Goal #62) Finish Associate Degree

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.