Sure, but I'd still hate to put my life on hold for four years and then have to wait tables at the local TGIF afterward due to a closed field.
What I was asking is if the commitment of a four year degree in Health Admin, or Public Admin (Business Admin is obviously versatile) would assure me a position similar to the one posted. It's easy to post something like that, but it means nothing if your chance of landing that type of job is, in reality, slim to none. I'm just asking if the job availability will be there, along with that level of compensation for someone with a BA in EMS. Valid question when considering education for a future career path. Arguably the most important question.
Would a BA in EMS actually lead to these positions, or would one need to compete against many others for relatively few positions? Would a degree in another field be more likely to land one of those jobs? Important questions that ought not be ignored if your career aspirations lead you in the direction of one of those positions.
I'm asking if a BA in EMS is being falsely misrepresented as a sure thing for one of these positions or if that degree would actually hold that much power. Not a bad question to ask when four years of your young life are being invested.
What you get out of any degree program is what you make of it. I just got an e-mail about my state's updated treatment protocols....we were told to contact XXXX, clinical coordinator,
RN if there were any questions. There's a job that's not even being advertised to those within EMS because it's being taken by a nurse. It seems to me that that a paramedic should be in this position: someone who is an expert in EMS. It would take at least a BS to justify replacing the current nurse.
Never mind the plethora of advanced degrees that can be obtained, thereby opening all sorts of opportunities not even being considered here. Want to get a MPH? good luck without a BS. Of course there is no guarantee of being paid more. There never is with just a bachelors....as I mentioned, its a poor decision to go to college if you only look at the money. But the opportunities are vastly larger.
The OP sounds like he's going to college one way or another. He sounds like he's lucky enough to be in a situation to make a decisions about what sort of program to pick, rather than choosing college vs. no college. In that light, getting a BS in EMS rather than a BS in something else is not such a bad decision. As I mentioned in general a BS is a poor financial choice, and at least a BS in EMS puts you at the top of the game in your chosen field.
More importantly, it's very nice to have choices. Getting a -P cert is a great lead in to exactly one thing...being a paramedic. AS paramedic degree...choices expand to "be a paramedic or go to school to finish my BS" Get a BS paramedic degree, and the choices for future pathways are much more numerous.
To me, the pluses for the OP
1. better for patient care and EMS in general
2. more choices (Especially if he decides he doesn't like EMS or wants to do something different...definitely a possibility!)
3. knowledge is interesting, and college teaches you to think. There's no way to quantify this, but the way information is treated in a serious academic program is special. Programs that encourage students to learn by understanding and manipulating information, rather than memorizing, provide an incredible service to their students. Information is only useful if it can be manipulated, and that's a mental task that takes practice. Not all classes are like this, but if you can find some that are, they are gems that affect how you approach information in any setting. Not that such experiences are exclusive to BS programs, but I bet they're more common than in non-BS programs.
