Neuhaus's Patten Experiment

Certainly one of the best quotes I've seen on DI. Welcome.

 

So, unfortunately, I have to call an early end to my Patten experiment. I did not anticipate a surge in my workload this summer. Unfortunately, I'm pretty buried. And it looks like I'm going to be buried until Thanksgiving. While I appreciate a good educational challenge my Patten studies have been causing my quite a bit of stress as I acknowledge them hanging over my head while I am unable to really make any significant progress. Because I came to this realization after my 5th week I am on the hook for the tuition. So I will remain active in the system until the end of the current term. Maybe I will pop in and, at a minimum, finish my class. But ultimately I'm kind of hoping I can sweet talk them into letting me drop my monthly payments (doubtful, but worth a shot). So we'll see.

Here are my final notes:

The grading system is actually sort of interesting. There is a standard and a challenge system. Under the standard system you do assignments and complete self-assessments for points. Basically, there is a maximum of 1,000 points for the course. In the standard system your final exam is worth 400 points, your final project is worth 400 points and a myriad of smaller assignments all total up to a maximum of 200 possible points. Under the challenge system the final exam is 500 and the project is 500.

I feel like I learned some things. But ultimately, I feel like I was taking a course that prepared me for a CLEP exam. At New Charter my courses ended with either an exam or a project (not both). Having both of them at the end was a bit daunting. And if real life interferes it can definitely feel like an insurmountable challenge. I'm picturing a 20-something me doing this while I was in the Navy and I could picture it being a very fruitful venture. I was still hungry to earn my bachelors degree. But present me, while disappointed that I kind of wasted $800, went into it realizing that this term was, at best, going to give me a bunch of credits I don't actually need for anything. So there is definitely a difference in motivation between someone like me and someone earnestly trying to earn a college degree to further their career.