Why I decided to go back to school

Like many other students before me, I decided to embark on my journey of obtaining my associates degree. After I got out of the military I was training in mixed martial arts. I reached a crossroad in my life, where I felt that I needed an education to truly get ahead in life.

As a student and external customer, I chose Nassau Community College for a variety of reasons that fit my educational needs. As a veteran, I needed a school that had a veteran’s department that would guide me in enrollment, registering for classes, financing and any other support issues that I may need, which differs from non-veteran students. Some schools have a much smaller department and while I was registering for the Spring semester of 2016, I realized that Nassau had much to offer. Being an older student, I did not have a need to go away out of state, or even upstate to get my degree. Proximity to where I lived was also an important factor in meeting my educational needs. Although I live in Suffolk County, Nassau Community College is easily accessible from many areas of Long Island and is worth the trip for me. After high school, I had no intentions of going back to school. I had a few other career paths that piqued my interest more. The fact that Nassau had a smaller class size was another reason why I decided to go back to school. I was not sure how hard the classes would be, or if the environment would be tough to learn in. I figured the smaller classes would give me more of a chance to ask questions and truly learn the material. During my first semester, I was working full time. I also went to school full time as well. It was important to me that Nassau had a flexible schedule in their class offerings. This was an important factor because if there were not any classes that I could attend due to my schedule, it would have delayed earning a degree even longer, which at my age would have discouraged me from completing my degree. The most important need was the number of courses offered. Nassau ranks first in New York for associate degrees offered, which is over sixty degrees. Although I chose to pursue a degree in Radiologic Technology, in which I was accepted into their program, I chose to pursue a degree in Marketing because I realized that field is what suits me better.

As a veteran Nassau provided me with many services that fit my needs. I was able to meet with an advisor familiar with veterans that guided me in enrolling my first semester. Every other semester after that was very simple. I had priority registration, which helped ensure that I can take classes around my schedule without the enrollment closing. I was also able to just register online and then get certified by the veteran’s department for those classes. Since 2016, I have not had any issues with registering and taking classes. Except for the summer session this year. I will be graduating after this session is over, but I had a hard time for the spring and summer semesters in finding classes available that I needed to take to graduate. I had to really adjust the spring semester to fit my schedule, which left courses for me to take during the summer. The problem was that is the summer did not have a lot of courses to choose from that I needed, as well as convenient times. Along with that, the Coronavirus messed up the on-site learning which I really prefer. I learn better in person and enjoy the face to face conversations. I know that it is not the school’s fault, but if I were not graduating this semester, I would have enrolled again when on-site learning resumed.

Currently Nassau is putting more effort in their marketing on social media. I actually did a report in my marketing management class on Nassau’s social media presence, which was non existent really for quite awhile. Had Nassau utilized social media more eight years ago, I might have gone to school earlier. I was on Facebook quite often with my mixed martial arts and marketing my fights. Nassau possibly could have marketed more there, and that would have been the best platform since Facebook was pretty established then.

Overall, Nassau has been one of the better choices in my life and as a customer, I am satisfied with the level of service and education that I have received and would not change my decision if I had to do it all over. If you are in the same crossroads, truly decide how you want to live your life. When you do, the how will be easy. I truly recommend going to school, not necessarily to get a degree for career advancement, but for gaining knowledge and experiences that will guide you to how you want to live.

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