Choose College Going back to school Part 4
- Understanding College Degree Level
- About Online Schools
- How to select online college
- How to select online college - part 2
- How to select online college - part 3
- How to select online college - part 4
- Why Get A College Degree
- Nursing work is a practical field
- Critical shortage of trained RNs
- What is an accredited college?
- From highschool to college
- Choosing a College When the College Chooses You
- What are some Campus & Online Colleges?
Copyright © : All Rights Reserved. No part of this article may be used on any website without consent.Going back to school...
How do you choose and attain a college degree?
Part 4 in a series
Summary of Part 3: Knowing the "why" of what you are doing sets the proper foundation for excelling in the endeavor. Times can and will get rough and understanding your motivation is the beginning point. Part 3 began the process of understanding the motivation (the why) of you earning your college degree. In this final part of the series, we'll conclude the motivation and wrap up the process of earning your degree.
Love of learning - is that your motivation?
For some of us, the concept of actually loving to read and learn is as foreign as thinking termites area delicacy rather than a pest (That's true in Kenya). But for many, learning is an end all to itself.
Do you simply love to learn, think and put together concepts? If you really love to learn, going to school will be something that is a very pleasurable experience for you. For most of our population, it seems strange to hear about people who love school that much. These are usually the type of people who get PhDs so that they can continue studying and teaching about the things they love. Personally, this writer is far too pragmatic to just go to school for schools sake, but the love of thinking can be an excellent starting point and once there will allow you to narrow your focus and determine what you really want to do. So, if you feel that you would go to school forever if you could, choosing to use that motivation is an excellent "kickoff" for earning your degree.
Looking for Mr. Right?
It's a bit of a cliché, especially as it relates to women, but another reason you might go to college would be to get married. At colleges around the country, the common joke is about how many girls came there to get their M.R.S. degree... This might not sound like a good idea, but it deserves a momentary defense. Your parents want you to go to college, and they want you to get married but they don't really want you to marry just anyone, right? Think about another cliché, the one that parents want their daughters to marry doctors or lawyers. Well, it is a cliché, but college is a great place to meet one. You realize that except for an emergency, your parents don't really want you to move back in with them. What they want in their hearts is for you to be educated to a level that you can take care of yourself and to marry someone with potential. And with all due apologies to those with just high school diplomas (Bill Gates and Richard Branson aside), those with the "best potential" DO have college degrees - even if the degrees are other than medicine or law. So, with a smile and a wink I conclude...even if you don't really want to go to college, you can still make your parents very happy by going to school, meeting the right one, and leaving the nest forever.
Need some additional reasons?
Of course, there are a multitude of other reasons to go to school. You might go to school simply because you can – your financial aid is better than what you're what your current job pays; or because you need to stay on your parents' insurance. If you're an athlete, there are several other reasons to go to school – but at least one: competition. There is no feeling like pulling on your college jersey and getting hyped for battle. NCAA athletics are fun, a good character builder (usually) and sometimes a stepping stone to a professional career. Even if you're not an athlete, sports can be a big reason why people choose certain colleges. If you love to watch football, you should go big and find a D-1 school with a big stadium (USC or Notre Dame anyone?) and if you love basketball, how about enrolling at UNC, Kentucky or Indiana University? OK, I'll admit, that this paragraph of added reasons is a bit tongue in cheek. But true nonetheless. Perhaps to complete the thought of going back to school, it comes down to: bettering yourself, finishing something you started, learning to discipline yourself to complete a series of difficult tasks, and creating a better life for you, your family, and as such even giving back to your community. If you're fresh out of high school, it's hard to beat the on-campus experience. But if for any reason you are strapped for time, completing your education online is a great way to proceed.
Synthesizing the information
Now that you have thought about all the different types of schools and degrees that you can get, and the various sorts of things that you can do with a degree; and now that you have considered what factors are most important to you in choosing a degree type, it is time to put all this information to work and figure out what it all means for you. For further application, we suggest that you go in reverse of the order that we laid out for you:
Ask yourself: What are your priorities in getting a degree? What is it that you decided would make you happy?
Now think about the outcomes of specific degrees: Which of these professions or lifestyles would really fulfill your reasons for going to school? Which of them would fulfill the things that you said would make you happy?
Finally consider what degrees you will need to have in order to pursue the profession that you picked out, and what schools offer that degree or those degrees.
Concluding with Career Counseling
Getting career counseling might seem like a weak or unnecessary thing for you to do, but it will help you to get it right and choose the right path in the first place, and doing so will save you a great amount of time and money in the long run. There are probably hundreds of websites that will do career counseling inexpensively. Usually this consists of taking several skill and interest assessment tests and then trying to figure out how to take your skills and interests and find a job that best utilizes them.
Think about it this way: Life seems long, nearly endless when you're a freckled face kids riding bikes or playing GI Joes or Barbie dolls with your friends. In fact, I remember as a teenager thinking that I could be whatever I wanted to be. But reality set in and I began to realize that life is far shorter than I thought and my abilities are narrower. But that does not preclude me from aiming for the stars when it comes to my career - it's just a matter of aiming for the right and best star.
Here's to you as you find your star - and a great place to begin is by earning that degree.
About the Author:
Mark Whyte has taught Sociology for the last 7 years as an online college professor. He also owns and operates a website at packupthehouse.com
