September 2008 Weddings
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Furthering education
Ok...so Wednesday is my last day of work. I'm tossing around the idea of either taking some online courses or going actually going to college. All I have is a diploma, and in order for me to ever get a decent job anywhere I really need atleast an associates degree.
The only problem is I have no idea what I would want to go for...I like the idea of medical coding/billing/transcription because you could eventually do them from home. I also like the idea of early education, because of working with little kids. Business administration is a good "general" field for having my own office.
I guess I'm just looking for advice...
What degree do you have?
What course/field is it in?
If you took online courses, what school?
Do you like your job?
Dan & Emily: 09.06.08
Re: Furthering education
What degree do you have? I currently have my Associates in Paralegal Studies. I'm in school to finish my Bachlor's in Business Management
What course/field is it in? Oops, see above
If you took online courses, what school? My AA is from a traditional community college, but I'm getting my BA completely online from Kaplan University. Online learning isn't for everyone, but I LOVE it.
Do you like your job? I LOVE my job. And having my AA in Paralegal helped me get into my current job at Kellogg, since they were looking for someone with a legal background. I did an internship my last semester and found I HATED being a lawyers b*tch. Because, IMO, that's what most Paralegals are (Ang, if you're reading this...sorry!)
Since my AA helped me to get my foot in the door at Kellogg, I'm getting a Business Mgmt degree so I can move around to other positions without having too specific of a degree.
What degree do you have? I have a BA in Psychology and a Masters in Social Work
What course/field is it in? Humanities? I honestly don't know
If you took online courses, what school? There are limited online classes for my masters degree. ETA: No, I didn't take any online courses.
Do you like your job? Yes, I do. It's almost exactly what I went to school for (I entered wanting a job in pediatric oncology social work but general medicine/ geriatric social work is more my cup of tea). I love my job but I get burnt out pretty easily-- self care is very important.
What degree do you have? Bachelor's of Science
What course/field is it in? Biotechnology
If you took online courses, what school? I went to a 4 year school.
Do you like your job? Yes, I love being in the lab.
What degree do you have? I have a Bachelor's and will have a Master's in 5 weeks
What course/field is it in? My BA is in Economics and Mathematics. I am finishing up my Master of Public Administration
If you took online courses, what school? I took a couple online summer courses through my community college in undergrad during the summers. I have also taken a couple course online in my current program. I'm an on ground student, though, and much prefer on ground courses.
Do you like your job? I love my job. It did require a specialized degree that had coursework in statistics and mathematics and had some sort of research component (my undergrad). My MPA has already helped with the policy side and will hopefully help me advance.
If you are unsure of what exactly you want to do, I would suggest starting out with a couple general education courses at your local community college. You can ease in to college level work for much lease money (remember to fill out the FAFSA to try to get some aid!). I'm not sure how robust PA's community college system is, but community colleges are generally great places to start and usually cater to non traditional students (which you will be since you are not directly our of high school and have a family). Many even have online coursework now and usually have night and day courses.
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I got my degrees in science and according to your post that's not what you're interested in, but I am a college instructor so I offer a different perspective...
What degree do you have? I have a BS (biology) and a PhD (physiology)
If you took online courses, what school? I took one hybrid online/in the classroom course in college, but that was in the 90s and it was experimental. So I literally sat in my dorm room and took exams on the computer less than a quarter mile from the classroom. It was at my undergrad school, which doesn't offer any online courses at this point. However, B is in his last year of grad school and currently is taking two online courses. With his FT job and P at home, he loves not having to travel to campus 2x/week. It's about 30 min from here. He does take some of his classes on campus, though. I've also taught several years of online courses. My older students who had other responsibilities (like kids and/or a job) did much, much better and seemed to have a better grasp of the online model than the traditional students. They also had a better idea about how to manage their study time. Online courses are good for students who don't need as much guidance with regards to those things. I'm pretty sure I'd do better in the classroom model, because I'm a horrible procrastinator!
Do you like your job? I hope I will! I do where I'm currently working PT but I'm starting a new FT position in the fall at a different university.
I agree with Jo, and as I've been on the job market for 3 years in PA and has looked extensively into a lot of colleges and universities, I can tell you that many of the community colleges at least in the eastern half of the state (so I'd imagine it would be true for your area, too) are going out of their way to make education accessible to non traditional students. I've seen programs that offer early morning (like 6am!) and late night classes for working parents, expanding their offerings to campuses all over the counties, etc. Also, I have a lot of colleagues that have taught or are applying to teach in the CC system, and I can tell you that the professors are there because they want to teach, and they want to interact with the students. Sometimes at larger universities that are known for research, your instructors are TAs or are required to teach and not necessarily passionate about it. And CCs in PA actually pay pretty well as far as teaching-intensive higher ed goes, so it's not like they can't compete from that perspective with regards to attracting quality faculty.
As for early childhood ed, PA state schools offer amazing programs. Several of my friends are teachers and came through the PA state university system.
2012 Reading Challenge
First of all congrats for making the decision on wanting to go back.
What degree do you have?
