Every day I go to work at my new job, I realize one thing:  My days of distance education are probably ending.

The biggest regret I have about leaving my old company is that it ran smoothly and I had a lot of “spare” time to get some participation in schoolwork, discussion forums, and other requirements.  Now I guess I realize that I was probably not living in the “real” work world.  However, the truth is that I needed to grow professionally and staying at the old company would prevent that from happening.  With a higher position, more money and “real” work, there is a trade-off.  

I just do not see myself doing homework from a hotel room two nights a week after working what could be a ten-hour day sometimes, or getting home after a long day and having to do more work, only to have school assignments hanging over my head.  It’s an obligation I don’t think I can manage at this point.

I have about seven weeks left in my MBA program at Norwich.  I will fly up to Vermont for graduation in June, and while I do not like to use the word “never”, I believe that is the end of my online education for a while.  As much as I would love to get another Master’s degree or a PhD, I just do not see it happening.  The burden is too great.

Distance education has been great for me.  I now realize how lucky I was to have so much free time at my last job.  If I had this job back then, the challenge would have been even greater.  Moreover, if I had decided to go to school, online would be the only way I would be able to accomplish that.  I now have a new-found respect for people who earn degrees online while maintaining a full time job and a family.  Even though I did the same thing, my circumstances were quite different.  

The great thing is that if this job works out for me, there are TONS of opportunities to apply what I have learned.  This is especially true for the Norwich MBA program.  Even in my assignments that I am doing now in the waning weeks of the last class, I cannot help but to compare some of the case studies to what my new company is trying to do.  Therefore, with any luck, everything will work out in the end.

Perhaps I’ll re-evaluate the school thing in six months or a year.  Only time will tell.