continued education

[crazy a]

For those that don't know, I am a high school graduate. I had no interest whatsoever to go to college and opted to go into the Marine Corps instead.

You know my mother. I've posted a few things she's done that has irritated the hell out of me. One of the things she never seemed to drop was my going back to school. "Adam, I KNOW you could get a degree in three years." That kind of thing.

Well, recently after some persuasion from my wife, I decided to take some online courses offered by one of the nearby community colleges. I got a letter the other day saying I'd been awarded a nice little grant for school. Tomorrow I have a meeting with my advisor. I've picked out some classes to take. I think all that's left is registration and then I'll start the spring semester.

I'm a bit nervous about it all, even if it is over the comp. I haven't been in any kind of classroom situation since '87. People think I would do very well. I seem to be the only one with any kind of reservations about the whole thing.

Today, my wife offered me a "special incentive" for every A I bring in. *wink wink* [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

So...wish me a little luck 'cause I could really use it.

[Orenda]

You'll do great! Going back to school was the scariest thing I'd ever done in my whole life, but it's working out fine for me. You've already had to deal with raising kids and real jobs and such, you're already responsible and you're very intelligent, so stop worrying!

What are you taking?

[Lulu]

yay! Good for you!

And you're not alone- lots of people take time off before going back to school! I wish I had- I would have gotten so much more out of it!

Besides, if you take it seriously- you'll have a distinct advantage over all the innocent just-out-of-high-schoolers who are still too immersed in forming their own identities to conceive of direction and purpose behind their education.

You got nothing to lose, crazy. you rock!

[Branflakes]

I don't think you need any luck, but here's some for those A's (cause I'm sure you deserve some "incentives").

You've got the maturity and intelligence to handle school. Don't doubt it.

And, yeah, what are you taking?

[RichC]

Something I've always thought about doing but haven't yet. Good for you Crazy.

[erisesoteric]

That's great to hear. As a "delayed" student myself, I can fully support the benefits of attending college once you've been out in the real world. At least for business classes. (The artsy fartsy classes I found I had no patience for, oh well.)

Oh, and have fun with the incentives!

[JaceSan]

Awesome crazy a.

*knows crazy'll do well and get hooked on school and eventually get his degree*

If you do start to attend classes physically you'll be able to give some of the right-out-of-highschool kids some advice and guidance on dealing with the "real world" as well.

[crazy a]

Many thanks to y'all for the kind words and support. It makes me realize why I like coming here.

Ok....so my wife and I picked out the following classes to take online:
Expository Writing
College Algebra
College Student Success
Art Appreciation
Environmental Biology.

Advisor said that looked good. All I have to do now is take their placement test so they can see where I am in English and Math before moving forward. The math part is what will kill me, if anything on there does. Have started taking a look at math.com to brush up on algebra.

My major is Associate in Arts and we're looking at eventually transferring over to a regular college later on and then wrapping it up. (Looks so simple on the screen, doesn't it? [img]wink.gif[/img] )

Oh, my advisor? My wife told me about him and she was dead on. Imagine Jesus on a surfboard.

Again, thanks for the well-wishes and I'll keep y'all updated as things unfold.

[crazy a]

Already hit my first stumbling block. I'm at math.com and I come to a little quiz of 8 problems. Read the problem, tell if it's true or false. So I make my answers and click on SCORE. It says I got 75% right; #4 and #7 are True and that's it, no explanation. I go back and take a look. Maybe it's me but I still say they're false. You tell me.

4. 16 + 10 (division sign) 5 - 3 x 2 = 12

7. 5 x 2squared - 7 x (4+2) = -22

[Orenda]

They're true because of BEDMAS. No matter what order they're in from left to right, you always start with anything in brackets, then do any exponenets, then division or multiplication, then addition or subtraction.

So the first, 16 + 10/5 - 3 x 2 becomes 16 + 2 - 6

5 x 2squared - 7 x (4+2) becomes 5 x 4 - 7 x (4+2), then 5 x 4 - 7 x 6, then 20 - 42.


Was that the problem, or am I completly off like usual?