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I am a graduate student at WSU living in Pullman, WA. I have been pretty unhappy with my academic situation here, and extremely unhappy living in Pullman the last two years because the isolation has been killer. After some recent serious personal events, I've decided to leave the program and get a fresh start elsewhere, so i can get some of my confidence back and be among more people with more things to do. I think leaving Pullman will be really good for me, and I've been pretty miserable and extremely lonely in this grad program the last two years.
The problem is finding work. I have a BS in horticulture and years and years of working in the produce industry as I used to sell fresh fruit for my grandparents growing up. I'm hoping to move to a city and find work related to the produce industry, but don't know quite where to go. If it helps, I'm originally from Rochester, NY, though I don't necessarily want to go back there unless nothing else works. I also DO NOT want to go to San Francisco. Just broke up with my long-distance girlfriend who lived there and the overall vibe of the city made me feel very uncomfortable whenever I visited (felt pretentious and close-minded with the interactions I had there, and I didn't like how everyone talked to me like it was God's gift to Earth).
The other problem is that Pullman is so remote, that there's not a whole lot within driving distance, so I won't really be a local candidate for any jobs. I guess I have the following questions:
Anyone have cities to recommend for someone who wants to work in produce?
What can I do to make sure I get interviewed so I can finally leave?
Also does anyone else here have experience quitting grad school and relocating to somewhere else?
Any help on this is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Quitting grad school is a really difficult case. Graduate degrees are about the only ones that mean anything, but even then it depends on your grades, actual ability, and who you know.
There's a lot of produce grown on the west side of the Cascades - look at the Willamette Valley or the Hood River Fruit Loop area. There are farmer's markets galore all over the Portland area. You may like Portland more than you liked SF. If you want to continue your graduate education, Oregon State used to be named Oregon Agricultural College, and they're still very strong in that field.
The Willamette Valley is a good suggestion. Eugene/Corvallis are both slightly more pricey, but there's lots of growing up and down the valley (wineries farther north, grass seed farther south, crops sort of mixed around), and a lot of towns are fairly short distance from each other.
So you could work in Corvallis and commute from somewhere cheaper like Albany. Also a lot of options around Salem.
I could see wanting to get the heck out of Pullman. And in theory, yes, the Ag school at OSU is there if you ever went back to wanting to finish a Masters, though AFAIK they tend to focus more on forestry and animal science with crops a bit further down the list.
As for quitting grad school there's not much to know. They'll probably recommend you start with a 'leave of absence' rather than a formal withdrawal in case you change your mind. And unless they're going to charge you for the privilege (probably not) you might as well. Find out how you can order transcripts (online is pretty common these days), perhaps.
If you have loans from your grad program they'll enter the grace period (6 mos for Stafford/PLUS, 9 mos for Perkins) before you begin repayment, but you might have deferment/forbearance options to put that off, or might opt to enter Income Based Repayment, where what you pay each month would vary as a percent of your discretionary income.
I am a graduate student at WSU living in Pullman, WA. I have been pretty unhappy with my academic situation here, and extremely unhappy living in Pullman the last two years because the isolation has been killer. After some recent serious personal events, I've decided to leave the program and get a fresh start elsewhere, so i can get some of my confidence back and be among more people with more things to do. I think leaving Pullman will be really good for me, and I've been pretty miserable and extremely lonely in this grad program the last two years.
The problem is finding work. I have a BS in horticulture and years and years of working in the produce industry as I used to sell fresh fruit for my grandparents growing up. I'm hoping to move to a city and find work related to the produce industry, but don't know quite where to go. If it helps, I'm originally from Rochester, NY, though I don't necessarily want to go back there unless nothing else works. I also DO NOT want to go to San Francisco. Just broke up with my long-distance girlfriend who lived there and the overall vibe of the city made me feel very uncomfortable whenever I visited (felt pretentious and close-minded with the interactions I had there, and I didn't like how everyone talked to me like it was God's gift to Earth).
The other problem is that Pullman is so remote, that there's not a whole lot within driving distance, so I won't really be a local candidate for any jobs. I guess I have the following questions:
Anyone have cities to recommend for someone who wants to work in produce?
What can I do to make sure I get interviewed so I can finally leave?
Also does anyone else here have experience quitting grad school and relocating to somewhere else?
Any help on this is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
I would recommend areas of the Mid-Atlantic states where there is strong support financially for farm-to-table food/farmers markets. The Hudson Valley of New York, parts of New Jersey, rural Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia, much of Maryland and Delaware or parts of Northern Virginia. the link below will provide a number of farm listings by city or state.
I am trying to get into produce sales, as I did a lot of that growing up for relatives at a retail level at their farm stand, and it was something I loved.
I've considered in the Willamette Valley...it's a beautiful area. I think I'd either like to get down into the Willamette area or Southern California, but the mid-Atlantic sounds wonderful as well.
Now the challenge is getting a job. I'm not going to be local to really anywhere with how remote Pullman is, so finding a job is going to be tough.
Does anyone have tips on finding a job out-of-state?
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