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Nicoline is currently a service member of the United States Army, a wife, mother, and makes time to study online. This is her experience studying online at Capella University.
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This is a hard post to write. I have decided to change programs and will no longer be with Capella. While my program is still considered non-traditional, it is not an online program and does not fit with the needs of this website. I have truly enjoyed the opportunity to share my experience with everyone and hope that some of my posts have helped people decided to pursue online degrees. This is the way of the future for all degrees, it offers a flexibility and challenge that traditional classrooms can not provide. I am still available via email and more than willing to answer questions or share personal experiences as people seek knowledge to make informed decisions. If I decide to pursue another degree in Communication Management (online with Websters) I will be in touch with the eLearners' contacts to start a new block, about a new University and share that amazing experience. At this time I have decided to pursue a Masters in Management, possibly an MBA in Leadership and Management through Websters University, onsite at Fort Leavenworth. This program is more affordable for my family situation and meets once a week, so I have time with my family and friends to pursue other interests and relax a little. This is all important to me, but must balance with a program that offers academic rigor, challenges, and quality. It is too early to completely tell if this is going to be provided by Websters, but the process for application and the beginning of this first class has been very easy. I wish everyone great success and happy journeys as they continue their personal and professional growth. I hope that many of you find the satisfaction and love for academics that I found in my online programs, but know that some will find the structure and traditionalism of the classroom more comfortable. Best wishes, Nickel
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I have finally made the decision to transfer to a more traditional academic setting as I continue to pursue my second masters degree. Capella has had a lot to offer and provides a very stimulating and challenging program that I highly recommend to anyone seeking online eduction. However, from a personal standpoint it was time to move on. Having come from a psychology background in undergraduate and my first masters program, I was not ready for a compressed acadmic program in the business arena. Capella's MBA program is six week, compressed classes. This is great for someone that wants to get their program done quickly, has a background in business, and is working in a position that will allow them to apply the concepts to their work environment. Unfortunately, I did not have any of these criteria as I started the MBA program. I have taken five MBA courses and only completed three. I found a lot of useful and insightful information in the coaching courses that start the program and enjoyed the finance for managers course. The other courses that I tried to take were to compressed for a set of concepts that were being introduced to me for the first time. Had Capella offerred their MBA program as full 12 week quarters, I would continue with their program. Much like I approach my assignments at work, or any other major life decisions, I took an analytical, quantitative approach to deciding my approach education. I had to critically evaluate whether or not the program was offerring me what I need to grow professionally and personally. Then I looked at whether or not the money that I was putting into the program was worth the knowledge that I was taking away. Overall, I did not feel that I was learning any information that I could take away to the next class or to the work that I do. This was not a lack of course organization or content, it was simply my ability to process the necessary information and make it applicable in a short 6-week program. It is difficult to make decisions like this and to decide to move on when you are enjoying your instructors, the program concept, and the people you are meeting in class. However, my family is valuable to me and the time, stress, and money that is needed to sustain the program with Capella is not conducive to four children, a full-time job, and the desire to be a great mom, wife, officer, and student. Thank you, Nickel
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So as I come off this whirlwind move and get to feel myself breath again, I am evaluating all my obligations and wondering if I am stretching my focus too thin and if there are others that find themselves over extending themselves and wishing for sleep:) I did take a break from this season and decided not to coach; however, I am supporting my sons' wrestling team by providing them marketing support - minimal requirements in comparison to coaching. I have decided to wait on hosting cooking shows for my Pampered Chef business and only sponsor one Bunko per month and have finally been able to schedule my scrapbooking business back into my life (1st and 3rd Fridays). In the interim I will spend my days trying to catch up on three weeks worth of missed work and refocus my efforts on my degree. The key for me at this point is determining whether the degree is something that I actually need to get or if there is a different degree that is better suited for my personal and professional goals. I have decided that what I truly want to do is retire after 20 years with the military and start my own personal life coaching business, helping people find their path in life, selecting careers, dressing for success, and marketing their skills to gain the positions that they truly want and enjoy. So now the question becomes - Is an MBA in Project Management the best degree to support that or do I need to refocus my efforts in another degree. I do have a BS in Psychology with an emphasis on clothing and textiles and an MS in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, so my thoughts were that the the project management degree would give me a broader, less focused view of business practices... I am going to need to take this up with my academic advisor and seek some instructor support from Capella on this one. I am at a point where the people that I work with and my family are unable to provide logical, factual information that supports an informed decision. My goal, after I have caught up with my life is to research all this and make a decision before registering for the next set of courses. Thank you, Nickel
