Hey college confidential, I am struggling and need serious academic assistance. a bit of background on my situation:
I started community college at 20 years old in 2015 pursuing my associate of sciences degree which I successfully completed in 2017. I was originally going into computer science by parents wish, but unfortunately, I just did not like computer science and felt it didnt suit me so I switched my major to business in fall 2018. Ive been in community for 3 years at this point. already having finished my general associates, I went on to take a few business classes in community college, which I had also passed but still needing to finish the rest. The counselor at the school I wish to transfer to had told me I needed to have a good standing in them and that wasnt an issue for me. Now, heres where the problem lies. So basically, for most of my academic time, I was being supported by my dad who himself has a lot of financial issues going on, were struggling and I cant even get financial aid due to our 2017 taxes not being filed. I cant get a scholariship into University due to my not-so-grewat GPA that Ive held on since when I started school. My girlfriend and I are somewhat in the same boat. We both wanted to transfer to the same school and there are so many obstacles in our way. One of our friends, who also finished his associates feels like college isnt for us, especially in the United States. everything is so complicated, insane classwork, assignments due by a certain time, stress, no time for anything else and on top of that, taking a crapload of meaningless classes that dont really do us any good. Anyways, he suggested me and my girlfriend should look into Udemy. As soon as I opened the site, I was amazed at the content, 100% online. No needing to commute to school, no need to finish before deadlines, just educate yourself at your own pace with interactive assignments/ slides/ projects/quizzes and earn a certification in a specific field once completed! whats more is the courses were on a special price of $10, so I decided to pay for 2 courses , Web development bootcamp, and SQL bootcamp. My gf and my friend are taking the same classes plus some intro comp sci classes. I feel like learning from Udemy will give me the liberty to actually learn and be more proactive with education rather than be forced into it like from school and just forget after class is over. We all feel the same way. I already have my associates degree in hand but right now I want to go for something more hands on and career oriented. Im assuming this is something similar to a trade or vocational schools “continuing education” program but for a fraction of the price and conveniently online. My question is, am i playing myself telling me that its the best option for me atm? with my associate degree, i will be certified in web development and SQL data science. Am looking to get a job as a entry level devoloper upon completion of atleast 3-4 courses. If not, then atleast I will have the knowledge to freelance. Im looking for others who are using self taught platforms such as Udemy, skillshare or anything else and how that can be beneficial for someone who cant see themselves going to a 4 year but atleast has the basic Associate degree education. Im not giving up on school, but atm Im really in need of a job in technology that can atleast pay me to attend school, and doing that requires atleast certificate knowledge after an associates or high school diploma I suppose. I plan to actually take these online courses very seriously and learn as much as I can to have the skillset to become a developer so I can start somewhere.