How to Survive an Online Master’s Degree
Tips for the Academic Nomad
The 2015 Survey of Online Learning conducted by the Babson Survey Research Group found 5.8 million students taking at least one distance/online course in 2015, with 2.8 million of those being exclusively online. That’s a lot, and it’s continually growing. The likelihood of starting a job only to find yourself working side-by-side with an academic nomad (or an alumnus of such adventures) is increasing each year.
In 2016, I completed a Master’s of Science in International Relations from Troy University, based out of Troy, Alabama, while living and working full-time in Virginia. I completed my degree completely online, without ever stepping foot into an actual classroom. My only in-person interaction came in the form of a cumulative exam required for graduation. The proctor was a very nice lady whose title and purpose, being hundreds of miles away from the school’s campus, were not clear.
Let me be upfront from the start here; I was the perfect example of “floundering” in an online degree program. I had more than enough rope to hang myself, and managed to come close several times. My journey had begun in 2010, which means it took me six years to find my way through a degree that should have taken me two or, maybe, three years max. Thankfully I succeeded, and in the end I graduated with good grades, years of experience to backup my degree, and a whole lot of ideas on how to do it better next time around should I ever invent a time machine.
After finishing, I swore I would never consider another online program. I conceded that I hadn’t the discipline nor patience to survive another round. But, I’ve already caught myself checking for online options when looking at some of my next academic endeavors. The reality is that a quality education in the field you specifically want to study is not always available where you live. Moving for school is totally an option for many, but that window is non-existent for many and narrow for most who have already started a career.
When I started my program, I certainly encountered a fair number of detractors; People who seemed to snub their nose at the idea of an entirely online degree. I was told that my degree wasn’t real, that my school was fake, and that my education was at best sub-par and at worst “criminally useless”(exact quote). However, from my experience, it was never once an employer, recruiter, or HR person who seemed dismissive of the idea. Which to me means it was never anyone who’s opinion would have critically impacted my career progression. Most reactions I got were surprise (and empathy) for working full-time while taking classes. Even more, being able to pull relevant experience from both work and school made interviews a breeze.
“Students do not learn much just sitting in classes listening to teachers, memorizing prepackaged assignments, and spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write reflectively about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves.” — Arthur W. Chickering and Stephen C. Ehrmann
I’ve outlined some of my experiences and lessons learned in the list below. Please feel free to comment or share if you have other experiences or things you’ve learned!
Survival Tips for an Academic Nomad:
- If you’re in the application phase and are searching around for schools, you should ensure you’re looking at legitimate institutions of higher knowledge. One (sort of quirky) rule of thumb is to only consider schools that actually have some kind of sports team. Obviously a well known or notable school is an ideal choice, and nearly all of them nowadays offer online courses or programs anyways, but at the very least, steer clear of schools that appear to be for-profit businesses that have multiple campuses in every state. While you can (probably) still got a quality education from South or Capella University, some employers will have concerns with schools that don’t have a proper or quality accreditation.
- Study something that genuinely interests you. If you can’t, then write all your papers through that lens. Deciding on what you will study or major in can be difficult. If you find yourself in a program that’s too general or otherwise not your ideal subject of interest, try leveraging what you‘re’ learning to deep dive into the things that do interest you. While in school, I had a keen interest in human trafficking. There’s not a lot of educational opportunities for this kind of study, so instead of abandoning that interest, I took advantage of many open assignments to write about human trafficking from an international relations perspective. I got to constantly deep dive into a subject that genuinely interested me, I built up a strong knowledge base and numerous research papers I could utilize in future work opportunities, and, best of all, it made writing long papers way more enjoyable.
- Find your space(s). This is much more critical than most people give it credit for being, in my experience. There are places where you can concentrate, and places where you probably can not. Some people totally function sitting in front of the TV, wrapped in their snuggie, churning away through reading while Oprah is on in the background. Some people don’t. There is no perfect space for everyone, so put the time into finding the perfect spaces for you. My opinion, take advantage of getting OUT of your house, or away from the desk in your bedroom, as much as possible. Try doing work in a Starbucks or sitting outside. Your local library will have the same feel of a school library, but be way less crowded. You can even stay late at work (or go in early) to enjoy an environment made for getting work done but devoid of people.
