-fits-all” description is not going to help you know whether or not you will be successful in and content with your education. Therefore, looking at art school rankings is a good place to START, but not end, your search for the “best” school.

What you need to do is delve further; think about what it is YOU want from a school. After all, you are the one who has to pay the tuition, sit in the classes, learn the material, pass the courses, graduate, and then find a job with the experiences you’ve been given.

So, look at what’s important to you. Ask yourself some of the following questions, then take those questions to the admissions offices of the schools you find might interest you.

1. Do you wish to live at or near home or move somewhat far away or really far away?
2. Do you prefer a small, intimate class size where you will get more one-on-one time with your professors or do you enjoy a large campus atmosphere with lots of activities, sororities, fraternities, parties, etc.?
3. What type of art are you interested in learning? Certain schools will be better equipped to teach you fine art, while others might be better for studying graphic design.
4. What is the school’s reputation with young adults? Look online for discussions about the schools you are interested in and see what they have to say.
5. Do you know anyone who has attended a school you like? If so, what does he or she have to say about it?
6. Does the school offer referrals? A chance to speak to professors? An academic advisor who is willing to answer any questions you have or address any concerns?
7. What classes will you have to take to get your degree?
8. What types of financial aid and scholarships are available?

Honestly, art school rankings can be misleading. Information presented can often be skewed to show whatever the person presenting the rankings wants them to show, so use them as a place to begin and go from there.

If you find the field of medicine intriguing and desire a career in this lucrative area, you might want to consider a job as a diagnostic imaging technologist. Imaging techs, better known as sonographers, help doctors and nurses do non-invasive forms of imaging to study patients’ internal organs. One of the most well known types is, of course, the x-ray. In many instances, though, the radiation can be harmful to patients, so doctors desire other ways to examine for disease or injury. Sonography is one of the ways to do these internal examinations, because it uses sound waves to create images, it is not as harmful as an x-ray could be.

As a diagnostic medical sonographer, you will utilize special equipment to send the sound waves into patients’ bodies; these waves then create reflected echoes, which are sent to the equipment to form images of the internal organs.

Job:

You will be responsible for explaining the procedures to the patients as well as recording their medical histories. You spread a gel onto the patients’ skin to aid the transmission of the sound waves using a “transducer” (a machine that transmits sound waves). You will then closely examine the images to identify any areas that could be unhealthy. You must then analyze them and present them to the patients’ doctors along with your initial findings.

Many sonographers work in obstetrics and gynecology using ultrasound to check female organs and fetal growth. There are other purposes for sonography, however, including:

• Abdominal sonography (liver, kidneys and other abdominal organs)
• Breast sonography (breast cancer and other problems)
• Cardiac sonography (heart)
• Neurosonography (brain and nervous system)

Salary:

Most sonographers in the U.S. make an annual salary of between $53,000 and $74,000. As an entry level sonographer you could expect to make approximately $43,000; you will earn more when you have gained more experience.

Education:

You can acquire your training at a hospital, vocational school, or the armed forces. You may also consider pursuing your associate’s or bachelor’s degree in sonography as well. You do not need to be licensed in the field of sonography, but the higher your level of education, the more money you can expect to make.

You will likely take courses in the following areas:

• anatomy
• instrumentation
• medical ethics
• patient care
• physics
• physiology

Associations:

• American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
• American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers
• American Society of Echocardiography
• Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers
• Society for Vascular Ultrasound

Do you love technical, highly complex information and working with computers? Becoming a technical writer may be right for you. Technical writers work in a variety of fields, but are particularly needed in the field of medicine.

As a technical writer in the medical field, you will consult with medical technology experts to collect raw technical data by doing research. Once the information is collected, it must be arranged in a logical pattern and simplified into language that can be understood by an average reader. You may also need to determine whether or not to include charts, graphs, or diagrams.

To be successful in this field, you need to have outstanding written and verbal communication skills and be detail oriented as well as a good problem solver. You need to be comfortable working with complex technological equipment such as computers. You will have to have a strong understanding of medical technology as well if you decide to work in the field of medicine.

