So many students have busy lives in which they juggle commitments to family and work while trying to complete their college education. With a little bit of planning, smart scheduling can help you reduce and manage the stress that comes with such a hectic life.
When planning a semester schedule, it might be helpful to have a calendar in front of you to pencil things in so you can get the big picture before you make any solid commitments.
When deciding which classes to sign up for, the first consideration should be for your fixed commitments like work, caring for family members, time for faith activities, and so on. Don't sign up for any classes that will interfere with those obligations. Leaving work early all the time to go to classes will be frowned upon (unless you have made prior arrangements at work), and arriving consistently late to classes will not be looked upon positively by most instructors either. If you have a part-time job with a flexible schedule, it is essential to discuss your plans for the coming semester with your boss or manager.
Be sure to factor in things like travel time, finding a parking space, having something to eat before class, using the restroom, and following through on any on-campus errands. If your schedule has no planned time for these activities, it is almost a certainty your stress levels will be soaring some days.
Work with an academic advisor to choose classes that fit with your program plan and your schedule. They are experienced at helping students figure out the best way through their degrees. Academic advisors are part of what you pay for with your tuition; take advantage of their help.
Are you a morning person or an evening person? If you can, schedule classes for the times of day when you are the most alert. This, of course, is not always possible, but it can be really helpful to tackle a class that is a particular challenge for you when you are feeling sharp.
If your class schedule includes a significant break between classes, use that time on campus wisely. Study, review notes, do research, run errands -- there are many possibilities. It's good to plan for a little down time or socializing in there, too.
Choosing a mix of classes will help keep your mind more refreshed during a school day, make life more interesting during the semester, and be less likely to lead to excessive stress. Get your basic general education classes out of the way as soon as possible and step through the series of classes in your major in a logical order. I have seen some students put off taking certain classes to the point where they had no choice but to take multiple highly demanding classes in their major during their last semester before graduating. That is not a good recipe to do well in those classes, or to put yourself in a situation where stress will be easy to manage.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
Hot Off The Press: Employment Prospects and Your Major
As a fitting follow-up to the three-part post series on choosing a major, here's an article from CNNMoney.com about which majors are high in unemployment statistics at the present time.
Unemployment Soars Among College Majors Like Architecture
Unemployment Soars Among College Majors Like Architecture
Thursday, January 5, 2012
What's Your Major? Part 3: Personality & Lifestyle Preferences
In yesterday’s post, we looked at some practical factors to consider what choosing a major, namely, career paths, financial aspects, and growth potential. The final installment of this three-post series takes things back to the personal level. Who you are and how you want to live your life must be considered in choosing the career area that is so strongly tied to deciding on a major.
Personality. Are you energized by being with other people, or do you need time alone to recharge? Do you like dealing with concepts or theories, or are you more comfortable with specific facts and figures? Do you thrive when there is public pressure to succeed, or do you prefer individual feedback? Do you need flexibility in your work environment, or are defined rules and schedules optimal for you? The answers to these questions can provide insight into your personality and what kind of job environment may be best suited to you. Links to some helpful personality measures will be provided in an upcoming post.
Lifestyle preferences. Do you like being busy all the time? Do you prefer to work at a more steady pace? Do you need a lot of variety in the work you do, or do you thrive on doing a smaller range of tasks with excellence? Do you prefer living in an urban or a rural area? Is 40 hours your ideal work week, or are you willing to work as many hours in a week as it takes to complete a project? These are but a few of the questions you should ask yourself when considering the careers that stem from a prospective major. While some people, for instance, may want the prestige and affluence that comes from being a heart surgeon, few of them will be willing to go through the intensive schooling, demanding and low-paying internships and residencies, long hours, and stressful working conditions needed to reach that goal.
Visualize your life 5 years from now, 10 years from now, and 20 years from now. What is the quality of life you want to have? Where do you want to be living? What kinds of relationships will you have? Work has a profound influence on all of your life, so choosing a career path and major wisely will have long-term payoffs.
Making a decision as to what your major will be takes using both your head and your heart. Hopefully, this series of posts has given you some ideas about how to choose a major or even to re-evaluate the major you have already decided upon.
Personality. Are you energized by being with other people, or do you need time alone to recharge? Do you like dealing with concepts or theories, or are you more comfortable with specific facts and figures? Do you thrive when there is public pressure to succeed, or do you prefer individual feedback? Do you need flexibility in your work environment, or are defined rules and schedules optimal for you? The answers to these questions can provide insight into your personality and what kind of job environment may be best suited to you. Links to some helpful personality measures will be provided in an upcoming post.
Lifestyle preferences. Do you like being busy all the time? Do you prefer to work at a more steady pace? Do you need a lot of variety in the work you do, or do you thrive on doing a smaller range of tasks with excellence? Do you prefer living in an urban or a rural area? Is 40 hours your ideal work week, or are you willing to work as many hours in a week as it takes to complete a project? These are but a few of the questions you should ask yourself when considering the careers that stem from a prospective major. While some people, for instance, may want the prestige and affluence that comes from being a heart surgeon, few of them will be willing to go through the intensive schooling, demanding and low-paying internships and residencies, long hours, and stressful working conditions needed to reach that goal.
