When it’s time to move forward on a career path or break into a whole new field, the average working adult may choose to go back to school. A college degree is now becoming a requirement for many employers. There are many things to consider when deciding to return to college.
Online verses On-Site
For many careers, getting a college degree can mean advancement and making more money. Getting a degree online means not having to disrupt your current life and responsibilities. Online learning has rapidly grown not only in popularity but also in levels of respect with the professional world at large. However, it is not for everyone. Some individuals need the structure of a college campus. Attending classes keeps them on track and assignments complete.
Two-year verses Four-year
An associate degree has many advantages, especially for the working adult. Having the light at the end of the tunnel being a mere 2 years down the road is appealing. Often, students are able to take the skills they learn when working toward a two-year degree and immediately apply them to their current position. A bachelor degree will take more commitment. From the arts to business to web design, colleges and universities offer this degree in a number of different areas.
No matter what the field, companies are now requiring some type of formal education for new and even current employees. An associate or bachelor degree can be the first step towards greater career freedom, higher earning power and all over career satisfaction.
I work as a teacher assistant in a fast-growing city. More and more people are starting to move here to work in the energy and defense industry, and the city school system is trying to hire more teachers to meet the needs of families with kids. The superintendent of schools says he is not able to offer high enough salaries to recruit many teachers from other states, and although there is a new effort to expand educational programs to train new teachers, it isn’t happening quickly enough to meet the demand. In the meantime, the school system is encouraging those with at least some teaching experience to take online courses and get online college degrees in education, which would help them quickly get state certification to teach.
I have been given an approved online university to choose from, if I want to go ahead with this program. Apparently the state has worked out a special rate package with them, and will be paying tuition for those already working for the school system. The state is offering us a small monthly stipend as an added incentive. It’s not much, but it helps. It certainly helped me make up my mind to sign up.
Students who are trying to figure out what type of educational degree they want to pursue should know that one of the things to consider is whether to get an arts degree or a science degree. Some students think that it really doesn’t matter if you get a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science but it actually might matter quite a lot when it comes time to get a job in the field that you have been studying.
If you wanted to get a job in the health care industry, for example, then you would want to make sure that you looked at healthcare associate degree programs that offered Bachelor of Science degrees. (An example of one of these schools is SBC Fenton MO.) That’s because this is a scientific job and it should have an educational basis in the science of the degree.
Not all health degrees will be science degrees but the good ones will be. The Bachelor of Science is typically a tougher, more technical program. This means that it is going to look better on a resume. It will also probably do a better job of qualifying you for the work that you want to do in a health care field than you would be if you took an arts-based degree program.
Posted by KnowledgeChoice on 08/26/08 in Education
I’ve been thinking about moving to Philadelphia. With school over and done with, I’m ready to ditch the 120-degree summers of Phoenix and head east. I’ve looked at New York a little, but the whole “starving artist runs away to the Big Apple”-thing seems a little overdone. Philly’s pretty and quaint and I have an aunt and uncle there I can chill with until I find something more permanent.
There’s also a few career schools there I’ve been interested in, namely the Sanford Brown Institute Philly. They have a few medical programs in sonography and dentistry, and something I’ve been interested in for a while now, a medical billing program. Medical billing is apparently a fast growing field right now (unless the US implements universal health care) and much more complex than it sounds.
We’ll see how it goes. I’ll have to talk it over with the parents before making any major decisions. We’ve talked a little about furthering my education, though usually the topic of graduate school comes up. They still think I want to be a famous lawyer, a dream I only vaguely remember having. I swear, sometimes I think they whole-heartedly believe I’m still twelve years old.
I have reached that point in my life where I am starting to get rid of all of the hodge-podge furniture that I accumulated throughout the years and beginning to actually purchase the furniture that I want my home to have for awhile. It’s a stage that all adults reach but somehow I feel like I’m just not as good at it as other adults are. It’s like I can’t see what would look good in a room as a set no matter how hard I try. I can choose one or two great pieces of furniture that I really like but then I realize that they just don’t fit right in the room that I have or with the other furniture that I’m considering.
There was a brief period of time when I was looking at degree programs for college and I thought about doing the interior design degree program at Harrington interior design school. I quickly realized that I just didn’t have the eye for that kind of work but now I wish that I had taken the classes just so I might have learned what I need to know now to put my own home together so it looks grown-up!
I took plenty of online classes while pursuing my bachelor’s degree, so I have plenty of firsthand experience with them — with all kinds, actually, since online classes tend to differ depending on what your instructor is like. Generally speaking, I would recommend online classes to almost anyone — I personally feel that although they require dedication and self-motivation, it’s nothing that the average person can’t handle.
The format of the online education degree is such that it requires you to log on to your classes on your own, do your homework with little reminding, and be able to learn without someone else holding your hand. However, online degree programs also allow you to keep your life pretty much the same, without having to schedule work or family life around your education. Well worth the effort, I’d say.
And realistically, it’s not that much different, because with traditional degrees you still have to remind yourself to do your work, study, etc. In fact, with traditional degrees, not only do you have to be able to get your butt to class, but you also have to get your butt to class on time — something you don’t have to worry about with an online class, as the only things that have to be on time are your assignments.
I even think online classes are good for people who are only moderately computer literate. For example, my mother-in-law — who is pre-computer-generation — wants to work in a hospital or doctor’s office, and I personally think pursuing a health care management degree online would be perfect for her — she would be able to easily work while she got her degree, and she’d be able to spend time with her kids and grandkids without having to schedule around classes!
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Students who are trying to figure out what type of educational degree they want to pursue should know that one of the things to consider is whether to get an arts degree or a science degree. Some students think that it really doesn’t matter if you get a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science but it actually might matter quite a lot when it comes time to get a job in the field that you have been studying.
I have reached that point in my life where I am starting to get rid of all of the hodge-podge furniture that I accumulated throughout the years and beginning to actually purchase the furniture that I want my home to have for awhile. It’s a stage that all adults reach but somehow I feel like I’m just not as good at it as other adults are. It’s like I can’t see what would look good in a room as a set no matter how hard I try. I can choose one or two great pieces of furniture that I really like but then I realize that they just don’t fit right in the room that I have or with the other furniture that I’m considering.