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I dropped out of college precisely because I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do. Did you do full-time college and full-time job when you returned? How was

by dqv 6y ago

I dropped out of college precisely because I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do. Did you do full-time college and full-time job when you returned? How was balancing that with all the other life responsibilities?

DoreenMichele 6y ago
I went to school part-time and intermittently while very ill and homeschooling my special-needs sons. I also completed a couple of different certificate programs with a compressed scheduled, one in a Summer Camp format where you completed a year-long certificate program in two months, and the other was a month of going to school eight hours a day on my employer's dime when I got a corporate job. I wrapped up an Associate's with two online classes and testing out of some other things. I then enrolled in an online bachelor's, which was never completed because divorce and a serious, lengthy medical crisis got in the way. I then did GIS school one summer and got a corporate job and they put me through a certificate program and additional training for my entry-level job. You can look into testing out of some things. This is cheaper and less of a time commitment. You can do self study to help prepare for such tests. You may be able to get some credits for other things. There are books on how to try to do this. If you have military experience, most American colleges will automatically credit you for some of your military training and schools (like you will generally be exempt from taking any phys ed classes). Online classes can also help make things work. I did sometimes take classes in person and the commute to class was a huge and burdensome time commitment. When I took classes online, there was no commute and that time went into studying instead. If you do take classes in person, you can reduce the time burden by choosing a compressed schedule. Sometimes the same class is offered on either a schedule of three one hour classes a week or two 90 minute meetings a week. The class with two 90 minute meetings will save you commute time to the college, which can be substantial. (For me, the college in question was like 30 or 45 minutes away, even though it was in the same city I was in. This added up to an hour to 90 minutes saved per week to go with the compressed scheduled.)
- dqv 6y ago
  Thanks for the advice. This is pretty much what I was planning to do - part-time and mostly online - but I wasn't confident it was possible to get a degree this way.
  - DoreenMichele 6y ago
    I was in California at the time. California Virtual College was a useful resource for finding classes I needed and verifying before I signed up that my program would accept them: https://cvc.edu/ https://cvc.edu/

by dqv 6y ago

DoreenMichele 6y ago

I went to school part-time and intermittently while very ill and homeschooling my special-needs sons. I also completed a couple of different certificate programs with a compressed scheduled, one in a Summer Camp format where you completed a year-long certificate program in two months, and the other was a month of going to school eight hours a day on my employer's dime when I got a corporate job. I wrapped up an Associate's with two online classes and testing out of some other things. I then enrolled in an online bachelor's, which was never completed because divorce and a serious, lengthy medical crisis got in the way. I then did GIS school one summer and got a corporate job and they put me through a certificate program and additional training for my entry-level job. You can look into testing out of some things. This is cheaper and less of a time commitment. You can do self study to help prepare for such tests. You may be able to get some credits for other things. There are books on how to try to do this. If you have military experience, most American colleges will automatically credit you for some of your military training and schools (like you will generally be exempt from taking any phys ed classes). Online classes can also help make things work. I did sometimes take classes in person and the commute to class was a huge and burdensome time commitment. When I took classes online, there was no commute and that time went into studying instead. If you do take classes in person, you can reduce the time burden by choosing a compressed schedule. Sometimes the same class is offered on either a schedule of three one hour classes a week or two 90 minute meetings a week. The class with two 90 minute meetings will save you commute time to the college, which can be substantial. (For me, the college in question was like 30 or 45 minutes away, even though it was in the same city I was in. This added up to an hour to 90 minutes saved per week to go with the compressed scheduled.)

dqv 6y ago
Thanks for the advice. This is pretty much what I was planning to do - part-time and mostly online - but I wasn't confident it was possible to get a degree this way.
- DoreenMichele 6y ago
  I was in California at the time. California Virtual College was a useful resource for finding classes I needed and verifying before I signed up that my program would accept them: https://cvc.edu/ https://cvc.edu/