Salary:

The median salary for technical writers in the U.S. is approximately $61,620 annually. Most will earn somewhere between $47,000 and $79,000 per year. When you are new to the field of technical writing, you can expect a salary of around $36,500 depending on what part of the country you reside. If you proceed with your education and training and gain the necessary experience, you may earn as much as $98,000 or more. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics anticipates technical writing jobs to grow faster than average between 2008 and 2018, at a rate of 18 percent.

Education:

A minimum of an associate’s degree is required to earn a certificate in technical writing. Certificate programs can usually be earned in a year. You will typically need to take six to eight courses, which would include:

• Business writing
• HTML
• Internet writing
• Publishing
• Software writing
• Technical editing

Job prospects can be much better, however, if you pursue your bachelor’s degree, particularly if you pair it with a minor in medical technology or another technical field of your choice.

Associations:

Groups and associations that exist for technical writers include:

• Association for Business Communication
• IEEE Professional Communications Society
• National Association of Science Writers
• Society for Technical Communication

Is a Degree In Interior Design Right for You?

Do you love to experiment with decorating your home’s interior? Have an eye for color? Perhaps you are interested in earning a degree in interior design, but you’d like to learn more about just what the course requirements might be.

There are two programs you will need to take a look at: a four-year program and a two-year one.

Either degree will involve studying a variety of subjects from general ed courses – math, English, literature, and the like – to more specific art and interior design courses. Areas specific to the designing of interiors include analysis, contract planning, sketching, drafting, and design.

The following are short descriptions of the two degree options:

Courses in interior design in a two-year program are similar in scope to four-year degrees; you’ll take classes in history of design, two-dimensional and three-dimensional design, space planning, drafting, drawing, furniture design, visual presentation, color, architecture, building codes, digital tools, design research, lighting design, and more.

A four-year program will result in a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. You will study for your career by taking courses you will need to begin: architecture, computer-assisted drawing (CAD), communications, color, design concepts, graphics, an dart history. Additional courses will include textiles for the consumer, advanced architectural materials, construction documents, municipal codes and lighting, blueprint reading, and interior design drawing and interior systems.

You can easily transition from a two-year program to a four-year one; the courses are quite similar, so they will, in all likelihood, be transferable credits. A two-year program offers the basic background you need to complete your four-year degree.

To graduate from a two-year program, you will need to earn between 45 and 60 credit hours in interior design, while you will be required to take 51 to 98 credit hours of specific design courses to earn your four-year degree. Additionally, general education degree requirements range from 15 hours for a two-year program to about 50 hours for a four-year degree.

It would be to your advantage to take part in any internship available through your school. Internship programs are designed to supplement your classroom experiences to provide you with the real-world experience you will need to find a job once you have graduated.

ACT Scores

Students planning to begin college in the fall of 2010 are understandably concerned right now about how they did - or will do - on the ACT; while colleges and universities, of course, look at a combination of factors when considering someone for admission, standardized test scores are key. Using scores on the SAT and ACT give admissions officers an easy tool to compare potential students.

In addition, schools realize that their ACT data is public, so they must depend on high numbers to keep their reputations intact. No one will consider a university “elite” or “highly selective” if they admit students whose average composite ACT scores are too low.

That leaves the students asking: What is a good ACT score? Each of four categories – English Language, Reading, Science, and Mathematics – receives a score between 1, being the lowest, and 36, being the highest. The four scores are then averaged together to generate a “composite score,” which is what most colleges and universities look at. An average composite score is around 20; in other words, 50% of test-takers have a score of less than 20.

The students who score a perfect 36 are few and far between – anyone scoring a 34 or 35 will fall in the top 1% of test-takers in the U.S. A score in the high twenties would be considered excellent and would likely earn a student the opportunity to interview with some of the more prestigious universities.

There are two more dates on which you can take the ACT test this year: April 10 and June 12. The registration deadline for the April test is March 5, 2010; for the June test, the deadline is May 7, 2010.