I have been thinking a lot lately about going to college. I am married with 5 children between the ages of 8 & 12. I also work full time. Do any of you have similar circumstances? Is it too much to handle? I dont want to be an Office Coordinator for the rest of my life, plus I have no idea what to major in!!!! UUUGGGGHHH!!! Please help!
2007-10-29 09:45:37 · 2 answers · asked by Laurajean 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Higher Education (University +)
The important thing is to remember that "online college" doesn't just mean those heavily advertised programs you see on TV.
Your choices for online study include some of the finest colleges in the world - not the least of which are Oxford and Harvard Universities who are teaching online.
If we say that one of the big advantages of online/distance education is that you can study where you are - you should take advantage of studying at the best colleges you can from where you are.
Colleges like Harvard, UC-Berkeley, Berklee Music, UCLA, UMass, UFlorida, Duke, UNC, Brigham Young, Stanford, etc... are all teaching online and some offer whole degrees online. Probably even your local community college and your StateU.
As for your real question - is it doable. Sometimes, going back to school can be more than doable in your situation, it can become an escape from your day-to-day. I've reached a point where going to school is my hobby - why go bowling when you can go learn cool stuff.
Married, 5 kids, FT job; that's a hand full indeed. If you have the support of your family then it's very doable. They have to understand though that you are going to school and you have "homework" just like they do. One way to deal with that is to have family homework time - everyone does homework at the same time each day (including you). But, you will have to have the support of the entire family in order to excel.
Major; don't worry about that yet. Find a school (online or in person) and take some of the basic core classes that everyone has to take. Freshman comp, basic maths, some science, maybe a business class or two you're interested in. One class at a time to see how you like it and how the family responds to "mom's in school".
If you pick a good, regionally accredited school, you won't have trouble applying those classes to a degree at another school later.
For good distance classes at a good price, I like Louisiana State and Brigham Young.
http://www.is.lsu.edu/courselist.asp?nid=102&Level=CO&Online=0
http://ce.byu.edu/is/site/courses/select.cfm?type=univ
good luck
2007-10-29 10:49:30 · answer #1 · answered by CoachT 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Most online colleges insist on at least an associate degree. I'm not sure of any that will start you off from scratch. I'm 54. I got my associate in nursing at a community college and took an online BS program for healthcare administration. It was a lot harder than going to school in a classroom. There is a lot of reading and writing involved and there is no, and I mean NO instruction of any kind. You get a book and assignments. It's up to you to teach yourself the subject. The second online program that I attended (I was working on my master in nursing, but my computer died) at least had minimal lectures that kind of explained the course work, though even that wasn't sufficient. Now I'm gearing up for law school that I will have to do in a classroom setting.
You already have a lot on your plate, but it isn't impossible. I might suggest a weekend program for you, unless your job requires weekend work.
2007-10-29 09:55:24 · answer #2 · answered by Lola 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