Today, the internet has become an integral part of our lives. It is easy and at the same time very convenient to use many on-line services and access valuable information that would otherwise be very hard to get without the Internet. There are thousands of on-line businesses that offer unique services. You can get assistance from a certified accountant in the confines of your home and, just as easily, you can find tons of information on Plato, not to mention checking your credit rating on-line. The Internet is here to make our lives easier. Yet, I want to tell you that convenience is not always good for a person.
Let me give you a short example. I choose to type google.com on my keyboard and enter a keyword custom essay in the search string. I instantly get dozens of sites that specialize in custom writing and research. This is a tempting service that is being offered to students nowadays. Imaging you have a large assignment in college, however, you just don’t feel like doing it yourself. No problem at all. If you have a credit card with some money on it and access to the internet, you can consider your project done. I click on one of the sites that pop up on the screen, essaymart.com. What I see is an attractive web page that not only offers access to thousands of prewritten papers but also provides customized papers for a fee. essaymart.com seems to brag about its writers, Ph. D and Master’s level professionals who can handle any topic. These guys guarantee that their writing is 100% free of plagiarism and is fully authentic. Moreover, your project can be done in as early as 24 hours for as low as $24.95 per page. Not too bad if you are in a rush and need urgent assistance.
I go to urgentpapers.com. Here we are offered a very similar service package: authenticity, free outline, abstract, bibliography, guaranteed deadlines and free e-mail delivery. Moreover, these guys can handle your order in as early as 12 hours. Another site I checked, essaymania.com offers a similar service but charges twice as much for 3 day delivery ($22.95 as opposed to $13.95 per page at essaymart.com or urgentpapers.com). Everything seems just perfect. Now you really don’t need to spend so much time studying and can order everything on-line. However, you cannot purchase experience or skills that easily. It does not take long for one to realize that anyone soliciting the services of such sites involuntarily engages in cheating. Even though the sites publish a disclaimer, like the disclaim er from essaymart.com where they try to take all the associated responsibility off their shoulders and relay it to the one who uses their services, I find that attempt pretty cheap. It is very much like a drug dealer who sells crack to kids and explains that drugs are bad. I did not personally try the services of the aforementioned sites and, therefore, cannot testify about the quality of writing they do, however, I just think that one does not have to go that far. I just want to convince the audience that the services of such sites are of questionable value. If you order your term paper from, say, essaymart.com you officially acknowledge that the $35,000 you or your family spent on your education was a waste, because having someone else write your paper will not make you any smarter. Yet, you are the one to make a choice.
You want to go back to school and continue your education. Perhaps you’d like to earn your first degree or ou’d like to earn a new degree in a different field. You’ve been dreaming of that degree but haven’t dared believe your dream can come true because you think you are too old.
You aren’t. It really is that simple. I don’t care what your age is, as an experienced college-level educator I can assure you that you are not too old, because there are many nontraditional students on college campuses today (and likely some of those are older than you are), your life experience gives you many advantages over more traditional students, and with the growing nontraditional population many colleges have programs and services especially tailored for the nontraditional student.
I went back to school in my 30s and today I teach college. Yes, I have many traditional students in my classroom but every semester I have a large percentage of nontraditional students as well. I have studens in their late 20s as well as 30s, 40s, 50s, and up. I have students who have retired from one career and are looking to move into another. I have students whose children (or grandchildren) have left the nest so they are looking to enter a new stage in their life.
I also have many students balancing school with work and family. I have students who are the traditional age but are in nontraditional circumstances including children and family, work and military service, as well as sports and other activities. You are a unique person, but your situation is not as unique as you might think.
In many ways, your age, or rather your life experience, will be a tremendous asset for your return to school. Nontraditional students understand much better than traditional students how to manage their time and prioritize tasks. In addition, nontraditional students are often much more motivated and goal-oriented than their more traditional counterparts. Finally, your life experience also gives you a great deal of knowledge and experience to fall back on or pull from when it comes to understanding, applying, or adapting the new knowledge you gain through college. I regularly see my nontraditional students outperform traditional students in many ways, but it ultimately comes down to a maturity of thinking and reasoning that can only come with growing up. I know when I returned to college as a student after working for a number of years that I did much better in the classroom and also handled my work load much better than I did when I was a more traditional student.
Today colleges recognize they have a changing student population and offer classes in a variety of formats including on campus, off campus, televised, and internet as well as a range of schedules including days, nights, weekends, and accelerated. In addition, there are now support services available for students who fall outside the traditional student role. Many financial aid and scholarship programs also exist specifically for the nontraditional student.
In the end, it really comes down to your own gut feeling. Do you really want that degree? Are you ready to change your life? You can do it and there will be help and support available for you. Don’t use your age as an excuse not to pursue your dream.
O2 has launched a very competitive pay-as-you-go service and getting O2 Mobile Broadband Pay & Go started couldn’t be simpler. All you need to do is slot the USB memory stick, costing a smidgen under £30, into the USB port of your computer and it sets itself up in a matter of a few minutes, give or take a bit of prompting.
O2 mobile broadband Pay & Go offers users a fast and easy way to access the internet at home and on the move, without the need for long-term contracts. It’s available in a range of options starting at just £2 a day for 500MB, £7.50 a week for 1GB or £15 a month for 3GB all with unlimited Wi-Fi access. Depending on your needs, there’s something there for most types of user and customers will also benefit from the confidence inspired by O2’s new 50-day Happiness Guarantee.
O2 Marketing Director, Peter Rampling says: “Our O2 Mobile Broadband Pay & Go will appeal to those customers who want to snack on the internet without the need to commit to a long term contract. Our younger customers want to live online and can do so with Pay & Go at affordable prices”. Well that’s certainly given me food for thought.