I have a Bachelors of Fine Arts
What course/field is it in?
It is specialized in Interior Design - I have also taken a course for a Wedding Planning certificate
If you took online courses, what school?
I did take some online courses through my local community college for my degree and the whole certificate program was online through Penn Foster
Do you like your job?Well sadly my current job has nothing to do with either thing but the answer is basically no.
Good luck with your decision!
What degree do you have? Bachelors of Science
What course/field is it in? Biology
If you took online courses, what school? I took 2 while I was in college, one was a technical writing course, and I loved it. The other was a gen ed course. The masters programs I am looking at, the majority of courses are online. I think online classes serve their purposes well, but be sure the school does hold a regional accreditation if you go that route. I have far too many students that take courses at unaccredited institutions and transfer to a university, and are starting over. Why? B/c they were "sold" and told that their credit would transfer... I'll stop there! (I work for the university system in my state)
Do you like your job? No. What I do has nothing to do with my degree, which I am ok with, but I am not ok with being in this job for the rest of my life.
What degree do you have? BS (I'm a kid, that always makes me laugh)
What course/field is it in? Accounting
If you took online courses, what school? N/A
Do you like your job? Accounting isn't for everyone and contrary to popular belief you don't have to be a 'numbers person' to enjoy it. It's more about being very detail oriented and being able to multi-task. You generally also have to be very good at time management and be able to respond quickly when the boss asks for something.
It's a weird field, and there are all kinds of levels of accountants. I just hired someone to be my assistant who has very little experience, but a great desire to learn and that will get her far.
I don't love my job. I do love the paycheck.
Planning bio My DIY blog The Maine Bio
2012 Reading Challenge
What degree do you have? I have a BA in French, a BA in English, and an MA in Romance Languages/French Linguistics. I also have Secondary Teacher Certification. I'm about 4 classes shy of finishing my PhD coursework (minus the dissertation). I'm trying to convince myself that I should go back and finish.
If you took online courses, what school? n/a
Do you like your job? Not particularly, since it's not in my field, but it's a good job and I make a decent salary.
A+S | Met 8/24/06 | Married 9/27/08
Started TTC 12/2008 | dx PCOS 5/2009
6 failed clomid/femara/TI cycles, 1 failed clomid/ovidrel/IUI cycle
Successful Cycle: 5/12/11 - 1000mg Metformin + 100mg Clomid(late response) + TI = BFP
? 2/13/12 - We proudly welcomed our daughter, Hadley Teresa! ?
? Lots of Luck to all of 3T/IF ?
What degree do you have? Bachelors in engineering; masters in education, and I'm ABD in education (EdD program)
What course/field is it in? see above
If you took online courses, what school? N/A, but I bet I'd love it.
Do you like your job? like, sure. love, no. I like numbers.
More importantly, I totally agree with Jo & Becky about checking out the CCs...most are really open and flexible, and (assuming you're a first time higher ed student) you're probably elgible for a good deal of aid (at minimium tax credits). I would fill out your FAFSA (its free) to get started while you look into programs in your area.
I 100% agree with this.
CC's missions are based on serving all students. It's a really great place to start. Especially for non traditional students. They are typically much more hands on with their students/
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What course/field is it in?See above
If you took online courses, what school? I took the online courses for the Administrative Management Certificate. I really liked it b/c it was less than a semester course. I was going through a job change so this worked out and the instructors were great.
Do you like your job? Yes! There are some boring parts or when I do not feel mentally challenged but overall I love it. I am not micromanaged at all and I am encouraged to get training and they have educational reimbursement (hence the reason I am able to go for my certifications within the past year).
Planning bio My DIY blog The Maine Bio
2012 Reading Challenge
What degree do you have? Associates and Bachelor's
What course/field is it in? Associates of Arts, Bachelor's of Sociology which is in the field of social and behavioral sciences (I can be a counselor, social worker, etc.)
If you took online courses, what school? I took online courses through the community college and university I attended but I also physically went to classes at both.
I like both ways of taking classes. Some classes, like science and math I need to be in a class. My mind just doesn't grasp those concepts unless I am in a class. As for all the other classes, english, psychology, history, etc I can take online courses because it's easy for me to pick up on those subjects.
Do you like your job? Yes but my degree isn't within the field I work in. I work in the accounting field but am looking into working as a corrections officer which would go with my sociology degree. Or maybe behavioral health. I don't see that I can go very far where I work without a business degree and a concentration in accounting. Right now I have my foot in the door and that was the hard part. From here I can branch out and work in a filed that more closely relates to my degree such as social work, counseling, behavioral health specialist, correctional or probation officer, etc.
Having a degree definitely opens more doors but experience is also a huge thing. Aside from having been in the military all my experience is with accounting so although I don't have a degree in that field I am able to get a job within (just not a high paying job without the education). I have no experience at all with what I majored in in college but just having the degree will get me into the field should I try. I will have a higher earning potential if I go in the direction that my degree is in because I can get closer to the top of the chain by having a degree in the field and gaining experience.
Take community general ed classes first. That should help you get a better idea of what you like.
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CRAFTY ME
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