starting school - who gradutes/who doesn't?

I am wanting to start distance education classes. I have only taken 2 community college courses previously and that was years ago. I was wondering if anyone knew of a good test or what type of person can make it to graduation ? I was told by several of my friends that I could do it but I tend to think of myself as intellectually challenged. I would rather not risk being in debt if its something not within my reach. I have mental disabilities and have been out of practice in the realm of school for many many years.

thanks

 

One of the great things about correspondence courses is you're usually given a very generous time allotment to complete a course. I've seen more than one school that allows up to 6 months for each course, which is unheard of in a residential course.

Try finding a school with liberal time allotments to complete a correspondence course, and try taking one or two courses that would either be considered core classes in most programs, or ones that could apply as electives in the rest (I'm thinking General Psychology, General Sociology, etc.). If you do well in those, there is no reason to think you couldn't finish a degree program, and those courses could be transferred into a degree program.

For correspondence courses, I've always liked Louisiana State University for cost, flexibility, and quality. The link to their course offerings is; http://is.lsu.edu/college/index.html

Best of luck,

Bruce

 

At what point in my education would i try to take one of the core courses to test if i'd be able to make it in the end ? At the beginning I would be taking a beginning college algebra class as well as a introductory writing course. It's been awhile since i'be been in school.. i need those.

thanks for your help

 

Whatever subject area you feel weakest in, take that course first (besides prerequisites, I don't know of any DL school that requires a certain sequence of coursework). If you can successfully complete a course in a subject where you feel weak, then nothing should stop you. If it's math you're not confident with, then enroll is a correspondence math course. Hire a tutor (college & university bulletin boards usually have many ads from graduate students looking to make some extra cash by tutoring), do whatever it takes to pass the course. Once you get that hardest thing out of the way, it's all downhill from there.

Same thing for equivalency exams (CLEP, DANTES), which I highly recommend. Buy a test prep book (available at any major bookstore) and get with a tutor to study. If you put the time in, you shouldn't have a problem with the exam.

What field/major are you interested in? That might give us some ideas for specific suggestions in regards to courses/exams you might want to consider.


Bruce

 

I'm interested in a Information Systems degree.

I'm still not sure of when I should take one of the harder core courses. surely not right off the bat ? Your help seems to be logical. I'm just a little worried about the investment of time and money. I would hate to start school and find out that i'm not cut out for it. For instance, I haven't done any reading in years. Any significant reading I have done has been in learning tech kind of stuff involving computers, nothing else. When presented with works of fiction where I am supposed to formulate long essays about, gosh, I hope i'll be able to pull through.

 

Because education is offered by many but geared towards the success of individuals it is very individual. The advice offered so far has been good and you will just need to take the plunge. By starting out with a few courses you will find that they will serve as your benchmark for future success.

John

 

If you can read and understand tech manuals I am willing to bet you can more than handle the work required for a Bachelors degree. Remember these coarse are traditional taken by 18 to 22 year olds that don't have the life experience that you do. Working in tech support teaches you to approach things logicly and to problem solve. These skills will help you greatly. It sounds like the first task is to increase your comfort with classes. Taking any of the entry level writing or math classes sounds like a good start. If you want to assure you can finish a degree program than, as has been suggested, take a core program class as soon as you feel confortable. Also remember any classes you take will increase your knowledge and abilities and is a worthwhile achievment by itself. Congradulations on starting the process and good luck in your classes.


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Best Regards,
Dave Hayden

 

Dear Arosene,

I want to encourage you to give yourself more credit for your already achieved accomplishments and realize that you have already educated yourself quite a bit from the sounds of your work. The only difference with school whether its DL or in the classroom is you have to learn basically how is the testing done? and becomne familiar with the nature of the exams (such as timed, multiple choice, essay, etc.); then practice taking exams so that the process becomes familiar. I believe that more than 50% of succeeding in a school program is understanding and being able to adjust to that system. Although I think all of the advice here to take a core requirement is good advice, my strategy would be to start actually with something you find interesting and you are already familiar with (what I would call a "fun" course) just to get your feet wet and used to being in the programme.

Best wishes with your pursuits, and believe in yourself.

mattie



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mattie
[email protected]

 

Hi, Arosene. Welcome.

My suggestion is to start with a subject that you like and where you feel confident. The reason I say that is that the whole distance education experience will be new to you at first, and you will want to familiarize yourself with the medium. So it might be easier if you aren't fighting with a difficult class at the same time.

So take it slow during your first semester. Take something fun and get used to the idea of being in college and studying by distance learning. Then when you are familiar with how everything works, start taking the more difficult subjects.

 

Bill's advice (take something you like) and Bruce's (take something hard) both make sense -- for some people. During the years I was doing marketing for Heriot-Watt in a program requiring passing nine exams, we got a lot of feedback on these two schools of thought, which were pretty equally represented.

About 40% of the students started with a course that they believed would be the easiest for them and/or in a subject where they already had some experience, thinking, "This will be a good way to ease into the process and build confidence."

And about 40% started with what they perceived as the hardest (for them) course (often one with heavy math), believing that if they could get past that hurdle (etc.).

I generally felt that the "easier first" model made more sense, in part for confidence building but in larger part for skill developing: learning study habits, research skills, test preparation skills, and so on, which could then be put into use on the harder ones later on.

 

If you want to brush up your skills, you might try a free online course or tutorial before you enroll.

For example, the About Mathematics offers an online tutorial for beginning algebra students that starts with the very basics and works through first year algebra. See http://math.about.com/library/mathfiles/bl050-toc.htm

There are also some free online writing labs, such as this one from Rio Salado -- http://www.rio.maricopa.edu/services/student/support/library/tutorials/owl.shtml

Then -- my inclination would be to try a course that you perceive as intriguing and not-too-hard so that you can get used to the format and learn to manage your time.

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Kristin Evenson Hirst
DistanceLearn.About.com