For the last 4 years of my life I have been attending classes at a community college in order to earn my Associate of Arts & Science Degree. After joining the “real world” I realized that I wanted to do more with my life. I wasn’t happy working in retail even though I seemed to be getting promoted to positions of higher responsibility regularly. I started my job gathering shopping carts from the parking lot and by the time I decided to move on I had worked my way up to being a Department Manager.
I enrolled in classes and began my education. Soon after beginning classes I found a new job working at a local factory where I earned significantly more money and worked more hours. I had to cut down on how many credits I was taking as I was working so many hours. Quitting my job in order to focus on school was not an option as I had buried myself in consumer debt. I needed to earn money to pay the bills. As a result of having to continue my job it took me twice as long as it should have for me to finish my classes.
I stuck with it for 4 years and this week I finished my last classes and have earned my Associate Degree. I set out this semester with the goal of passing my classes with an A average and was able to maintain an A- in both of my classes all the way until the final exam. I worked hard to accomplish this and I was worried what would happen with the final exams. Would I be able to keep my A- average or would I mess it up at the very end?
I studied hard for my Algebra final and managed to earn a B+. My average for the class was high enough that I was able to pass with an A-. A huge accomplishment for me considering I had given up and dropped out of the introduction course to this class. With a lot of hard work and determination I exceeded my own expectations of my abilities.
My next final exam was in Environmental Geology. This has been an easy class for me and I never really needed to study much. The information which was presented made sense and it was enough for me to attend class and listen to the lecture. As a result of the ease of information I didn’t study for the final as I felt I knew and understood the information. Now I wish I had studied as I didn’t do as well as I had hoped to and my A- average ended up as a B+. I don’t think it wasn’t that I didn’t know the material but rather that the questions were worded in a way which was intended to confuse. I spoke with my professor after receiving my grade and she said that a lot of people didn’t do well but she chalked it up to end of semester laziness.
Today I have officially completed my Associate Degree!
What have I learned through this experience? In addition to all of the course materials, I learned a few important lessons:
1) Don’t take more student loans than necessary- I took out much more money than I actually needed in order to fund a lifestyle which I couldn’t afford. Even though I had a full-time job the entire time I was attending classes, I was spending money like crazy. I was loaded with debt and kept taking out more and more loans in order to afford to live. I didn’t realize it then that the only way to solve the problem was to stop spending.
2) Don’t take unnecessary courses- I took a lot of classes that I didn’t need simply because they were interesting to me. I think we should pursue our interests, but when it is costing a lot of money, it may be better to limit yourself to required courses and those which apply directly to your major. I “wasted” a lot of time, money & energy by taking courses I didn’t need.
3) Figure out your intended major early- When you know what you want to be when you grow up it makes it much easier to map out a path. You can avoid taking unnecessary courses and save yourself a lot of time if you know where you want to go instead of repeatedly changing directions.
4) Work hard, even if it is easy- I thought that I would never be able to pass my Algebra course, but I worked hard and struggled at times, but I never gave up and passed it with a grade far beyond my expectations. On the other side of the spectrum is my class where it was easy for me & I didn’t study. Even though I had carried an A- average the entire semester, I didn’t study for the final and messed up my goal of earning an A. Don’t take things for granted just because they are easy.
Just dropping in to say “Hello”. I’ve been on the road for 7 days and have done so much! For those of you who are following me on Twitter, I’ve been doing my best to keep you updated about what I’ve been doing on my trip and you know that I have been accomplishing much. I have so many things to write about but they merit their own posts so I will have to keep you in suspense for a few more days. 
