Going back to school...
How do you choose and attain a college degree?
Part 1
The reasons for not
starting the college
degree process or stopping it when you did, all seemed reasonable at
the
time - and perhaps they were. But now you're finding yourself
with some
renewed desires and ambitions for life and work, and a college degree
will
play nicely into that dream. Perhaps you have also realized that
the job
market increasingly requires workers to be educated beyond a high
school
degree, and that means that more and more people are going or
returning to
college. You might be one of them – or maybe you're thinking about
becoming
one of them. No matter what level you are studying at, or what stage
of life
you are in, if you are going to take college classes, you are going to
have
choose something to study. A read through this guide should help you
understand the different types of degrees available as well as the
different
areas in which you can concentrate in, and most importantly, how to
determine which of these are best for you.
College? Who me? You must
be kidding!
You might be thinking to yourself,
“College? College isn't for me. I hated school every minute I was in
it, and
I swore I would never go back!” Perhaps you already have a degree and
wonder
why you would ever want of need another. Or maybe you think that you
are to
old for school – or you have a family that needs taking care of...
Well, let
me be one to tell you that there really are no excuses. If you want to
do
college and you live in America, you can complete college. It might
take a
bit of sacrifice, but you can do it. The whole system is set up so
that you
– or anybody else who wants to – can do it. And YES, that is
true. If you
grew up poor, there are scholarships, grants and programs that will
help
with money, tutoring and more. There will likely be some
"red tape"
and bureaucracy, but with some perseverance, you'll get the
information you
need. If you have been out of school for a while
and fear the time commitment, you can consider doing the whole process
online. The educational opportunities these days are simply
second to
none. As an example, my wife went back to graduate school in her
early 40's
and completed a Master of Speech Pathology degree from a California
State
University. The process was not easy, yet, it was FAR more
convenient than taking
classes at night (which are not always available either close to
you or in
the field you want to study) or traveling 3-4 hours round trip to find
the
right program in another city. She did this while maintaining a
full time job, and kept 3
kids (let alone me) clothed and in their right minds - all the while
NOT
being a type A-hard drive personality. She is smart, but she
mostly
disciplined herself to do what ever it took to get the work
done. So, while
there can be some formidable obstacles, like most things in life, if
you
want something bad enough and are willing to put your mind and heart
into
it, it CAN be done.
As mentioned, there are a number of
alternate ways to go through school these days and most of these have
been
set up to accommodate for non-traditional students, which are normally
defined as older students returning to school (with all the "life
complications" that goes with it - job, kids, home and of course
a dog) or
younger but already carrying a full time job. The vast majority
of colleges offer night classes, weekend classes,
on-line classes, and some that have
special commuter schools. Degrees can be completed in very short
periods of
time, or very slowly over a long period of time - all depending on
your
schedule, budget, and interests.
Types of Colleges - multiple
opportunities
There are a number of different types
of
degrees that you can get from colleges and universities, not all of
which
have always existed, and a number of different sorts of colleges
granting
those degrees.
Community colleges
or Junior colleges usually offer associate's degrees, which are
designed to be completed with two years of full-time class work.
People
getting associate's degrees typically transfer to a college to work on
a
bachelor's degree, or sometimes are able to enter right into the work
force,
especially if their degree is in technology of some sort.
As mentioned, Community colleges
offer 2
year programs that lead to a Bachelors program (or a "4 year
degree"). It
is common for community colleges to have 2 primary emphases: 1.)
Allows a
student to complete the pre-requisites for a bachelors program.
Completes
the lower level math, English, history, psychology, sociology
etc. 2.) They
also usually offer certificates or diplomas in technical
trades as well – degrees for technology specialists or a whole host of
specific medical trades, for example: dental hygiene, surgical
technician,
x-ray technician, or respiratory therapist. A nice bonus
concerning the
Community/Junior College is that they are normally quite
inexpensive.
Colleges and
Universities:
Normally when someone mentions the term college or university, we
think of
big 4 year institutions like USC, University of Texas, Stanford,
Kansas
State and the like. But as we discussed above, colleges (not
universities)
also include 2 year schools, usually called community colleges as an
excellent starting point. 4 year schools can be of the large
variety like
above, but they also include smaller colleges like Tabor (KS), Seattle
Pacific (WA), Samford (AL), Oberlin (OH), Taylor (IN) and so many
more.
Some are private, others are state schools but small, and still others
are
church related. Within the last 15 years or so, yet a new crop
of schools
have come to fruition. These are the online variety, some of
which
specialize solely in distance learning degrees. Some distance
learning
degrees will require brief, intensive 1-2 week on-campus stays (often
in the
summer), while others permit the entire degree process to be done
without
ever leaving your personal computer screen.
Completing your degree may seem
daunting,
and yes their are a number of steps to take, but "arming"
yourself with the
right information, will smooth your path. So
far, we’ve started the process of helping you get started or
re-started into
the world of a earning a college degree. In back-to-school- part 2 of this
article,
we’ll talk about the types of degrees as well as what each degree
allows you
to do.
About the Author:
Mark Whyte has taught
Sociology for the last 7 years
as an online college professor. He also owns and operates a
website at
http://packupthehouse.com,
where he
assists you to find the just the right
moving boxes,
shipping company,
rental
trucks,
supplies to get
organized, and of
course
bubble wrap,
moving tape and
moving
supplies when
you move from your homes or
businesses.
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