Experimental Idea

Hallo ATS!!

So I had an idea that I wanted to run by the community here.

I'm currently in the muddled process of applying for college at the fresh young age of 27!

This is mos def a new experience for me. I understand that most of you may already have enjoyed or purposefully forgotten those years yourself, but others may not have.

Here's the deal, I'm considering starting a thread that gives some background into my life and decisions I've made recently. I want to use it as a sort of online diary/blog to record my progression, thoughts, feelings and possible hardships.

Rather than just start some generic blog in some obscure part of the web, I like the idea of having the ATS community being able to give input and advice where needed. Some of you may even be able to use my experience to your benefit in other threads or just to help you make decisions that you may need some guidance on.

I reckon the point of this thread here is just to see what the rest of you skallywags think of this idea and whether it would be supported by one of the greatest group of minds on the net

I should add that I am in America. That is sort of the push to do this; American education system being a big issue right now.

I've just started school myself out of the military (I'm 24).

My advice, make sure you pick a career that is actually useful. A lot of people go to school for something they love or think they love, but is impractical in the real world. I always remember a story I heard about a girl who got her degree in Archaeology and had a helluva lot of trouble finding work. Archaeology is important, but it's one of those careers that is just plain difficult to get into plain and simple. You don't have to pick immediately either. You can go into school w/ no major and work on general ed, should give you at least a couple semesters to decide. Make sure you look at entry level jobs for that field and give yourself an extremely conservative estimate of when you will start actually doing what you want. (IE, don't go to Law School then plan to be the State Attorney General within like 5 years)

a reply to: chuck258

I appreciate your input.

There would be a lot of ground to cover in leading up to my decision.

Thats why I wanted to ask ATS whether or not it would be beneficial to to proceed with this idea before I get into typing all of that up.

It will mostly be done by phone and that in itself is a major endeavor.

Well, the fun's already begun for me.

In waiting for my financial aid to come through and my 401k check to be processed, I haven't been able to pay my measly $205 in rent and just had the sheriff's at the door.

I now have 3 days to pay up and at least a week before I see any of my money.

Ah, the sweet life of an American father trying to be a role model. It gets hard I tell ya.

originally posted by: Chickensalad
Well, the fun's already begun for me.

In waiting for my financial aid to come through and my 401k check to be processed, I haven't been able to pay my measly $205 in rent and just had the sheriff's at the door.

I now have 3 days to pay up and at least a week before I see any of my money.

Ah, the sweet life of an American father trying to be a role model. It gets hard I tell ya.

I've been there. As I've mentioned here plenty of times, earlier in my education I had to choose between tuition and rent. I chose tuition which meant I would sit in the lobby of a 24 hour Tim Hortons at night, sleep in the school library in the day, and attend class in the afternoon. Not much fun. Education is expensive. I strongly suggest attending a lower cost school that allows you to avoid loans, but even that isn't always possible for various reasons.

Seeing as how you have a child to care for too, my option isn't something you can do. Pay your rent first, then use what's left over on classes. Physical schools are much better than online universities, though I admit to enjoying the few online classes I've taken.

Also, I'll give you some advice on books. With the exception of books that are written for one school specifically (these are rare fortunately), check the bookstore and see what you need. Then go home, go online, and order your books. You mentioned typing by phone so you may not have a laptop but if you do rent your textbooks in a digital format if possible, it's generally the cheapest way to go about things. If that's not possible buy a used copy online (the only thing different in older editions is generally the page number, it's not a big deal), and then resell the book online at the end of the semester. These are the two best ways to not pay a fortune in books.

I would like to express my support to you. It can be difficult to get appropriate education when you have a child and consequently not enough time, but there are different options like ordering custom term papers online. This option is quite good if you want to save time for example to spend it with child and academic centers can often have access to the required books. I would also recommend not put yourself into the situation when the only option is school loan, as it too hard to pay it after even if your profession is in demand (there are for sure some exceptions like IT area; ability to work for a company like Google makes your life unclouded). Make sure to reduce expenses and learn how to leave on a low budget. In the end I believe education is worth any efforts.
Good luck to you!