Originally Posted by remyontheroad
This reminds me of the friend who pointed out to me that my degree from the adult division of a school that I attended was not technically Ivy League even though the regular program was...
Who cares.
I went to that school after being horribly disappointed with a "very well respected" state school in New England that reminded me more of Ferris Bueller's Day Off than anything else. (Picture Ben Stein looking at the sea of blank faces... "Anybody? Anybody?")
Much more important is that you get the teachers, the curriculum and perhaps most importantly of all, the motivated, prepared, interested and enthusiastic fellow students sitting all around you in every class.
Sure I "got over" in that I was able to substitute a few of the core curriculum courses with other courses of my choosing, but 90% of the time I was sitting right next to those "Ivy Leaguers" having the same experience and doing the same work, as them... except I was working 8 hours a day in a real job at the same time.
I went summers, after work, before work, whatever, and I got my BA 2 days before my 30th birthday. (And I also stretched it out long enough that my employer paid for most of it!! ^ ^ ^ )
Mid, good for you. Don't let people's ridiculous snobbery or skepticism take away from this. It's a great decision and you'll be happy you did it.
Thanks for the kind words and encouragement Remy. This will end up being a significant committment in time and money for me. I'm only going to be doing the commuting for a single semester and then taking other classes via distance education until I can actually move there to finish up the program.
I'm only doing the commuting thing because I want to get into the ALB program and they require that you take a particular course that is not offered remotely at all before they grant you admission. I can't move there now for various reasons that may or may not be important in the coming years.
Right now I'm trying to figure out if it's worth it to stay in a hotel overnight or try and "rough-it" by hanging out at one of the all-night coffee shops at MIT or Logan. I've slept in an airport before and it's not my idea of a good night out BUT it sure beats paying $200 for about 6 hours of sleep. The flight schedules are murder. There is a period of about 8 hours in the middle of the night where I will have to occupy myself until the flight leaves at 6:00AM. That means taxi from a hotel since the T isn't really in full swing before then to get me to BOS -or- spend the night at Logan in front of the Dunkin Donuts in terminal B.
Grrrr.