In the US most schools just call the terms fall and spring. Fall term starts in the fall and ends in the winter. Spring term starts in the winter and ends in the spring. I'm not sure how they got named - it certainly isn't consistent, but there you have it.

Last semester I had 2 night classes and I was really excited not to have any this semester, then I realized that I have no time to get work/studying done during the day and all my evenings will be filled anyway. I'm not sure which I prefer. It doesn't really matter. I already know 2 of the classes I'll take in the fall are night classes again anyway. I'll just roll with it. It'll be over soon 🙂

Congrats SeaConquest! That's huge! Welcome back 🙂

I may have lost my mind, but I’m registered for four grad classes and I’m really excited about it! I’m taking Seminar in Children’s Literature which is focusing on classic children’s lit from the 19th and early 20th Centuries; Seminar in Basic Writing which is about teaching remedial writing in the college setting; Teaching Writing Online which is what I most want to do when I finish my degree; and Practicum in Teaching Writing which is required for all graduate assistants their first two semester of teaching (this will be my second). I’ll be teaching two sections of Eng110 (College Writing) which I taught last semester, so I’m hoping to have far less prep time this semester! The only major difference is that last semester I taught T/Th and this semester I teach MWF so I have to revise my syllabus a bit for that. This will be a very heavy load and I expect to spend the semester buried and in survival mode, but I’m doing it to give myself a lighter load next year. Hopefully in the fall I’ll be teaching different classes, maybe even two different classes and so prep time will go up and maybe way up. Also my degree requires taking comprehensive exams and I plan to do that in the Fall (November), and I’ll need time to study. I’m just planning to take Shakespeare and Limguistics during that semester which should allow me to focus more energy on teaching. As I said, I’m excited, but nervous that I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. I’m intent on keeping my 4.0! I’m finishing my Blackboard sites and syllabus this week, prepping a paper that Im presenting at a conference and starting on my reading for the semester next week, and I should be ready to hit the ground running when school starts the 14th!

When dd was looking for a BSN program, she started by looking at NCLEX pass rates. From there we looked at facilities, what kind of labs and what kind of patient dummies they had. Class sizes seem to be pretty consistent in BSN programs, but look at the class sizes for the prerequisites. An anatomy class of 50 is much different than an anatomy class of 200. You can check into what hospital/medical facilities they team with for clinicals, but we didn't see a lot of difference in clinical rotations between programs. Only one of the schools she looked at had a direct admit into nursing and she didn't apply there. Knowing she had to apply after her freshman year was stressful, but look at how they judge admissions and make sure she knows and is doing the right things. Dd's program only considers GPA and quality points, but some also do interviews and weight each part of the admission process differently. It would definitely have been possible for someone with a 3.6 (or even higher) GPA to not get into dd's program, if they were short on quality points. Good luck!

Did you do it?

My papers are all in and I'm done as a student. I give finals to two classes tomorrow then grade the 40 writing portfolios they will turn in. Once I post grades, I'm completely finished! This has been a hard semester for me. I didn't love my classes and I had one that was very difficult. I loved my first semester of teaching college though. I'm looking forward to 2 out of 3 of my classes for next semester and I'll be teaching the same classes I taught this semester, so I'm hoping for a happy Spring!.

Both of mine took their last finals today. Ds has one more paper to finish up. I think they've both had a good semester. For dd, it was a tough semester. In the BSN program, semester one is supposed to be the most work - to weed out anyone not willing to put in the effort, and semester two is supposed to be the toughest to weed out anyone who isn't smart enough. She has now cleared both those hurdles and has three semesters left. Ds has just one semester left. His final semester should be relatively easy - he hasn't saved all the hard classes for the end. He'll have 12 hours and only 2 upper level courses. He is pretty stressed about what comes next at this point, but not so much about finishing. If finished my semester as a student after I turned in my last paper yesterday. I give finals to two classes tomorrow and then have to grade the 40 writing portfolios that will come into me during the final. We all need the break for some downtime and mental health recuperation. Ds will be home Friday, and dd will be home Saturday night after her boyfriend's graduation party.

I have a presentation to give tonight and 2, 15 page papers due next week. Then I have to grade all of my student's final portfolios. I'm guessing they'll be on pins and needles longer than I will lol. I totally relate to caring about the difference between the A and the A-. I have one class where my final paper is worth half the grade and the professor (my favorite) is a very tough grader. Ok, saying that, I'm headed back to work on that paper some more, because I'm really hoping it won't turn my A into my first A-!

I love the bucket! I'm waiting until the kids get home on break to put up the tree.

