Finishing strong

There's just no feeling like it! I struggled with some of the concepts midway through Cost Accounting class and faltered on two of the three mid-term exams... pretty badly. Three moderately complex homework assignments and two case studies mostly involved spreadsheets and memos - my forte. On those you generally get a grade that matches the effort you put in, so I made sure to do a good job - which helped balance the bad exam grades. However, going into the final exam, I knew I needed 94 points out of 100 to pull out an A in the class. My average on exams to that point was just 85! And the final covered 5 chapters, not the usual 3 or 4.

I got 96! Whew! More importantly, though, while studying for the final, some things began to click into place in my brain and suddenly I saw things a lot more clearly - it started making real sense and the logic was clearer than it had been all summer. Sort of like learning a foreign language - there comes a point where, instead of your brain blowing a fuse trying to manually translate every word into English, you suddenly begin comprehending the foreign words. It's a floating sensation - or at least it was for me when I learned French in my early twenties. For months you feel like you're drowning but you wake up one day and it's almost like they're all talking English. Like you've made a connection to a new part of your brain that speaks French.

It's probably too early to tell if that happened for me with accounting this week, but it sure gives me greater confidence as I move into my first upper division semester in August. I feel so much better about all the stuff that seemed like a foreign language just a week ago. I think I'll be okay!

Change is good, I guess!

Some things are "over" now, I can tell. My Cost Accounting class is evidence that my brain had better be fully engaged for the rest of my academic career. So the first thing that is over is easy classes! While I was in them, none of my classes seemed easy but, I admit, on Finals day when I knew I had done enough work to make the final exam irrelevant (or nearly so) for those 100-level and 200-level classes, I knew they'd been relatively easy for me. I'm looking forward to the challenge of 300- and 400-level classes, but I'm more than a little nervous I can't keep up.

Another thing that's over is the struggle to get the classes I want at registration time. Fortunately Eller pre-registers their students according to the cohort (mornings or afternoons) so the huge headache of spending hours of planning a workable schedule is done! I had learned to have a plan, a backup plan, and a list of fill-in classes in case neither panned out. I also learned to have two computers logged into WebReg at once to help with the inevitable logjam at the server side. Thank goodness that's over!

For the most part I expect my leisure time to be majorly cut back. Taking FOUR hard classes in one semester will dictate that. I've gotten pretty good at budgeting my time and hammering away at whatever is required - homework, reading, writing, memorizing... Could have done better, of course. My hubby has been fantastically understanding when the house is a little wrecked and/or the dishes not done cuz I'm up against a deadline. Fortunately he preceded me in this 'ejucayshon' stuff and knows how much hammering it takes! (And he's an excellent cook! :-)

Internet surfing just for the heck of it is mainly a thing of the past, too. Most of my "computer time" is strictly homework related. A little Lexulous now and then, and checking to see what everyone is up to on Facebook once a day or so... that's about it! (Oh, and the blog, when I can manage it!) Grocery shopping hasn't changed all that much, but I tend to buy more now (fruit especially) to try and cut down those time-eating errands to just once or twice a week. Morning yoga and some evening exercise has to stay, though. Gotta find a way to keep that consistent.

I hope I can keep up! August 24th will be here before I know it.

My "free" education!

Five classes, seven textbooks and this is the bill for my upcoming Fall semester if I were to purchase everything at the UA Bookstore! I usually don't. Half.ebay.com is a great resource, and sometimes other websites. Fortunately I've already found two of the seven for nearly half the used price listed, but a couple I will probably end up getting at the Bookstore as they often require the accompanying CD or internet code. Whenever it says "textbook bundle", I at least have to go in and see what all is in the bundle. Oh, and they almost never have books available at the "used" price.

If I had to pay for tuition on top of that... yikes! So, I'm not griping.

And that takes care of my freshman year!

Just wrapped up my last "101" class (Physical Geography) so, now that I'm a Junior, I'm officially done with my freshman classes! Of course I've taken most of the sophomore ones, too, along the way, but it is strange how they all get interspersed. We even had a couple of graduated seniors in there! So at least I didn't wait that long.

Years ago when I would discuss college with peers, someone would always say, "Yeah, but you've got to get all those general education classes out of the way before you even get to the ones in your major." And they would wrinkle their nose like it was the worst thing they could imagine. Turns out, "those gen-eds" are the REALLY FUN classes and I'm sorry to be done with them!

Still have one sophomore (200 level) science class to take - probably next summer - and could probably fit in a couple of non-accounting electives at some point but I've already decided, when I've got my degree in my back pocket, THESE are the classes I'll keep coming back to take again and again ...just for fun! ...until I'm 90!

Oh, speaking of which... The obligatory article in our local newspaper regarding the lucky kids who graduated last month had an age breakdown of those getting bachelors degrees. Of the 4,200 or so being awarded degrees, 1% were age 50 or older! Woohoo! So I'm not as alone as it appears when I look around the classroom. In fact, if I can do my math correctly (and I did pass college algebra!), there were at least 42 of us oldies kicking around campus just last year.

In my Business Ethics online class the get-acquainted emails indicate there are three of us over 50 in that course. But I always knew that community college is where I'd find more peers - not that it really matters. What I am looking forward to next semester is rubbing elbows with the kids who are a little more serious about their education. I'll let you know how that is.

Summer is shaping up

Well, my Spring Semester is coming to a close. Sorry I haven't kept y'all up to date so much this semester! It was a successful one and I also managed to keep regular hours at my part-time job with H&R Block. Fun seeing most of my old clients - it's my eighth season so I'm starting to see a lot of regulars. I like that.

Anyhow, here's how Summer School is shaping up:

Summer Pre-Session (mid-May to early June):

Earth's Environment: Intro to Physical Geography - Introduction to fundamental laws of nature as expressed physical processes that govern the spatial distribution of Earth's land, sea, air, and biological environments. Focus on fluxes and feedbacks among these systems, and interactions with humans. (This will finish off my Tier One Natural Sciences requirement.)

First Summer Session (mid-June thru mid-July):

Cost and Managerial Accounting - Concepts and analytical procedures necessary in the generation of accounting data for management planning control.

Spreading throughout both those UA semesters is a Pima Community College course in Business Ethics (taken online).

And two classes in the Second Summer Session (mid-July to mid-August):

Using and Managing Information Systems - Ways that organizations improve their business practices through the use of computer technology. Course emphasizes systems technologies, enterprise integration, business applications, and critical analysis of organizational change through information systems.

Introduction to Prehispanic, Hispanic, and Chicano Art - Survey of the native, prehispanic arts of Meso; Central and South America; art since the conquest of Mexico, Central and South America; and Hispanic Arts of the Southwest and contemporary Chicano art. (This will fulfill my Tier Two Arts requirement.) Sounds very interesting, plus it only meets Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays! All the other summer classes meet every day.

The Accounting and MIS classes will serve to dilute my Fall and Spring semesters to just FOUR classes instead of FIVE. I just can't do five at once!

Oh, and an update on GOLF. They cancelled my summer Golf class (budget cuts, no doubt) but I was able to sneak into one of the previously full Fall Semester classes (by checking the web registration EVERY DAY until finally spotting an opening!). So golf will not happen until October. The weather is better then anyway!