Nov
27
My Wall of Achievements
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One of my greatest beliefs in life is that the past is important to our future. Now, I don’t mean that one should live in the past (since it isn’t healthy), but rather those experiences from the past carry forward and help us shape our future.
So, I have a room in my house that is my study, and I have set aside one wall as a showcase of things that I have accomplished in my lifetime. There you can find ribbons from track meets that I won as a kid (I was really good at long jump), some medals from the music festivals that I have won (I used to play the piano), and even a diploma frame or two from my college degree in computer science and the certificate I have in accounting.
To some, this wall seems like I am bragging, but for me, it is a motivator as I can see what I have accomplished in my short time here on the planet. I guess the biggest question that is brought up when people do look at the wall is why there is a bunch of empty space on it.
My answer is simple – the empty space reminds me that there are many more accomplishments to come and the space on the wall is needed to accommodate them, which gives me the motivation each day to be something more than I was yesterday.
Oct
24
Making the decision to go back to school as an adult is difficult. There are a lot of uncertainties and — I won’t lie — it won’t be a walk in the park. My husband is finishing up his bachelor’s degree right now, and there are times when he gets quite frustrated with his lack of spare time.
Here are a few things to keep in mind if you are thinking of going back to school:
- Time requirements – This is generally different for each person, depending on your subject of study. For instance, someone who is looking at chef schools will expect a very different workload than someone who is considering law school or medical school. That doesn’t mean that cooking schools are a piece of cake to get through, by any means, but your time expectations do need to change according to what you intend to study.
- Location – Most returning students are working adults who are already ensconced in their lives and careers. As a result, relocating to attend college is typically not an option. If the school you want to attend is some distance away, carefully consider whether you want to make that commute for the next several years before making your decision.
- Course availability – Again, the existence of a job and family responsibilities mean that you will need to consider your existing schedule, and whether you can work your classes around it. There are some programs, such as online programs, that are designed to work with people in your situation, but not all schools or areas of study are going to offer anything like that.
There are a lot of things to think about before deciding to go back to school. I’m not at all trying to discourage you — finishing or adding to your education as an adult is an incredibly satisfying thing to do. I found that I appreciated it much more as an adult than I would have as a teen, fresh out of high school. But there are definitely more obstacles for an adult than for a teen, and it is important to make an “educated” decision!
May
9
If you have e full time job, then you know just how time consuming it can be. And if your is a full time job is like mine where you are a salaried full time employee, then you know that the whole 40 hour work week thing is nothing short of a myth! I put in more like 50 hours a week which doesn’t always leave me the free time to do some of the things that I would like to.
One of those things that I have always wanted to do was finish my college education. I was a junior in college when I got caught up in the food service industry. It’s a field that tends to suck people in. And once you start working your way up the ladder, it’s often hard to look back. I kept thinking to myself that at some point I would go back to college, but it just never seemed to happen.
That is until now though. It’s easy to put things off, and before you know it things like goals can get forgotten about. I was not going to let that happen. I found that online colleges are just as legitimate as the one I was going to before I got my job. And at this rate I’ll graduate in less than a year. A diploma is a diploma.
Apr
13
Right out of high school I just was not ready to go to college. Of course I had it in the back of my mind that one day I would end up going to college. Right then was not the time though. I was burned out on the whole idea of school. Plus I just wanted to get my feet wet in the real world.
So I got a job. I started out bussing tables at nice restaurant. It didn’t take more than a few days for them to start training me to wait tables. I did the server thing for about six months and did a great job. Then they decided to train me behind the bar too. I would bartend one day a week and serve on my other shifts. Pretty soon I was picking up more bar shifts and even managing during the day. But the owner spread himself too thin while trying to open another restaurant and we went out of business.
So I thought about what I should do with my life. I went to see a counselor at the local community college, and ended up signing up for classes that very day. I liked managing, so I am taking all kinds of business courses. My goal is to finish my undergraduate work and then continue on to get my MBA. I’m glad I took the time off though to get focused and find what I was interested in.
Feb
19
Student Loan Consolidation
Filed Under College And University | 3 Comments
College is very expensive. And few college students have the resources to pay cash to attend the college or university of their choice. So if you can’t afford to pay cash, how can you go to college? The answer is simple: you obtain student loans.
And that is exactly what most college and university students do. They get student loans. In fact in most cases they get several student loans. After all, there are a lot of things to pay for besides just tuition. What about books? And housing isn’t exactly cheap either in college towns. So the student loans pile up, and by the time you graduate you have more loans than you can shake a stick at!
Having a lot of loans can ruin your credit. Not to mention the fact that they all have different interest rates which means some are costing you more than others. This is why student loan consolidation makes so much sense. You can lump all of your student loans into one low interest student loan and avoid the hassle of multiple payments as well as save yourself thousands of dollars. Just like a homeowner would refinance their house if a lower interest rate were suddenly available, doesn’t it just make sense to do the same thing by consolidating your student loans?