Decisions, Decisions

As a full time college student, my education is extremely important to me. I don't just want to get my Bachelor's, I have to. It's something I not only want for myself, it is something that I expect for myself. I won't settle for being well read and high school educated. I want to be extremely well read and college educated. I ultimately plan on getting my Ph.D. but since first things are always first, I am currently working on my B.A. in History. Being a Navy wife and a formerly very rebellious young person has presented me with some unique challenges in regards to my college education.

First, it took me quite a while to get my head on my shoulders and start taking college seriously. I am proud to say that, after a tumultuous couple of years, I have been doing well for about 3 years now. Secondly, I initially did not think that I could make a career as anything but a teacher with a History degree and therefore chose two different majors that really didn't mean anything to me. I finally decided two years ago that I would rather be a failure at something I love than a success at something I hate, and I changed my major to History. At that point, I really thought that I was on the right track and that I would surely graduate within the next couple of years and in a timely manner.

However, life had different plans for me. I found out that I was pregnant with Archer and got married to Dave. Dave then enlisted in the Navy and eventually we had to move. When we got to Washington, I immediately started the process of getting enrolled at my local community college. Soon I found out that while my classes and credits did transfer over, I was going to lose 1 credit here and 1 credit there as a part of the process. This was really hard for me to swallow as I had worked so hard to earn those credits and now I was going to have to take extra classes to basically fill the void. However, I squared my shoulders and trudged forward.

Now, here were are almost two years later and I am facing another impending move to a new state. I know now that another move will cost me more credits and that it will be another set back. The more I thought about this, the more depressed I got. I started searching for a way that I could just transfer one last time to a college where I could complete my degree fully online. If this was possible, I would only have to transfer one last time and then I could really just get my butt in gear and finish out my degree.

It didn't take me long, for my answer to come to me in the form of Ashford University. I had always been skeptical of online schools. I was afraid that I would put in a bunch of work and then find out that my degree was from a school that was not appropriately accredited and I would never be able to get a job or get into a Master's degree program. However, I have checked into Ashford and read a lot of information about accreditation as well as read reviews of the college. I have finally made the decision to transfer to Ashford University and finish my education.

I am really excited to take this step. For one thing, I think that it means that there is a clear end in sight for me. I can finally see the end and the degree and that feels really good. For another, it will take a lot of stress off of my shoulders. I won't have to worry anymore that I am going to have to transfer or where I will go next. I will also not have to fiddle around with community colleges anymore. I will be working a specific degree program and doing exactly what I need, as opposed to taking classes that may or may not end up being necessary for my major. I am so glad that I made this decision. I just want to fulfill my goal of having a B.A. that way I can be proud of myself and see myself as someone my children should be proud of.

Here's to the future!