- Make up a course schedule. Literally. Part of what makes going to a traditional school much more manageable is that everything is laid out for you, particularly your schedule. There’s no reason why you can’t do the same for yourself for an online degree. Your classes likely won’t have much in the way of designated meeting times, so make them up yourself. Set aside 4pm to 6pm every Tuesday and Thursday as class time. Commit to not doing anything else except for course work during those set times, as if you had to attend an actual class.
- Don’t binge & purge. This really applies to all types of students, but online students are particularly susceptible to this problem, as it’s easier for them to put off assignments versus a traditional student. The process of binge/purge refers to waiting till something is due or a test is imminent, than cramming a ton of work into a dramatically short time frame (binge). Once the assignment or test is finished, most students who binged end up abandoning most of the knowledge they crammed (purge), by again not addressing their work until right before it is due. For the student, this cycle is both mentally harsh and horribly inefficient. Even if you pass, you still lose so much knowledge that you would have otherwise retained, had you spread out learning the material. Think of it like exercise, you could start to run 2 miles a day every day, and see steady improvement, or you could run a 10k once a month, and probably die (okay, maybe struggle rather than die, but the point stands).
- Learn to be flexible with your time, and learn to adapt to get your shit done. One of the perks of being an academic nomad is the flexibility to do your school work on your own schedule and at your own leisure. I once wrote a paper while on vacation in Spain. I took a quiz in the backseat of a car in south Florida. I even hiked to the top of a mountain while camping in northwest Virginia, just to get enough cell phone reception to submit a discussion post. I could have, and maybe at times should have, stayed home to ensure these assignments got done, but the joy of online education is I didn’t have to be home. And if I wanted to continue studying or writing while on the go, I had tons of flexibility to achieve that without worrying about missed classes or absentee marks.
- Utilize deep work methodologies. The book Deep Work by Cal Newport has been getting a lot of buzz over the past year with regards to establishing functional and success-driven work environments. I currently work in IT, which has painfully embraced the “open work” environment, which is code for rows of cubicles and wide-open shared spaces for noise to travel. I firmly believe open work spaces will be dead by 2020, in favor of environments built around Newport’s deep work methodologies. I can’t recommend enough getting familiar with this outlook and taking advantage of it for academic purposes.
- Take advantage of all the services and tools provided to you. When I was in undergraduate studies in 2004, I don’t recall getting a whole lot of stuff for free. It was all most likely there, I just didn’t know it. But today, students may have access to hundreds of dollars worth of computer software, completely free. Many university libraries have audio and video equipment, free for rental, as well as 3D printers for student use. Many schools even have 1-on-1 mentoring for entrepreneurship and students with potential business ideas. Some perks will be harder to take advantage of than others when you live 500 miles away from your school, but take the time to research everything that’s available to you.
- Gear up as needed. I bought an iPad when I started my graduate studies. It was not because I particularly wanted one, but rather I used it as an e-reader for articles, texts, and other assignments I received from my instructors. I also used it for shorter online assignments, and occasionally for note taking. It was so much easier to toss an iPad in my bag rather than lugging around a laptop and/or text books sometimes. I was even able to save a lot of money by purchasing e-textbooks through Amazon and leveraging the Kindle app for mobile. Education is like a sport, part of it is having the right skills and training, but the other part is having the right equipment to succeed.
- My biggest tip of all, and my biggest personal failure: Network. Build relationships with your classmates. Get to know your professors. Don’t be student #24601. Email them. Skype them. Ask questions. Keep in touch as you move on to different classes. Smaller schools are usually good about helping students avoid this, but both my undergraduate and graduate experiences were with large state universities where I fell between the cracks. Make sure someone outside of the Bursar’s Office knows who you are, and carry on those relationships throughout school and long after as best you can.
Please share your thoughts or tips below. Much luck on your journey.
