Taking Online Courses

Garrett College was formerly called Garrett Community College and is working its way on offering more programs. It is located in Mc Henry, MD which is home to Deep Creek Lake, the largest man made lake in Maryland. It is also a resort town that has thousands of people flocking here in the summer and then has them coming back for skiing and snowboarding in the winter. I just completed my first semester here and it was great. I have two small children and didn't want to put the youngest in daycare. They offer a variety of online classes and others on campus. I chose to take four online and really enjoyed them. As for next semester, I am planning on doing the same.

The faculty and staff were also helpful when I first decided to attend here. It is very intimidating when you are first starting college and really have no idea what to expect. I had taken a few classes before at Northampton Community College but everywhere you go is different. I really liked being able to schedule my classes around work and my family, all the classes had deadlines but nothing was really scheduled for a certain time or day.
I think that there is a ton of reading and studying but for the most part you have to be an independent learner. From my experiences, the professors from my courses really didn't walk us through the book or chapters we were studying. They had us have discussions among our classmates and do assignments or write about a different topic or website. My sociology class even had us watch a movie for each unit and then use the terms we learned and apply them to the movie.

My favorite part about these classes was that only one of my finals had to be taken on campus. This saved me the trouble of having to arrange for a babysitter and rearranging my schedule. If I could earn my entire degree online, I definitely would, unfortunately however, Garrett College only has a limited number of classes that are available online. Community Colleges usually have a lower tuition rate as well. This is true in my case and the next closest college is 45 minutes to an hour away. I didn't want to have to commute that far if I didn't have to yet.

There is also a great program that was started by the commissioner a few years ago that all the students living in Garrett County who graduate would be able to attend the college with free tuition. This was meant to improve the percentage of students graduating. Unfortunately, I had already graduated a few years before this took place so I didn't benefit from it, but I think it is a wonderful idea.

Whether you choose to start out at a community college and then transfer to a four year university, you should definitely apply for scholarships, financial aid, and student loans if you need to. It is getting harder and harder to find a job that doesn't require some sort of higher education. Garrett College also has vocational programs like truck driving and it also offers a Adventure Sports Degree and a program for Natural Resources and Technology which are hard to find in the USA. This small town in Maryland attracts people from all over who want to attend the school for these programs.

It is a big decision to decide whether or not online courses are for you, you have to be focused and independent. No one is there to tell you or remind you that your assignments or tests are due. Most professors post deadlines and don't accept late assignments. It is your job to stay organized and keep track of each class. I actually made a weekly chart for each class so I could keep track of due dates. It is very easy to get caught up with something else and forget to work on something and end up having to do it very quickly at the last minute. It is different for everyone though, some people really like it while other people prefer to learn in an actual classroom.