Considering full time school

I want to capture my thoughts on this past semester (it was my first full-time semester), especially in relationship to the semester prior where I was a part time student and full time employee of Whirlpool.

Some obvious differences are the commute for school is much smaller (since I’m an online student), the schedule much more flexible, there’s less accountability (read: school is easier to not do during the time you should be doing it), there’s less upfront (maybe total) reward, and its less social interaction (I don’t have desk neighbors doing the same type of work).

Some things that stayed the same are my screen usage, my posture (I still sit most the day), it’s mentally engaging/strenuous, it takes about the same amount of time.

This semester was full. I think the greatest challenge was figuring out what it took to be married and full time in school. Let me share a little about the path I took in another post. For now, my feelings are that full time work and part time student provides more reward, less financial and overall stress, while giving accountability and social interaction that is valuable. It is only inferior to full time school and part time work if finances and supporting relationships allow you to choose school and school is on a tight schedule so that part time degree completion is drastically inferior to full time degree completion (in duration of studies/length of enrollment).

I suspect I will stay full time, because I do have the financial and relational assets that enable me to choose school and the difference in degree completion time is drastic enough to warrant sacrificing the gains of full time employment and accepting the losses of full time school.