I have been working this week on a big project and I think it is completed. I have my wonderful, supportive husband, and two very helpful counselors to thank for their assistance with finally having my degree plan mapped out. For real. (Caveat Emptor: If that's enough information for you, you don't need to read the rest of this post. There are about to be lots of details, so if you don't care about that part, don't worry. I'm not offended.)
I have been working on my Associates degree, as you faithful readers will probably remember. I have been working on the AS in Kinesiology offered at my school, and have been excited about finishing it up and finally having a degree in something that I want to do as a career. However, as this semester has been winding down, I've been thinking about the fact that "this time next year" I should be walking across that stage, degree in hand. Obviously, that led to thoughts about working with my degree. As I've continued to learn about the field and about myself in my studies, I've come to realize that working as a personal trainer in a gym isn't really what I want to do for the rest of my life. So I started looking at the kinds of jobs I DO want to have. Wellness director, health coach, and corporate wellness manager are some of the job titles that have the descriptions that started to get me really excited. I want to do some fitness training with people, but I also want to coach and advise on all different aspects of wellness - everything from stress management and sleep to nutrition to sound finances. The thing is, as I was looking at these kinds of jobs, one thing became abundantly clear: I need at least a bachelors degree to qualify for most, if not all, of these kinds of jobs.
This realization has led to an intensive search for a program that would meet all of my criteria. I required a public university (partly for reputation and partly for tuition costs - for-profit university tuition is astronomically high), an online program for bachelor completion, a program that would utilize what I had already taken and not require many (if any) more core classes, AND, obviously, a program IN MY FIELD. I hit so many dead ends. I found a lot of programs that meet two or three of those criteria, but it took me a lot of work and persistence to finally, finally find the program that met all four criteria.
The program is called Health & Wellness Management (HWM), it's offered through the University of Wisconsin system of colleges (the courses are offered through a partnership of four campuses), and ALL of the courses are offered online and are IN the HWM program. That's right. Perfection. I sent a text to my best friend and said, "I think I'm in love."
The next day, I was able to talk to Daniel about it more in depth and he agreed that, pending a transcript review from an admissions counselor, it looked exactly right. I contacted the admissions counselor that works directly with that program and told her that I was interested in the program and that I was currently completing the AS degree. Later that evening I checked my email to find a response from her that was less than encouraging. She said that I wouldn't have many credits that would transfer from my degree, but that I could transfer to one of their campuses which even offer Associates degrees completely online to finish that before starting the HWM program. Or that I should change to a different major that would include more of the courses I would need to transfer. Needless to say, that wasn't the most encouraging thing to read. (Read that: I sort of lost it for a few minutes.) Daniel, ever my champion, encouraged me to reply with an email containing all of my transcripts, because I didn't mention the fact that I had a ton of other credits in my original email.
Thankfully, that yielded much more positive results. There was a list of about 6 or 7 courses that I would need outside of my AS degree in order to transfer in and immediately begin the program without needing to take any other courses. However, as Daniel and I continue to talk, we started to consider the possibility of me actually changing my major for the express purpose of finishing more quickly (and taking fewer classes to do so), given the fact that my overall goal is the bachelor's degree. We looked specifically at what it would take for me to get an AA in Music, seeing as I have all of those music credits lying around not really helping me with much of anything. It turned out that looked like a much better option, then only needing a few more courses for the AA and three on top of that for the transfer, since a few of the courses I'd need for the AA would transfer, as well.
This morning, I finally worked all the details out. Turns out that, in fact, the degree I'm closest to completing is an AA in General Studies, and I'm ONLY ONE CLASS AWAY FROM FINISHING THAT. Add in four more courses for the transfer (which I'll definitely take at my current school, given my in state tuition rate that cannot be outdone), and I'll be finished!!! So - get this - I am planning now on taking three courses this summer, and two in the fall and I, Lord willing, WILL GRADUATE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. At that point, I will also have everything I will need to transfer directly into the HWM program and get started on that.
I'm excited about it for all sorts of reasons, not the least of which is that very soon I will actually be in possession of a degree that can't be taken away from me. However, the other huge factors to me are that I can easily see how this plan plays out to the benefit of everyone in our family in several ways. I will have two years working on this bachelor's degree from home online and be ready to graduate about the same time that Levi is getting ready to start Kindergarten and Caroline starts PreK. (I'm hoping at that point that I might even still be able to find a part time job, but that's a long way off.) I love the fact that we really only need consistent child care for 16 weeks this fall, and even that is only going to be about 9 hours a week. I love the fact that this is all taking shape and working out and looking, finally, just right.
So. That's the long version (it really could be longer, but even I'm getting sick of this post) of the saga for my schooling. If you made it through all of that, you definitely get a gold star! (Oh, and thanks to all who wrote sweet comments on my last post - I still read all of your blogs faithfully, too, even if I'm not commenting often. Hugs!)
Super exciting news!
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