STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Deuce · Dooney & Bourke

University of Phoenix

tri_sarah_tops · Marc Jacobs

Hey Deuce, sorry I'm kind of slow responding. I finished my bachelor's at AIU online and I have no complaints about either the school or the online learning experience. Online classes require a lot of reading, but I'd much rather do that at home than go sit in a classroom after I've already worked a full day. The thing I liked best about AIU is that each class is only 5 weeks long. It's pretty fast paced and homework assignments are always due Saturday by midnight. It's not overwhelming though because you only take one class at a time. One drawback is that there's not a lot of interaction with the instructors. Most of them have office hours for chat but some of them are during the day so if you're working it's hard to attend. There are also group chats twice a week, which are helpful, but if you can't attend you're able to review a transcript later.

Another drawback is that most online schools tend to admit anyone. Seriously, some of the students in my first few classes had a really low reading and writing level and I was amazed that they were taking college level classes (that sounds mean, I know). But after awhile most of those people end up dropping because it's just too much for them to handle. Another thing I really didn't like is that most classes required participation in at least one group project. Group projects are pretty hard to coordinate online and it was pretty easy for skaters to slack off.

Anyway, I went to a traditional four year college right after high school, and I had a full scholarship. Basically I was immature and I ended up partying way too much and ultimately lost my scholarship and then dropped out. I had much better luck the second time around, mostly because I knew it was something that I needed to do and I wanted to do it for myself, I just wasn't there because I thought I had to be.

Dizzy · Marc Jacobs

Fwiw, I don't think the financial circumstances are what's keeping you from focusing on school work. And um, challenged? You have to be challenged? I don't buy that. It sounds like you don't like school, or at least the school you've been going to? What was your life like at the school? Did you have people around you that you liked? Were you comfortable in the town? Did you click with your professors? Were you a good fit with the culture? Did you enjoy your life there? Or were you spending all your time avoiding doing the things you needed to do because you felt like crap?

There was another thread about the importance of picking a school based on your life at the school and your fit with the culture, instead of the "numbers" or other objective factors that, in the end, don't make a damn bit of difference. How did you pick your last school? Are you studying things you chose for yourself, or things that make sense to the people around you? Are you trying to build a life you picked for yourself, or a life that fits in with your friends, family and a certain social level?

Forcing yourself to live a life you don't really want generally just causes more problems. and leaves you feelign like a failure. Then, usually, you push yourself harder, which rebounds and makes you avoid it all more. The fix is to set up a life you won't want to avoid. It sounds counterintuitive. But it works. Anyway, I could be wrong. Something about your post just hit a chord with me...

It just sounds like this is something that has lingered fo years, so it makes me think something more than "challenged" is going on. Anyway, good luck!