I'm dealing with a paper like this right now. The student used fake links, switched the citations around so the information was never found at the location the in-text citation referred to. Sometimes it was on another site he had linked, sometimes it was on a more general cite that wouldn't have been acceptable as an academic source. I caught it because Safe Assign flagged one sentence in a way that caught my attention. When I looked that up, the citation was wrong, so I checked the next citation and so on. 8 pages later, not one in-text matched the quoted material. 🙄

I agree with this. Many student never take a literature course in college and even the gen ed lit courses require only a very minimal level of lit analysis. Most courses require students to read information and deal with it in some way, whether it is to summarize, discuss, or include it as a component in their research. Being able to do that is VERY important. The most common writing in most field is a researched argument. Again, this requires reading sources and bringing that information together along with bringing in their own voice to make an argument. This also requires skills like writing introductions, formulating a thesis, organization, etc. These are the skills students need. Literature analysis is only necessary if they plan to be a literature major or if they are attending a program that focuses on literature for all.

Drury University in Springfield, Missouri might work. The average ACT is higher than he is looking for; Springfield is a small city (167,000), and it probably isn't as diverse as he wants. It does have an Exercise Physiology major, it is a small school and their disability services office is fantastic to work with! Debbie

I think this is the best description of why I went back to school I have ever read.

Awe, I'm so sorry you're not having a good experience. I think it is much harder to get much teacher interaction in online classes. I find the beginning of each semester to be a blizzard of reading assignments, then shifting more to putting the students into the academic conversation. I hope the semester improves as you go along. For me, no it hasn't been a mistake and I love what I'm doing, but that isn't helpful for you at all :(.

As you can see in my sig, this is what I did. My degree was almost 30 years old and in a completely different field. It is true that many grad programs have specific requirements. Some courses may have to be taken within a specific amount of time, some course will just have to have been taken, some require a specific degree. Figure out what you want to do then look at the options! I considered going for an associates in something applied, I considered a second bachelors, I ended going for a masters. I took 1 semester of undergrad classes to qualify, then one semester of grad classes. Then I applied for a graduate assistantship and now tuition is free and I get paid a stipend each semester (I teach two classes/semester). Grad school doesn't have to be expensive. It doesn't always have a lot of prerequisites. It may or may not be the answer, but don't rule it out without looking into it.

Mine ranged from 6-9 hours/day. Dd was always toward the lower end and ds toward the high end. She worked faster and had more outside commitments. He worked slower and academics were his primary focus.

While this is true, if your kids don't start looking until after Christmas, don't despair. Ds and several of his friends landed internships between February and April. Most local companies didn't post summer internships before Feb/March. I even saw one internship posted in May that ds would have loved, but he had already committed to another one. It is never too late until you pass your school's deadline.

This. This was me when they left. Then I went back to school. I got a new community and a new group professors and classmates. All the Graduate Assistants share an office. I'm the oldest, but I am still one of them. I have found a new community filled with people that share my interest in literature and learning. I still wish the bolded hadn't been true back when I couldn't make it through a day without tears, when I was proud and happy for my kids and didn't want to bother them, but desperately needed to talk to someone. Dh was great, but I could only say the same things to him so many times. It was hard and lonely, and yet I did come to appreciate #1 & 3 on ThisIstheDay's list.

I share a desk in the GA office, no shelf, but I do have a drawer all my own lol. It is nice to have a space at the University that is mine. It makes me feel like I belong there. I know, I'm weird.

I'm teaching ENG 110 (the introductory writing course) at my local state U this semester. We've been told that we have to take 3, 15 minute periods through the semester for the kids to do surveys to support a research project from another department. It seems a bit annoying for everyone, but it will get them thousands of captive research subjects.

I don't have a freshman, but both my kids text daily and rarely ever call. The same was true when they were freshmen. I love the small daily contact.

I finished my first week too. I have a ton of homework! I just finished grading the first assignment for the two classes I'm teaching and that took a bit longer than I expected, but it was kind of fun. This weekend will be spend doing a lot of reading, writing one essay, and prepping next week's lesson plans.

Since you feel that way, I wouldn't worry about it. Whatever the cost (it won't cause you to fail or drop-out) its worth it right? As soon as the teacher makes blackboard available, check what will be happening and contact the teacher, but otherwise, try to let it go. Some things are worth it!

I took time out of prepping my blackboard site to answer :). If you really need to be there, it doesn't matter if you're shooting yourself in the foot does it? I had to miss taking dd back Wednesday because I had teacher training. I can't decide if I would find that a sympathetic excuse because I hated missing taking dd or if I would be unsympathetic because as a teacher I had to miss it. If you know who your teacher is, I'd go ahead and send an email, rather than waiting for blackboard, and see how they respond. Anatomy isn't a good class to miss, but most classes give a couple of misses free before penalizing.