College Life

Today I sat with my undergrad advisor for the last time.
Next year is my final set of classes for my BSN.
Since I need to maintain a certain number of credits per semester, I'm in the interesting position of having to add an extra class on for the upcoming Fall semester. It can be anything I want to take. Totally my choice. which is really cool.

I've been looking at classes in all of the different departments. It's like getting a free credit card and being let loose in the Mall. You can buy anything you want, but you can only buy one item.
I started off in the Athletics department. There's a Hatha Yoga class that meets twice a week that will fit in my schedule nicely. There's also an Intro to Hebrew class offered; which strangely enough is something I have wanted to learn for a couple of years now. There's a lot of offerings in the English Department; I could take a Writing class, or a class on British Literature, Poetry or Shakespeare. I could take a few different History classes - which I always find interesting. The Art Department has some appealing classes - an Intro drawing class, or Basic Painting. There's also an Intro to Architecture that would fit in as well. (That one has a lot of appeal too.)

My college record looks like a topographal map....lots of peaks and valleys. My first big splash into college life after graduating from High School kinda looked like my illustration above. I think my entire freshman year in college garnered one or two usable grades. I do recall getting a report card with:

a W (withdrawl)
an X (I'm not even sure what the hell that was supposed to be)
an F (for the 8 AM class that I slept through every single time)
a B
and an A (oddly enough)

The following semester was a complete wash. At some point I just withdrew completely. I think it was on the first day of classes.....it was definitely within the first week. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that ALL of my classes were scheduled BEFORE 10 AM, and that was usually when I woke up....ahem...anyway, things did improve once I regained my balance from all that heady freedom....and transferred to a school that didn't have an on-campus Pub.

However, once I did "get serious" about college, I only took the courses necessary for my Business degree. I didn't want to waste time at that point, and was pretty single minded in my focus. Which was fine for that point in my life. Even years later when I decided to go back to school for Nursing, it was a quick 2 year degree program, and I didn't choose electives there either.

Now that I have this great opportunity and am at one of the largest Universities in this area, I feel like I have a small chance to recapture a little of what I took for granted so long ago. I want to take an elective - and just purely for the fun of it. Just to learn something new.
There are a lot of things that are difficult about going back to school as a "non-traditional student" but there are a lot of great things about it as well. For one, you have a completely different perspective, and another is that you have a foundation of real experience to work off of, and third - you appreciate it a lot more. Additional education becomes an asset rather than a liability.

In 1990, when I first looked at going back to school to become a Nurse, I thought, "Oh my god, it will take nearly 3 years and that's so long...blah, blah, blah...whine, whine, whine..." and my Mother said, "The time will go by anyway, and 3 years from now you're going to say Oh, I could have had that degree by now, so just do it - the time is going to pass either way." You know, that was the best advice she ever gave me. (That, and telling me to make sure I always had a credit card in my own name.)

So 3 years ago, when I thought about going to Grad school for Nursing - and found I had to get the undergrad degree in Nursing first - I really felt like it was going to be a never-ending thing, but...she was right, that advice she gave me so long ago still is true. The time has gone by and now it's almost time to apply for the Master's program. So, if yer thinking about going back to school - I say "Do it!". The time will go by anyway. Just chip away at it, and before long you'll be done.

So now I just have to figure out what I'm going to add on this Fall. So many choices.
I'm just really glad that it seems like, if you live long enough, you do get some opportunities coming around to ya again.


Mortar Board Hammy