I was just wondering if there were any students here. I am in my second year of court reporting school and work part-time. It's really tough, but I know when I get out that it will pay off.

By Marg on Thursday, February 3, 2005 - 06:08 pm:

Court reporting is tough! I went to college for accounting and the girl that I carpooled with took it.

Very tough, I hope you are doing well.

I have a degree in accounting, but after 16 years and too many bad experiences I'm going back and taking courses.

Dh works full-time and now has a part-time job and is trying to finish a Bachelor's in Criminal Justice and then he wants a Master's in Counseling.

Good luck and keep us up-to-date

By Alberobello on Thursday, February 3, 2005 - 06:08 pm:

I am in my third year of a Public service management degree. I am doing it part time and still find it hard when i have to hand assingments in. Nevertheless i am enjoying it a lot. I enjoy using my brain again! and i know, like you said that it will pay off.

What is court reporting?

By Kaleighsmommy on Thursday, February 3, 2005 - 06:17 pm:

Court reporters are the ones who sit in court and in depositions that have a little machine (called a stenograph) that use kinda like a shorthand method to take down what everyone is saying. It's very had, but at the same time, I think it's fun. It just takes a lot of practice to get the speed. Court reporters also are the ones who do closed captioning.

For a while, I was having doubts about going back to school. Was I making the right decision? Could we afford it? I have almost quit so many times, so that I could work full time and have more $ to spoil dd, but deep down, I know that this is better.

By Alberobello on Thursday, February 3, 2005 - 06:25 pm:

Wow! that sounds really interesting! So will you get to sit at the court and listen to all the trials? I am sorry but i don't know what is closed captioning either...

You are right, what you are doing is much better than getting a full time job just to get immediate financial rewards.

How long before you finish?

By Kaleighsmommy on Thursday, February 3, 2005 - 06:33 pm:

Closed captioning is writing on the TV for the hearing impaired. they do live tv like news broadcasts and sports events, olympics...stuff like that. I want to do court though. I'm hoping to be out by Christmas. It's hard to tell though. You have to be able to write a certain speed, and it takes some people longer than others. If I stay at my pace, I will be out by Christmas.

By Alberobello on Thursday, February 3, 2005 - 06:42 pm:

Good for you Tara! I am all for returning to school, if it's possible...

I still have 1 year and 1 semester left, and although i love my course i can't wait to finish.

By Pamt on Thursday, February 3, 2005 - 07:28 pm:

I'm halfway through the coursework for my Ph.D. in Communication Disorders. I've been taking 1 class a semester, but have to take 2 full courseloads (3 classes, 9.0 hours) this fall and next spring due to requirements, so this semester is my "transition" semester and I am taking 2 classes. I work 22 hours/week as a speech therapist at an outpatient clinic, see 4 clients privately, and do speech chart audits for a therapy company. It is tough, but I have a very supportive husband and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Good luck---and there is a deaf guy in one of my classes and he has 2 captionists in class who are typing the entire 3 hours. They swap off since it is so exhausting (mentally and physically) to type that much. I sat next to him and could read his screen as they typed last night--pretty cool!

By Christylee on Thursday, February 3, 2005 - 07:36 pm:

I finished the class portion of a Surgical Technologist program, I'm now about half way finished with my clincal externship hours. It's been great getting out among adults and the field I've chosen is very rewarding.

By Emdee on Thursday, February 3, 2005 - 08:25 pm:

I finish my dissertation and defend it for my ph.d this May! I have been in school now 12 years since high school, so I am definitely ready to be out (although if I choose to work and thus teach when I finish then I guess I will be in school the rest of my life)

Pam: How much longer do you have after you finish your course work? Is it a pretty set time to work on your dissertation? Mine took 4 years, but that was going slow (having a baby, and I think my discipline is slow to research, etc). Good luck on it!

By Pamt on Thursday, February 3, 2005 - 08:35 pm:

Emdee, what is your Ph.D. in and what is your dissertation topic? After this current semester I have 24 more hours of course work (3 semesters) and I am giving myself one year to knock out my dissertation. That's one year with no other coursework. I'll still be working part-time, but will be able to focus all of my other energy on research and writing. I'm taking a research design course this semester and am hoping to complete a study for presentation out of it that might ultimately evolve into my dissertation. Please keep me posted on your progress. I'll be very interested to hear about your dissertation defense and the whole process.

I'm hoping to graduate December 2007. I always said I wanted to be done by the time I'm 40 and I'll turn forty 12/18/2007.

By Emdee on Thursday, February 3, 2005 - 10:31 pm:

Pam, my area is math so it is a little different than other disciplines (at least from what I have heard). This is the 4th year that I haven't had any course work--just research and working on my dissertation. Apart from teaching some, my focus has been to complete the research and it has still taken me this long! I could have been done last year, but chose to stay another year for various reasons. I sure hope you make your deadline! Since I have gone to school since high school, my goal was to be OUT of school by my 10 year high school reunion; that came and went 1 1/2 years ago! I am sure you can make it, though, since you are determined!

