Explaining the Big 3 to my colleagues...

[cookderosa]

I totally agree with the over-sharing part, it probably came off as defensive. Plus, the self doubt is definitely there too. Most of the people I hang with these days have their masters and beyond, so they assume I'm working on grad school as well. I think it's kind of a blow when they find out that I've gotten as far as I have in my career, just from having some community college credits. The truth is, I had to work harder at my job to get there and now I'm as far as I can get without having a bachelors degree.

It's been hard, but I think I need to just stop caring about what everyone else is doing and worry about getting it done. Then I'll worry about explaining to employers.

I totally get that. I worked in the community college with only an associates degree. After 4 years of lining up for the "required" faculty activity of graduation processional and being asked what type of hood I needed.....barf. I didn't like having less education than my peers- and mind you my REAL peers didn't even have degrees, but my academic peers were snotty. Whatever. Anyway, I wasn't trying to be snappy when I said to keep it to yourself, I was being serious. Inviting opinions does what good? I had a hard time not talking with EVERYBODY about my latest CLEP or exam. Come here, we'll talk with you. Talk and talk and talk to us. After you finish (and you will finish!) you can enroll in grad school locally or at a distance- and "that" might feel a little more comfortable to talk about, but if not, that's ok too. I'd bet out of my 10 closest friends, maybe 1 or 2 could even tell you what I'm in school for right now. It feels like a big deal, but most people really are not all that interested. And these are people that love me lol.