Guide to Online Education > Online Education In-Depth > Meet Real Online Students > Terry, A.S. in Marketing
As Penn Foster courses are totally self-paced, students have latitude of choice in completing reading assignments, studying, and scheduling exams. This gives a student the opportunity to feel truly comfortable with the material before progressing. But that freedom can be a double-edged sword.
Name: Terry C.
Age: 42
Marital Status: Married
Children: Two, ages 11 and 17
Current Location: Oklahoma
Advice to Online Students: "Leave the TV off and just do your work."
School: Penn Foster College
Target: Associate of Science in Marketing, 2008
“If you don't set goals for yourself and stick to them you could wind up working on a program almost indefinitely,” he quips.
However, the flexibility of the program proved invaluable. Terry had taken time off from school when one of his children fell ill; a medical emergency with the other child came on the heels of that. All told he lost about two months.
“Sometimes you have to set it aside and take a break,” he reasons. “Some things are more important. If you need to take a couple of weeks off you can do that and not be so penalized as in a traditional brick and mortar program. You don't have to withdraw or take an incomplete.”
Free from the demands of his second job, Terry is able to devote more time to his course load.
“I'm doing the majority of my studying on the weekends,” he estimates. “Four or five hours a day.”
It requires a lot of discipline. A self-described “taskmaster”, Terry is quite accustomed to working hard and managing his time. However, he admits that he tends to procrastinate with school. His journalism career acclimated him to a deadline driven environment early on.
“My current job is much the same,” he asserts. “With school it's not like that.”
“When you work 10 or 12 hours a day, sometimes the last thing you want to do when you get home is English Composition,” he says.
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