By Pamt on Thursday, February 3, 2005 - 11:04 pm:

Emdee, it's all coming back to me. We've had this conversation before...I'm just losing braincells. And speaking of brains....a Ph.D. in math!??!! That's awesome. For my Ph.D. I have do novel scholarly research that contributes significantly to my field. For math do you have to come up with a new theory or work to prove an existing one or what? I ended my math career with calculus and never totally grasped that, so kudos to you!

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, February 3, 2005 - 11:38 pm:

I was a college student once upon a time! I have a BSN (bachelor of science in nursing).

By Conni on Friday, February 4, 2005 - 07:42 am:

I will somday be a nurse. I go to school on and off. When my little guy goes to school full time I will hit the books harder and get more serious. Right now life is all about him. (possibly another 2 yrs if he does the private 1/2 day Kindergarten we are looking at, at the Christian school)...

Also, I have always said I would be an RN. However, I often think about just going thru the LPN course. I dont want to manage people--I really just want to be a school nurse and work the same hours as my kids...

Good luck with your classes!!! I think what you chose to study sounds very challenging and really cool!

By Kittycat_26 on Friday, February 4, 2005 - 08:09 am:

We have lots of people who are going to school. I didn't realize.

I'm going part time for my bachelors and working F/T. There are days that I wonder if my sanity will survive.

By Lauram on Friday, February 4, 2005 - 08:30 am:

I just started back as well. I'm getting my sixth year degree (I think that's just a CT thing- so for clarification it's the degree between a Master's and a PhD. I have my Master's and have decided after much deliberation not to do my PhD). I work full-time too and my kids are still young (7 and 2) so it's VERY challenging. I'm doing it SLOWLY (one class a semester). I'm on my second class. I look at it as one night out a week. It's a lot of work though to balance it all. The class I'm in now - a statistics class - has a lot of homework. I have to read 200 pgs before next Tues. YIKES! The degree is in educational administration. I could be anything from an assistant principal, a principal to an assistant Superintendant. I'm thinking of "shooting" for principal. It's going to take me 4 years to complete at the rate I'm going. THat's fine with me though. When I'm done, my kids will be 11 and 6. I could see myself doing assistant principal where I am now by then- or even principal closer to home (in a less intense community than I work in now). At work, I'm getting "groomed" for this anyhow. I was just invited to give a math presentation to the PTA. I'm writing a curriculum unit for the district, did a video on differentiation that the district will see and am working on the committee that revises the math curriculum. THat's in addition to seeing math support kids and creating a math enrichment program. It's all related to my future "goals' though, so that's good. It's hard though, too.

By Kellyj on Friday, February 4, 2005 - 09:59 am:

I just started back in January. I'm getting my Master's degree to be a physician assistant.

By Kaleighsmommy on Friday, February 4, 2005 - 01:14 pm:

Great. I'm glad that there's so many of us. Now, when feel how hard it is, I can just go back and see that people are doing the same thing I am. It's tough but WE CAN DO IT!

By Boxzgrl on Friday, February 4, 2005 - 01:23 pm:

I'm *kinda* going to school. It's online so there are no classes or teachers to deal with. I have 4 more tests to do so I will probably be done by the end of this month. But I won't be able to get certified until July when the next Pharmacy Technician Certification Tests are scheduled. I'm not sure what good it will do though because I dont know when i'll go back to work. I guess if anything, i'll always have medicinal knowledge.

By Kaleighsmommy on Friday, February 4, 2005 - 06:28 pm:

Medicinal knowledge is definately a good thing.

By Mommmie on Saturday, February 5, 2005 - 04:25 pm:

Court reporting! That's hard! I dropped out at 120 wpm. I could not get out of the 120 wpm room! (In Texas you have to get to 225 wpm.) Court reporting has something like a 95% drop out rate. I'm a statistic and I'm *still* paying on the loans 15 years later!

I ended up in a post-bacculaurete paralegal program instead which was much shorter and cheaper (and totally different work) and I work as a paralegal now.

By Kaleighsmommy on Tuesday, February 8, 2005 - 04:48 pm:

I was almost a statistic...I was so close to quitting when I was at 80. I was actually sitting in my Lit class thinking about when class got out, I was going to go look for a full time job and completely forget about school. Well, as luck would have it, I passed my first test that day. I'm not at 160 Lit (you have to get to 180), 180 Jury Charge (you have to get to 200) and 160 Q&A (You have to get to 225) I'm also in Texas (Austin) I remember that day that I almost quit, and I am so glad that I didn't. I actually wanted to be a paralegal before I got into court reporting. I have an Associates in paralegal studies.