If you have found yourself in this blog - Welcome!
I found myself writing this blog when I concluded I am living a non-traditional student's life to the fullest. A non-traditional student can hold many definitions, however for the purpose of this blog, we will consider a non-traditional student to be someone who: works full time and goes to school part time, goes to school full time and works part time, or, for those of you who are really brave, goes to both work and school full time. All people are dealt a different hand. There are some whose parents can afford to fund their college experience and make sure they get through in four years without worrying about anything outside of earning a degree. There are others who work their butts off to pay their way through school and end without a dime in student debt (if this is you, I am officially giving you a virtual gold medal for being unbelievably awesome - seriously you should be proud). There are also people such as myself who are working full time, taking eighteen credit hours, and praying that we remembered to put deodorant on before leaving the house.
I began attending college in the fall of 2011. I was a fresh faced 18-year-old who thought college would be a simple extension to the walk in the park people called high school. The first three years were fun; directionless, but fun! When I saw that my friends from high school were graduating with bachelor's degrees in impressive fields, and entering the business world with a solid foundation, I had a bit of an oh crap moment. Where had I gone wrong? What were they doing that I was not? This realization was simultaneous to the reality that I was running out of "Get Out of Jail Free" cards with my mom.
There are some things that seem impossible; such as attending that meeting at work, getting a ten page paper submitted, and remembering to buy a birthday gift for your brother's girlfriend whose name just will not stick in your brain. That leads me to the purpose of this blog. This blog will outline experiences I have had in my adventures as a non-traditional student. I will give tips and pointers on how to either avoid the experiences altogether, or how to handle them exponentially better than I did. I will share with you what I have learned in school, work, and life. This blog will give you a new perspective - something I have grown to appreciate. I ask that as a reader, you be an active participant in the blog as well. If you are anything like me, you have a lot of questions. While reading this blog, if a question comes to mind, ask. I appreciate any and all questions and comments - positive comments only please.
I look forward to sharing this part of me with you. And again, welcome to the Traditions of a Non-Traditional!