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Life has gotten away from me this month. I have a daughter that is allergic to everything under the sun, with the exception of food:) We have spent about three months getting her referred for testing, new treatments, and identification of allergy problems. Currently she goes in twice a week for three shots each time, she takes cabinet full of medicine and is an absolute trooper for a four year-old. We also had to get her in for her replacement glasses and found out that she is essentially blind without them because her refraction is a 7(?), not exactly sure what that means, but she is much happier with the glasses:) So, back to the allergy story... She is allergic to mold, dust, pollen, etc., unfortunately, we were living in a beautiful historical home that is cooled and heated with forced water units (i.e. swamp coolers) and they were growing amazing chunks of mold and causing her to have extensive itchiness, break outs, and absolutely uncontrollable skin problems. We have been in the process of moving for the last three weeks. The first week was spent in a whirl wind house hunting frenzy with an absolutely wonderful realtor and loan officer, then three days dealing with housing, before selecting something on post, still. We then spent a week preparing the new house - ripping out nasty carpet, laying vinyl tiles, and painting, while packing and moving van loads of our things. Now three weeks later we are settled into a new house and trying to get back to a regular routine. Talk about blowing time schedules, plans, and life out of the water. I ended up dropping my last six week course and felt like I was failing to meet my goals. I still have moments where I am very down on my self for dropping the class, but know that my time was better spent focusing on my family. Now I am one week behind on my next six week class and going to need to spend the next three nights cramming the homework and preparing assignments to be caught up as I go into the long weekend. I have also let my obligation to eLearner's fall behind this month and apologize!! Thank you, Nickel
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How many people find themselves in a position where they have over extended themselves or feel like they just can't write another word of homework or even work? How many people want to escape for 15 minutes and be able to think of nothing and no one? No phone? No computer? No people? I love my family, I love school, and I love my job, but boy do I have days where I just want to scream - NO MORE!!! Finding the ability in a schedule that is jammed packed to balance your life, work, family, school, and personal demands with one another can become hectic and unbearable at times. I can honestly say that I bring a great deal of this onto myself and create my chaos - earlier posts shared my quandry between work-school balance and time management. I suppose this is one of those issues, too, but this seems to get more at finding a holistic approach to life and feeding ones soul and finding ways to stay fresh and excited about life. I am a fairly, self-inflicted busy person. I love being involved with my children's lives and that is full time work, especially with four of them. To stay completely involved is very difficult, but I do like to volunteer with my sons' elementary classes when school is in session - sharing projects and things that I am good at and I know they enjoy. One thing that I did for my oldest was a scapbook page per month for his fourth grade year and we shared that with his class. Everyone loved the project and the teacher liked having something different to do - this kept me involved with my son and promoted my scarpbooking business, plus allowed me an outlet for refresshing my mind and soul. I love to scrap and any opportunity that I have to share it with others makes me feel good about myself and sharing. Another way that I like to stay involved with my kids and that keeps me physically active is to coach their sports teams. I have enjoyed a season of baseball and two seasons of soccer. I am looking forward to basketball and when the girls are old enough to play volleyball or cheerlead. Most recently I have started to run with my boys in the afternoons, trying to encourage their physical activity and outdoor time. My girls enjoy going for bike rides, they are younger and love the small trailer that I have for the back of the bike or I put them in the stroller and walk, which they love and it allows me to get physical activity. In my mind a holisitc approach to life is to balance my personal interests, work requirements, school requirements, and family needs with one another. I have added my two personal businesses to the mix and find that my schedule is not only full, but on occassion overbooked:) When I really need to unwind and just get away from it all, my favorite thing to do is grab a novel (generally romance or suspense) or just relax with Friends DVDs playing on the TV and do nothing. Recently, I am finding that running, walking, and bike riding are also great relaxation tools, because mom chilling in front of the television is not very exciting for the kids, at least if we are all moving everyone is happy. Right now I am in a quandry, I want to finish my second masters program quickly, but my work requires a great deal of intellectual, thought provoking activities that leave me feeling drained and out of sorts. This makes going home at the end of the day to do homework difficult and unenjoyable. I am trying to think of ways to prevent this from becoming a problem, but am quickly losing the battle this term. I have two weekly assignments due from previous weeks and have week three quickly luming in the horizon with no desire to go and do the work. My solution - I am going to go to the doctor with my daughter this afternoon, deal with a family housing issue, and then run with my boys before making dinner and settling into hours of homework this evening. My goal is to complete this weeks discussion questions, and at least week one's assignment, then I can do week two tomorrow, and week three on Saturday. Wish me luck and I hope that everyone is having success in their studies and goal accomplishment. Best wishes, Nickel
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