9/12/2008

Back to School

Well, I'm a student again. It's official: I'm currently enrolled in UMUC's M.S. Non-profit and Association Management program.

Honestly, it was time to get moving again. I've been feeling a little (a lot) stalled lately, and since my company will pay for my continuing education, I decided to take them up on it.

UMUC is the University of Maryland University College, a fully accredited school based in Adelphi, MD (it's not a division of UM College Park, although they are in the same UM system). The classes are all online, which is the only way I could really swing this with two kids under four years old and a full-time job. UMUC is the only web-only program I could find that was fully accredited. Having it be right next door was just a nice bonus.

My first class is a non-credit course on how to conduct graduate-level research. I'm very glad this is required, as I probably would've skipped it otherwise, and the information I'm learning will be indispensable when working in my "real" classes, which start in a couple weeks.

I'm under no illusions that this isn't going to take a gargantuan amount of work and time normally spent watching soccer. :-( But at least I have a goal to work toward again, something that I haven't had for quite a while. It feels good.