Fears Before Enrolling in an Online College
Posted by Jen Zeman on November 24th, 2008
While earning my associate’s degree at a local community college, I completed an online class and loved the flexibility and the freedom it gave me. However, when I started my online bachelor degree program, a few fears crept into my brain: How hard will the classes be? How much work will be involved? How much time will I need to complete the work? Will I be able to handle three online classes a semester while working full time?
Before starting my classes I decided to come up with a game plan in order to quash my fears and guarantee my success. The game plan was simple: organization. Being organized is by far the number one way to guarantee success with an online college. It is essential to devise a plan of how you will study and complete assignments. Here are the five tactics I used:
- Plan out your semester prior to the start of the semester. If you work full-time, schedule days off strategically so you can give yourself enough time to complete major class assignments/projects without scrambling at the last minute. This will alleviate a ton of stress.
- Assign a separate binder for each class you take a semester. Print the syllabus and put it in the front of the binder. This eliminates confusion and a constant search for important documents. Even though all your required documents will be available to you online, having them at your fingertips makes life less stressful.
- Assign a designated room in your home as your “school zone”. Make it a place where you can close a door and have privacy for studying and completing assignments.
- In this room, hang a large white board on the wall. Use this to write down assignments and major projects for each class, along with corresponding due dates. It is a great feeling erasing completed projects off the board! This was a lifesaver for me.
- Allow yourself some down time to relax. For me it was allowing myself an hour each day to exercise. However, realize while you are in school you will not be able to participate in activities the way you did before – you simply will not have the time. Choose the activity you cannot part with and schedule it in. All others will have to fall off your radar until you graduate. It may seem harsh, but remember you won’t be in school forever.
You will find with organization comes discipline – discipline will keep you focused on your goal. Tell yourself you will succeed in your online courses and it will happen. Once you complete the first semester of online college following the tips above, you will ask yourself, “What was I so scared about?”
Tags: Online college, online degree
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This entry was posted on Monday, November 24th, 2008 at 6:00 am and is filed under Fears Before Enrolling in an Online College, Student Voices. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
