College Update

noni1974

So, in 2010 I recived my GED with the goal of going to college and getting a degree. In the mean time I have been an active member of my schools Honors program and have finished all of the requirements for graduation from the Honors program. They were 15 credit hours of Honors classes, 12 hours of volunteer work in my community, and 16 hours of cultural activites offered by the Honors program. I also joined Phi Theta Kappa the Honors society for 2 year colleges, maintained a 3.5 GPA the entire time I have been in school, and been on the Deans List at least 4 times.

I also got a job working at my school as a Student Ambassador. I peer mentor new students and work in a few of the offices as well as at my schools Information Booth to help those who need help or have questions.

I was at work on Wednesday when I was bored and decied to play around with my schools website. They offer a feature called a Degree Audit Report that lets a student see how far they are from graduation. I picked Liberal Arts and let the website show me what I needed to graduate with that degree. Liberal Arts is not my major, my major is Health Information Management which is an Associates of Science. I just wanted to see what it said. It seems I have accidently earned a degree in Liberal Arts. I completed all the required course work to graduate. Funny thing is I wasn't even trying to get that degree.

When I do graduate with my Science degree in the Spring of 2015 I will get 2 degrees. I just got into my program and only have those classes left, but the way my program goes I can't take the one or two extra classes a semester I would need to graduate earlier because the program doesn't allow that. I will start with a class of people and I will finish with that class.

So I would say that I have pretty sucessful so far in my college career. Not bad for a person that was pulled out of school in the 9th grade to "home school" and never finished high school. My mothers idea of home school involved me getting a full time job and paying rent. I spent years affraid of taking the GED test only to pass the first time I tried to take it. I am making up for that now. My goal of earning a walk across the stage in a cap and gown has been met. No matter what I have made my dream of earning a degree come true. I only wish I could petition to graduate. I can't do that until I finish my real major in the Spring of 2015 because I will mess up my financial aid.

Now that I am in my program I have to go to a different campus then the one I started at. I have actually been taking classes at this new campus since last semester. I like it ok, but I really like my home campus, it's where all my friends go. At the end of June I will be transfreering my job to this new campus as well. So far my plans are coming together and everything looks good.

rip van winkle

Noni, you have accomplished so much: Congratulations on all your achievements!!!

noni1974

Thanks Rip. I think it's really important to post this to show others that you can over come the difficulties of growing up a JW. Believe me when I say I am no smarty pants either. I just do my best. I can't wait to actually graduate though. That will be fun!!

Mum

Congratulations! Let's have an apostafest graduation party when you graduate!

Giordano

Congratulations Noni, I usually find one hero a month on this site........ some one that inspires me.....I am off to a good start with your story.

gma-tired2

Congratats you are doing an awsome job. Be proud, as I can tell you are. i have known several JWs pulled out of school to be homeschooled and they struggled to even get low paying jobs. you are accomplishing so much. Again congratulaions.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Good for you, Noni!

And you do want the Associate in Science degree. My DARS report shows that there are plenty of Bachelor of Arts degrees that I already qualify to receive, but none of them are engineering degrees.

The change of campus is a great way to meet more people. Social media is an easy way to keep in touch with all the friends that you've made... and a great way to benefit from doing the opposite of WT's instructions. And as long as you're disobeying WT by getting "higher education" and "social networking", I'd also recommend wearing "worldy T-shirts with logos" from the schools you've attended. I've found that a shirt can start some interesting conversations with strangers.

Band on the Run

If you can wait, I hoe you will consider finishing a four year degree. Most people I know get angry when people call an associates degree a college degree. There is a vast difference. The local community college serves as a feeder to very decent four year colleges and universities. If your GPA is above a certain number, acceptance is guaranteed. Another feature is that you don't have to repeat any courses. All the work in your major is carried over. Associates degrees are fine for certificate programs.

If you are doing as well as you say, finish your degree. If I had a child who could not get scholarship help, I would stick them in a two year college and then grade up to a four year college. The savings are tremendous. I believe the wave of the future is a traditional B.S. or B.A. with a pragmatic certificate degree.

I am not an expert. When I took community college courses at a very good program, it was not the same as college. This could be because of the mix of students. Also, your degree from the four year school is your degree. No one knows you started at a community college. I wonder if you feel more challenged in a four year institution. Every field is prob. different.

You know your field. It is heartening to read how people go back to school and value it. Most members seem to do extraordinarly well in school, too. Profs are much easier to please than elders.

cofty

Well done Noni thanks for the update.

Band on the Run

I studied a few computer science courses at community during daytime. My college will not give credit for such classes. The prof was one of the best teachers in my entire life. In fact, I never had any teacher anywhere as good as he was. He may not have soared in theory but he was into nuts and bolts. Three quarters of the class were too young and barely showed up. It was not their money paying for tuition. B/c I was older and had advanced degrees, he spoke to me candidly.

I told him what I thought of the bulk of the students. Almost all the good ones were older. He told me there was a night and day difference between his barely there day students and the climb every mountain evg. students.

I did well but I struggled. The facilities were impressive. When I graduated, there was no emphasis on finding jobs. This place was all about jobs.

All the faculty I spoke with said the older students were awesome. Older only meant a year or two past 18. I can't say I received good teaching at college. We had encounters -- some were fleeting. Some grad student often graded us.

College Update

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