Visualize your life 5 years from now, 10 years from now, and 20 years from now. What is the quality of life you want to have? Where do you want to be living? What kinds of relationships will you have? Work has a profound influence on all of your life, so choosing a career path and major wisely will have long-term payoffs.
Making a decision as to what your major will be takes using both your head and your heart. Hopefully, this series of posts has given you some ideas about how to choose a major or even to re-evaluate the major you have already decided upon.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
What's Your Major? Part 2: Career Path, Financial Aspects, & Growth Potential
In yesterday’s post, we looked at the basics of what goes into choosing a major and more specifically how interests and skills can contribute to this vital decision. Next, let’s consider some practical aspects.
Career paths. It is wise to think about the different career paths a particular major can provide you. Make sure to explore other opportunities in case your dream job is not all you believed it to be or, as has been the case for many people in today’s dysfunctional economy, the job market throws you a curve ball and your dream job no longer exists. While it is good to have concrete career goals, don’t let them narrow your focus too much. Include inquires about the range of jobs available when talking to professors in your proposed major and people who are already working in the field.
Financial aspects. It is important to consider what sort of pay you can expect working during the course of your future career. While no one has a crystal ball to predict what a certain profession will pay in the future, looking at the wage history for different jobs can be informative. In California, the Employment Development Department hosts an online occupational guide that provides a wide variety of job information, including wages and how many jobs are expected to be available for particular professions in the future. Most states will have something similar available for use.
Growth potential. Where will this major take you over your career’s lifetime? It is extremely rare for anyone to work in the exact same job position for an entire career, and most of us expect to be able to advance in responsibilities, authority level, and pay as we gain further work experience. However, some careers might have a lower “top level” than our expectations might lead us to believe. Find out about the growth potential within your proposed field of work while talking with professors who teach the major and people employed in that field.
In the final post of this series tomorrow, we will look at how personality and lifestyle preferences are important pieces in the puzzle of choosing a major.
Career paths. It is wise to think about the different career paths a particular major can provide you. Make sure to explore other opportunities in case your dream job is not all you believed it to be or, as has been the case for many people in today’s dysfunctional economy, the job market throws you a curve ball and your dream job no longer exists. While it is good to have concrete career goals, don’t let them narrow your focus too much. Include inquires about the range of jobs available when talking to professors in your proposed major and people who are already working in the field.
Financial aspects. It is important to consider what sort of pay you can expect working during the course of your future career. While no one has a crystal ball to predict what a certain profession will pay in the future, looking at the wage history for different jobs can be informative. In California, the Employment Development Department hosts an online occupational guide that provides a wide variety of job information, including wages and how many jobs are expected to be available for particular professions in the future. Most states will have something similar available for use.
Growth potential. Where will this major take you over your career’s lifetime? It is extremely rare for anyone to work in the exact same job position for an entire career, and most of us expect to be able to advance in responsibilities, authority level, and pay as we gain further work experience. However, some careers might have a lower “top level” than our expectations might lead us to believe. Find out about the growth potential within your proposed field of work while talking with professors who teach the major and people employed in that field.
In the final post of this series tomorrow, we will look at how personality and lifestyle preferences are important pieces in the puzzle of choosing a major.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
What's Your Major? Part 1: Skills & Interests
What's your major?
This is probably the second most asked question directed to college students, right behind what school do you go to? It's an important question, too. Your major is something that will shape the direction of your life, so it's crucial to choose it wisely. This multi-part post will give you some guidance on ways to successfully search for a major that works for you.
Choosing a major is not a one-time decision for most college students. There are, of course, those who have decided firmly what they are going to be when they grow up from an early age and have stuck to that decision. For the rest of us, however, choosing a major is a process made in steps, hopefully starting around the time one attends middle school. Yes, you read that right, middle school. In my considered opinion, the common practice of waiting unless a student is a junior or senior in high school to discuss college is counter-productive. At that point, many students are feeling so much pressure from contemplating what comes next that it is difficult to truly give the choice of a major the attention it deserved.
A major should be chosen by balancing several important factors. Let's take a look at a couple of them and do some brainstorming, either by yourself on paper or with the assistance of someone who knows you well.
Interests. Since we spend a majority of our waking hours as adults engaged in work, doing something you like as your career helps make life more meaningful and your work life more enjoyable Make a list of your interests, academic, professional, and personal. Look at both the big picture (for example, “I like helping people”) and the details (“I’m really interested in improving the nutrition of children in our country”). Don’t worry that an interest of yours might not be marketable at this point; just get as much interest information down as possible.
Skills. This is where having a friend or family member who knows you well can come in handy. Sometimes we are not as aware of skills we have as those who observe us. We also might have the tendency to sell ourselves short as to the strength of our talents and abilities. Again, look at both a broad perspective (“I communicate with people well”) and a more narrow approach (“I’m good at being able to calm people down in a crisis situation”). List everything, no matter how big or small the skill may be.
Part 2 on career paths, financial aspects, and growth potential is on its way tomorrow.
