My First Semester Back in College After 7 Years

One word describes my acceptance of a challenge I made to my self to go back to school: Success. My plan to attain my a Bachelors of Applied Arts and Sciences in order to further my education, knowledge, and improve myself is well in progress. I have officially completed my first semester back in school and will soon begin my next semester and the feeling of success from hard work and determination is great. I used to hate school when I was younger, but now I actually enjoy the challenge and knowledge I am receiving. Although getting my Bachelors will probably not warrant any increase in pay or promotion with my current employer it will improve my work and overall mood towards life. Succeeding at completing my goals provides me with a great feeling inside, and to me providing better work to my employer and feeling more successful overall is worth the cost of college. During the 2001 and 2002 recession I chose to enter the work force after completing an Associates in my field of interest instead of following through to complete my Bachelors. I did this on account of I had already attained a professional job in the downed market where others were being laid off and struggling to find work. I am now pushing 10 years of professional experience with an Associates Degree related to my field of employment, and I am now pushing to complete a General Bachelors which I feel will allow me to study a broader field of subjects and avoid the focused subject path that a specified Major and my Technical Degree offer. Instead of specializing I want to broaden my skill set to open up future possibilities that could benefit from my growing experience and my soon to be had proper education. I was happy with my Associates until the recession of 2008 started and I began to see the lay offs in my field. I saw people suffer on both sides of the education/experience spectrum unemployed for over a year trying to find work. I witnessed employers lay off those that I know with minimal education and lots of experience as well as those with minimal experience but lots of education. I don't want to experience that problem in the next recession especially if it doesn't happen until I'm much older and more reliant on steady income. The completion of my Bachelors will greatly increase my marketability in any possible future downed markets where employers want the most bang for their buck out of every employee.

The Decision to go Back to School

I graduated from a community college in 2002 with an Associate of Applied Science degree and set out into the work force as an IT professional bright eyed and bushy tailed. I originally believed that a college degree was meant for getting your foot in the door and wasn't needed after you obviously had a good job and gained experience. That was 2002, it is now reaching the end 2009 seven years later and luckily I still have a job despite nationwide layoffs and cutbacks across the country, thank goodness I'm very good at what I do. I have watched numerous friends and colleges who were either very experienced or well education, usually never both, struggle to find employment after school or a lay off.

It is in this economy I realized the true importance of a strong education combined with great work experience. It wasn't just to get my foot in the door, it wasn't even so I look better on paper. A college education to me has become a necessity because it helps you to improve yourself. The more educated you are and the more knowledge you attain the better your ability to make decisions about pretty much anything and everything no matter what the topic.

With this I began the research of what to get my degree in. When I told folks about my decision to go back to college most asked if I would be getting another degree in the computer science field, and to that I had to replied "maybe". I couldn't really see the value in relearning the things I already knew after seven years in the industry. I was more interested in getting as much knowledge about everything as I could. I wanted to learn more about business, finance, history, writing, speaking, and even the dreaded math. And with this I found the Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences, or BAAS, degree. A degree that until recent I had never heard of but as I kept researching I found that more and more schools offered it.

The BAAS degree was designed for people with technical degrees such as myself who wanted to get a Bachelors without having to "start all over". The BAAS major is a general Applied Arts and Sciences and the minor is individualized and custom tailored to my preferences for my field or pretty much whatever I choose. As I looked into the program more and more I loved its flexibility and the fact that completion of a BAAS degree opened the door for a Masters degree should I decide to continue my education in the future. A very possible goal after completion of my Bachelors.

Some may argue that a Bachelor of Science is better than the BAAS, however, for me it wasn't about what someone else thought was better, it was about what is best for me. I didn't want to go back to school in order to help me with my job, although that would be a well accepted benefit, I went back to school because I wanted to become more intelligent in my journey to gain wealth. I think that in order to gain wealth one must first gain knowledge.

If you are thinking of the Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences verses Bachelor of Science or BS degree remember to consider yourself and which would benefit you more in your lifetime. I like to think of the BS as a more specialized degree plan which may be what you want or need, where as the BAAS is a more generalized and broad spectrum degree plan covering more topics and allowing me to take more classes that I chose instead of classes strictly chosen for me. Because I already have a career and specialized a degree as well as specialized knowledge I wanted to spread my knowledge into more areas, you may be the opposite. The decision to go back to school is a bold but great move for anyone and I think the options should be considered accordingly.