School

11/19/2010

2 Comments

 
I can see the light at the end of the fall-semester tunnel. Four more weeks!

I think I mentioned before that I'd registered for the spring already; looking back at my selections and comparing them with my program requirements, I realized I'd made a mistake with the social science class I'd picked. I dropped it, and luckily there was still time to get into the one I actually needed. No lie, there was one available seat left in the class. It's mine. All is right in the world again.
    
Today I finished registering for the summer session, too. I'm talking 3 classes from the end of May to mid-Aug. It's crazy - by this time next year, I will be finishing the fall semester, and I'll only have 4 classes left to complete my associate's.

I really never expected I was going to finish (or even go back and begin again) a degree program. But now - in about 6 months, I'm going to have to make a decision about the 4-year college I'm going to try to transfer my associate's to. This is crazy!

I know, I know, it's just an associate's degree; in 15 years it will probably be the bare-minimum education level for any decent kind of employment. But I'm so excited about it my chest could explode. It's taken me so long to get here, but I'm here!

And I don't even have a good reason for waiting so long - it's that I'm easily overwhelmed by the process of things, by all the paperwork required, all the signatures needed. You should have seen me when Theseus and I filled out our 100+ page mortgage packet - I was sweaty, breathing hard, trying not to puke the whole time. I hate the process.

I was really lucky, though. I had a few determined friends who held my hand on the way to the Army education office (and half-dragged me there, a few times). The veteran's assistance official at the school is prior-Navy and only asked me to complete one objective at a time - fill out and mail benefits application, then bring eligibility documents to him, then choose classes, then buy books. Focusing on just the next task made it much less stressful for me. Another Soldier from my section took me to the campus before the semester started and we walked the exact route I'd follow to get from one class to another.

I will never say I got here all on my own.

Now, though, looking at what the process actually was vs. what I expected it to be, I was foolish to have waited this long. I could be almost done my master's by now if I'd gone to college right from high school.

But. I'm here now.

--

A little aside, more for myself to remember to create a new post around it: there is a HUGE difference between me and the straight-from-high-schoolers I am in class with. Astronomical.

- Antiope

Meg
11/19/2010 06:08:18 am

I can't agree more about the kids...
I find myself taking notes in class and just staring at them like, "are you serious?" "Oh you are actually serious.... well then let me just sit here and listen to your nonsense then."

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Erik
11/26/2010 02:04:04 am

I think the difference between you/Meg and Straight out of High-Schoolers is very similiar to your typical Been-in-Army-for-Years E4 vs. Straight-outta-Basic. You see them do things and are just amazed people act that way or can even think like that. But most likely we were all like that at some point, and there was always someone older and wiser than us looking at us just shaking their heads.

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