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Tips For Going to College

Whether you are starting fresh or returning to college after a hiatus, it can be a little daunting. Most people think of “college” as a place filled with 18-22 year olds and if you are older, yikes.

While college is still a straight-out-of-high-school endeavor for many people, more and more adults, or “non-traditional students”, are going to college each year and the trend is rising as a college education becomes more necessary for really good jobs.

Whatever your motivation and reasons for going back to school - to start a career, change careers, or just to take some classes in an area that interest you - the following tips can make your experience smoother and the transition back to college easier.

1. Do less than the maximum.
Unless you have to, do not take the maximum load of classes in your first semester. Most students take 15 hours, but even with a student loan, the minimum requirement is usually only 12. Start out a little more slowly to give your self a chance to really get used to school. This may seem like a waste of time, but even if you go a little more slowly, you will find that you are not as stressed and can do better when you don’t overload yourself.

2. Take breaks.
Don’t spend all of your available study time studying! You may really need to study a lot, but chances are that by taking 30 minutes to take a walk or spend time with your kids can really rejuvenate your brain and help you absorb the material you are studying once you go back to it.

3. Be a part of things
Most schools have student associations, maybe even a group for adult students. There are many other clubs and groups as well that you can be part of. You may find your time limited, but take part in as much as you can because you will find that you enjoy your time in college much more if you spend part of it making friends and being involved on campus.

4. Take the classes you dread
In fact, take them first. It’s like the old saying if you have to eat a frog each day it’s better to eat it first thing in the morning. Take the classes you think you will hate and get them out of the way. You may find that they were not as bad as you thought but if they are, at least you have them over and done and you don’t have to worry about them for the rest of your time at school.

5. Enjoy every minute
This is the most important tip anyone can give you. Whether you go to college at 18 or 81, enjoy it! College is not just about learning. That is the main point of course, but it is also a time to enjoy the activities, the people, the community and everything it has to offer. Spend your time in college enjoying college, no matter how old you are.

Congratulations on your decision to return to school. It may be the biggest step you have taken in a while but if you follow these tips, you will do just fine.

Filed Under Help & Tips, Online Schools

Tips for Getting Accredited Degrees

While a great many individuals dream of getting a degree, it is sometimes seemingly impossible to interrupt your career and or family life to go back to school. Many of us, of course, have jobs and find that the traditional schedules offered by community colleges and universities often make it impossible for us to juggle our schedules to attend. Or perhaps we have family members, kids more than likely, that we simply must dedicate our time to. These are the very things that are making online college courses ever so more attractive. And don’t think for a second that the colleges and universities across the country aren’t recognizing this and responding in kind.

A great alternative for the person who desires to attend college classes is to go the route of an online accredited degree. This is a degree from a college or university with accreditation, which means it meets the state’s guidelines and is deemed to be every bit as credible as a brick-and-mortar earned degree.

The programs offered in the form of online degrees very greatly. It is advised that anyone pursuing this avenue of higher learning do their homework and learn as much as they possibly can before making their decision as to which classes to pursue. There is ample information to be had, so by all means request as much as you feel is necessary to obtain the information that you’re after. We must remember that there are so many degrees offered through the online accreditation process that your choices are becoming ever more diversified. Degree levels include Associates, Bachelors, Masters and Doctorates.

The advantages to getting an online degree are virtually endless. You do not have to commute and there is no need to schedule classes and reshuffle your life around someone else’s schedule. The only thing you really have to do is be on yourself to stay disciplined to get your work done.

I will again repeat what I said earlier because of its great importance. It is absolutely paramount that you make sure that the degree that you are pursuing and the classes that you are taking are indeed accredited. There’s nothing worse than wasting your time and money taking classes that you will not get credit for, unless of course you are doing it for your own edification.

If you were ever considering getting a degree to improve your chances of landing a job, or getting paid more, or even to perhaps change careers completely, now is the time to do it. The future is promised to no one and now with the advantages of online accredited degrees, there really is no excuse for not pursuing these wonderful opportunities. Most of these online classes are delivered by way of computer. Don’t be intimidated by this if you are not computer savvy. A simple computer and Internet connection will be more than enough to get you through. So now you know. No excuses, get out there and get it done.

Filed Under Online Schools

College Exam Tips

Learning how to score high on a college exam is an important skill to master for all college students. The common practice for most students is to try to ‘cram’ as much information into their mind as possible the day before the exam itself. This often leads to poor performance on the exam. Yet there are ways to increase your performance on college level tests.

Mastering Multiple Choice Exams

This type of exam is usually given on a weekly basis by the instructor to gauge the retention rate of the course information by students. To score high on these types of exams, a student has to know the right terms or “buzz words,” and important concepts covered in the book along with daily lectures by the instructor. By knowing the highlights of the week’s instruction, a student can more easily eliminate the wrong answers in multiple choice tests and then choose the most relevant answer from the remaining choices.

It is important to attend every class. Instructors require certain books for reading, yet they usually have their tests made up in advance. The tests are based on the concepts covered in the book, but the specific multiple-choice questions are usually taken from the instructor’s lectures. This is something most students don’t pay attention to. They think that if they read the book assigned by the instructor, they can pass the test easily. The truth is that the answers to most test questions are covered in the lectures.

