So I’m aware that I’m teetering on the edge of 30 and everything, but I didn’t realize just how old I am until I embarked on my latest crazy idea adventure… grad school.
The first day of class, I arrived early, took out my new notebook and pen and was all set. Then the professor looked at me and said “Um, yeah, this is probably a course to which you should bring your laptop.” Without missing a beat, I replied “Oh, ok, I will do that!” But I was thinking “I don’t have a laptop!”
No one brought laptops to class when I was in college, but apparently things have changed in the last seven years. Imagine that.
So anyway, I am finally starting to work on a master’s degree. I say “finally” because I currently work at a university (the same university that didn’t require laptops just a few short years ago) and I can take classes tuition-free (as can my spouse or domestic partner and kids – Andy gets a frightened look in his eye whenever I even think about changing employers). I’ve worked here for nearly five years and have yet to take a class, so it’s about time I make up for lousy pay take advantage of this benefit.
I started perusing the list of graduate degrees while I was on maternity leave, and I ran across a program called “Instructional Design and Technology.” A Google search and a few emails with professors later, I have decided that this is the program for me. (This is eerily similar to the way in which I decided on an undergraduate major, which didn’t turn out so well. Who would have thought that majoring in “Sport Organization” would qualify one to do absolutely nothing? But this is going to turn out better. Seriously.)
It looks like an interesting and up-and-coming field, and something that would fit well with my skills and strengths. It would also be conducive to finding another job within this university, which is good because of the previously-mentioned lifetime contract tuition benefits. But what really sealed the deal is when I emailed the professor-in-charge about the feasibility of completing this degree on a part-time basis, and found out that it’s not only possible to do it that way, but that the program was created for working adults and that many of the courses are “hybrids,” meaning they are taught using a combination of classroom time and distance learning. At that, I was sold.
I’m enrolled in one class this semester, and it meets from 4:00-6:40 once a week. This works out well because I get to leave work early am just getting home an hour and a half later than normal on Wednesdays, so it doesn’t require huge amounts of time away from my family. I plan to do the studying during my lunch hour (which is also when I plan to exercise, socialize, glamourize and errand-ize, but…)
Honestly, I hate to embark on something that is going to require additional time away from my family, even if it is only an hour and a half a week. But, I do think that this degree will allow me to progress in my career in a way that will be beneficial to my family in the long run, and offer a more flexible schedule than what I have now. So I am trying to see the big picture, but that hasn’t stopped me from feeling a little sad on Wednesday evenings.
So what do you think? Am I nuts? I mean, because of this, not because of the previously obvious reasons.
Yeah, I thought so.
P.S. I begged the computer guy at work to let me borrow a crappy old laptop, so now I can be on twitter in class be one of the cool kids.