This is probably the second most asked question directed to college students, right behind what school do you go to? It's an important question, too. Your major is something that will shape the direction of your life, so it's crucial to choose it wisely. This multi-part post will give you some guidance on ways to successfully search for a major that works for you.
Choosing a major is not a one-time decision for most college students. There are, of course, those who have decided firmly what they are going to be when they grow up from an early age and have stuck to that decision. For the rest of us, however, choosing a major is a process made in steps, hopefully starting around the time one attends middle school. Yes, you read that right, middle school. In my considered opinion, the common practice of waiting unless a student is a junior or senior in high school to discuss college is counter-productive. At that point, many students are feeling so much pressure from contemplating what comes next that it is difficult to truly give the choice of a major the attention it deserved.
A major should be chosen by balancing several important factors. Let's take a look at a couple of them and do some brainstorming, either by yourself on paper or with the assistance of someone who knows you well.
Interests. Since we spend a majority of our waking hours as adults engaged in work, doing something you like as your career helps make life more meaningful and your work life more enjoyable Make a list of your interests, academic, professional, and personal. Look at both the big picture (for example, “I like helping people”) and the details (“I’m really interested in improving the nutrition of children in our country”). Don’t worry that an interest of yours might not be marketable at this point; just get as much interest information down as possible.
Skills. This is where having a friend or family member who knows you well can come in handy. Sometimes we are not as aware of skills we have as those who observe us. We also might have the tendency to sell ourselves short as to the strength of our talents and abilities. Again, look at both a broad perspective (“I communicate with people well”) and a more narrow approach (“I’m good at being able to calm people down in a crisis situation”). List everything, no matter how big or small the skill may be.
Part 2 on career paths, financial aspects, and growth potential is on its way tomorrow.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Succeeding In Online Classes
Online classes are a great higher education option for people with sticky schedules. I recently had a student who worked in law enforcement at a level that sometimes things would happen that would prevent him from attending a face-to-face class regularly. While we were able to work things out over the semester, his work situation makes him better suited to take online classes whenever possible.
The major plus to an online class is that you can complete the work without attending a regularly-scheduled face-to-face class. In order to succeed in online classes, here are some things to consider.
You need as close to bombproof internet access as possible. You also need a backup plan or two for internet access in case yours fails. Even though online classes don't have face-to-face meetings, they still have deadlines that must be met.
You need very strong self-motivation and self-discipline. When you are taking a class that does not meet face-to-face, the temptation to procrastinate is much stronger. You can help prevent this by scheduling a regular time to do the work for your online class and sticking to it and by keeping up with or ahead of the readings and activities for the class.
Don't assume that your online class will be easier than the face-to-face version. In fact, the opposite is often true. A common component of online classes is participation in a discussion board with the instructor and other students. This can be quite time consuming on top of all the other regular assignments you need to complete for the class.
Most importantly, communicate promptly with the instructor at the first sign of confusion with the materials or problems with the course delivery system. It is very easy to fall behind.
The major plus to an online class is that you can complete the work without attending a regularly-scheduled face-to-face class. In order to succeed in online classes, here are some things to consider.
You need as close to bombproof internet access as possible. You also need a backup plan or two for internet access in case yours fails. Even though online classes don't have face-to-face meetings, they still have deadlines that must be met.
You need very strong self-motivation and self-discipline. When you are taking a class that does not meet face-to-face, the temptation to procrastinate is much stronger. You can help prevent this by scheduling a regular time to do the work for your online class and sticking to it and by keeping up with or ahead of the readings and activities for the class.
Don't assume that your online class will be easier than the face-to-face version. In fact, the opposite is often true. A common component of online classes is participation in a discussion board with the instructor and other students. This can be quite time consuming on top of all the other regular assignments you need to complete for the class.
Most importantly, communicate promptly with the instructor at the first sign of confusion with the materials or problems with the course delivery system. It is very easy to fall behind.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Pluses and Minuses of Hybrid Courses
A hybrid course is one in which part of the classes are conducted face-to-face and part of them are conducted online, usually in a 50/50 split. What are some advantages and disadvantages of hybrid classes?
+ Fewer live class meetings to make a tough schedule worse
+ Great when you already have solid prior knowledge of the material
+ Flexibility
+ Compromise for those who like online courses
+ Good for some general education courses that are mostly lecture based
+ Great for highly motivated students with good self-discipline
- Fewer live class meetings to clear up confusion and get examples
- Not ideal for less motivated students with lower self-discipline
- Less group interaction and spontaneous learning moments
- Probably not a good idea for classes in your major or classes where hands-on learning is required
+ Fewer live class meetings to make a tough schedule worse
+ Great when you already have solid prior knowledge of the material
+ Flexibility
+ Compromise for those who like online courses
+ Good for some general education courses that are mostly lecture based
+ Great for highly motivated students with good self-discipline
- Fewer live class meetings to clear up confusion and get examples
- Not ideal for less motivated students with lower self-discipline
- Less group interaction and spontaneous learning moments
- Probably not a good idea for classes in your major or classes where hands-on learning is required
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