My college experience(s)

Not to toot my own horn, because I would never do that, but I’ll be done with college in May (other than classes I’ll take on the ship just for fun). I’ll have my Master’s Degree in Information Systems. I will not go for my PhD, I neither have the desire (there’s no reason for me to get a PhD when I’m a career-Navy guy) nor the money (my GI Bill is pretty depleted).

I started college in August of 1994, at Olivet College in, (shocker!) Olivet Michigan. (NOTE: Mary likes to point out that she was in 2nd grade when I graduated HS in 1994-I like to point out that while that’s true, the funnier thing is that at 23, with soon-to-be step-daughters that are almost 11 and 9, she’s likely to be a grandmother in her early 30′s…I think I win that argument). OC was a mere 5-minute drive from my mom’s house, where I still lived. Seeing as how I didn’t live on-campus and “commuted” to school, I was technically a “Non-Traditional Student”, and was in the Non-Traditional Student Organization (NTSO), and hung out in the NTSO lounge when I wasn’t in class. I was elected as the NTSO Representative on the Student Government Association (Student Senate), I worked at the Olivet Echo as a staff writer, WOCR 89.5 FM as a DJ, and earned a spot on the Dean’s List with my GPA of 3.5. I enjoyed my time there, but it was too close to home, and felt like High School all over again (live at home, drive to school, come home from school). I had to leave…

Which lead me to Grand Valley State University, which is where I wanted to go in the first place, since two years before when my friend Candy went there. I spent 6 semesters there, from second semester my Freshman year, through the end of my Junior year, including a summer. I was heavily involved in organizations while at GVSU, from Delta Sigma Phi to Student Senate to Spotlight Productions. I also worked as a receptionist in the Student Life Office, working as a Building Manager during the summers (I managed the Student Center, where Wedding Receptions and other parties were held, and the “Chapel” next door, where Weddings themselves were held). Oh yeah, and in 1996, I was nominated (by Spotlight Productions) for the Homecoming Court. Obviously I wasn’t selected as Homecoming King, but it was cool regardless. I left GVSU with a 2.46 GPA, which wasn’t horrible, but wasn’t terrible either.

So, why did I leave GVSU? Well, honestly, because I was sick of college. I was entering my fourth year, and I didn’t have enough credits to be a Senior yet because I found a loophole with financial aid…see, you had to sign up for 12 (or more credits) to be a full-time student. However, if you dropped a class, after the money-back period, you were still, technically, a full-time student. So, that’s what I did-I signed up for 12+ credits, then dropped a class, dropping down to 9-10 credits each semester. The only problem was, that to continue receiving financial aid, you had to average 10 credits passed a semester. Not a problem, right? Well, not a problem until my last semester there, when I dropped to my customary 9 credits and then failed a class, giving me 59 credits after 6 semesters. I then lost my financial aid.

The most ironic thing? The class I failed was a computer hardware class. I didn’t want to be a computer hardware guy-I wanted to be a software weenie. So, I just didn’t put forth effort in the class (there were some extenuating circumstances that semester as well, with a break-up that wasn’t good and one of my Fraternity brothers getting in a bad drunk driving accident). So, I left college and joined the Navy…to become a computer hardware guy. Yep, I failed the class in college because I didn’t want to work on computer and LAN hardware, and yet I came into the Navy and became great at it.

Again though, I left mostly because I was sick of college. I had changed my major so many times, between Communications, Journalism, Criminal Justice, Public Relations, Sociology, Computer Science…I didn’t know what the hell I wanted to do…When I came into the Navy, I had two options: 1) a Selective Enlistment Bonus (SEB) of $4,000, or 2) $20,000 on top of my GI Bill for College. Needless to say, I chose the SEB, and after taxes I got $2800.

However, in 1999, onboard the USS Constellation, an Aircraft Carrier, I took a couple of PACE (Program for Afloat College Education) courses through Central Texas College, as we had actual instructors underway with us. I took Personal Finance (a business course) and College Algebra. In 2001, I took two more classes: Trigonometry and Technical Writing through CTC and a Creative Writing course through Troy State University (all through PACE, all on-board the ship with instructors). At this point, I was just taking classes for the “fun” of it. My CTC GPA was 3.2 and my Troy State University GPA was 3.0.

In-between, in 2000, I realized that with all my previous credits, both college and credits for my military schooling, I could do a single course and get my Associate of Arts (with a focus in Electronics Technology) from the University of Phoenix. So, I did. In 2002, I decided to get my Bachelor’s Degree, so I went back to U of P (online) in their Bachelor’s of Science in Information Technology (BSIT) program, which I did not particularly like. I stayed there for a few classes before realizing I didn’t particularly like the program. I had a 2.87 GPA in my AAET program, and a 3.46 GPA in my BSIT program.

ITT Technical Institute offered a better online program (a Bachelor’s of Science in Information Systems Security). I transferred and began there in 2004, completing my degree in 2005. I liked the program at ITT Technical Institute so much, and didn’t figure to ever pursue any educational opportunities higher than a BS, that I ignored the fact that it was Nationally Accredited and not Regionally Accredited. I didn’t allow anyone to explain the differences to me, I just assumed that Nationally Accredited was fine. This became an issue when I decided, in 2008, to get my Master’s Degree, as Nationally Accredited is actually the “bad” accredidation. When I started looking around, I had very few options…practically no colleges would take my degree and allow me to enter Grad School, and I didn’t want to go back to ITT Tech. Instead, I went back to the University of Phoenix. At this point, I was more open to the things that I didn’t like back in 2002-2003 (the “Learning Team” concept mostly), which was good because that’s how their Grad School was set up as well. Now, through collaborative tools that I use for work, I realized how crucial “Learning Teams” are because in a lot of industries, my shore duty included, we work via virtual means and aren’t in the same geographic location. Hell, I’m stationed in San Diego, but I’m Mustered (accounted for, for all you non-military people) in Washington, D.C. every day.

So, the long story broken down: overall, I’ve taken 67 courses from 10 different institutions of higher learning for 212 college credits. I have a cumulative GPA of 2.9. I’m finally ready for a real break…lol…

Of course, I’ll probably take a couple on deployment unless I get there too late…maybe some more Sociology or Psychology courses…who knows…