Exams may focus on concepts from the book and lessons by the instructor. Be sure to ask your instructor politely about what material they will expect you to know during the course. Most instructors will be glad to discuss this with you.

Most weekly exams are predictable to a certain degree. Instructors usually give the same type of tests on a weekly basis to save them time. Pay close attention to the instructor’s test format. You will be able to increase your accuracy each week by simply repeating the study habits that produced favorable results for you in the previous weeks.

If a question seems to pose a problem, simply ‘mark’ the question and return to it after you have answered all the other questions. This will give you more time to think about the answer to this question later. Remain calm and collected. Use all the time allotted for the test.

By answering all the questions that you know first, you can go back and complete the other questions with more certainty. Sometimes the answer to one question will lead to an obvious answer to another because they are related.

The best way to approach your success in college is to read all required materials, make certain you attend class every day, and keep copies of your returned tests if possible so you can refer back to your previous mistakes. Sometimes a prior question will show up on a mid-term or final exam. The best review for a final exam often comes from previous multiple-choice exams.

Filed Under Help & Tips

Steps to Selecting a Continuing Education Course

Adults want their education to be relevant to their specific needs. What they are learning must be applicable to their job, values or other responsibilities. Once they see the relevancy in their learning, adults want to create goals for their education. They will desire to see the path that leads them from the beginning to the end of a course, or even a whole curriculum. Each step of this path must make its value evident to the adult learn - why its important, how it will help them on their job, or how it will help improve their life. Finally, adults already have many life experiences and have acquired knowledge from a variety of sources outside of a formal educational environment. So they want to understand how they can connect this prior knowledge, what they already know, with what they will be learning.

Here are the steps to take to select the best value in an adult education class depending on what your specific needs are:

1. Determine whether the location of the class is convenient for you. This includes taking into consideration the time class begins and the time it ends. Typically, continuing education classes will be held in the evening due to adults working during the day.

Ask these questions: How will I get to class (driving, public transportation)? Will I leave for class directly after work, or do I need to make a stop at home? How far is the location of the class from my home and my job? Will I have to allow extra time before or after class because of traffic? Is there parking near the class (college campuses usually have limited parking for commuters) or will I need to walk a distance?

2. Determine whether the class and the institution offering the class allow for flexibility that you need. Often these requests will be handled by the individual instructor, but if a diploma or certification is being offered at the completion of the class, the institutions offering the class may have certain guidelines you must follow.

Ask these questions: How many days am I allowed to miss? Does the instructor offer a make-up class for those who might miss? Am I allowed to leave class early or arrive late?

3. Identify the prerequisites for the class. This simply means understanding what you need to know before enrolling. If you do not have the basic background for the subject matter being taught, a great class can end up being a frustrating experience. The prerequisites are normally listed along with the class description and will indicate other classes that should be taken first or skills you should already have before enrolling.

4. Identify all of your required materials and determine their costs. Most classes will require a textbook. The prices of textbooks are rising all the time and are often not affordable for many students. Depending on the subject matter of your class, your books can cost upwards of $100 each, particularly in technology, accounting and nursing. You may also need materials other than books such as access to a personal computer, special types of calculators or other equipment, certain types of paper or portfolios.

5. Determine your instructor’s availability to respond to questions and meet with you. Find out the instructor’s office hours, phone number and email address. Most of the time the instructor will give this information in the first class, but you should be able to easily find this information if you are considering enrolling in a class. You can test the responsiveness of your instructor by contacting him prior to the first day of the class.

6. Review the course description and outline. This is the most important step. You want to make sure that the class you are investing your time and money in is what you really need or want. The course outline is your map of the class. It should describe the objectives of the class (what you will know once the course is over) and the topics you will cover (how you will reach the objectives).

You may attend an adult education course for many reasons: it is required by your job, it is an initiative you are taking to further your career, to increase your general knowledge of a topic, to network with your peers, or to even just get away for a few hours a week. Whatever your reason, you need to make sure you are getting what you need from the course. If you review the course outline and find that only one topic is relevant to your needs then this is probably not the class for you. Search for another course that perhaps focuses specifically on that topic. In some cases, this course may be required for the particular curriculum you have chosen. If you feel you have enough experience with the topics of the required class, you can often discuss with your instructor about “testing out” of the course.

7. Determine what you get for completing the adult education course or curriculum. You want to see the value of having taken the class or classes. At the end of a class you may receive a certificate of completion, diploma or even a professional certification. If you are attending a college or university, you will most times end with a degree, graduate certificate or continuing education credits.

Try to understand what these completion “rewards” mean to you, your career and your life. It could mean a new designation you can place on your resume or a diploma to display proudly on your wall, but it should be something to make you happy and appreciate the hard work you have put into the class.

Being an adult learner is exciting, but can also have serious negative effects on a person. Self-esteem can be lowered if performance in the class is not as expected, frustration can occur if there is lack of convenience, and boredom is evident if the class does not seem practical. So be sure to thoroughly review all of the information you can about a class you may be interested in enrolling and be certain you feel you will get what you need out of it.

Filed Under Online Schools

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