Oh God I dont want to do high school Algebra AGAIN!

Is college necessary? Google that, and you will read some interesting debates for and against the value of a four year degree. My own conclusion- as a human being, you must never stop learning. Especially in today's world. Formal institutions and learning are not mutually exclusive. I read about new things every day, I love gaining knowledge. However, the world does usually require you to have little pieces of fancy paper - certificates, diplomas, degrees- to prove that you do know what you say you know. And I need a piece of paper, the time has come! After years out of school, this girl needs to dust off her backpack and pull out the old textbooks!

Why now you ask? Well, in a starting position office job with five years of work retail/admin experience behind me, I have come to a realization. That is- Promotion through work experience alone is going to take YEARS and YEARs and YEARS. Sure, after twenty years here I may have my very own office and be an office manager- but a degree could definitely expedite the process. In fact, a degree, combined with work experience, could mean that in another five years I will have double the salary potential that five years of hard work alone could entitle me to. A four year degree is  the new high school degree - and a Graduate School degree is now necessary to get the higher end jobs that a 4 year degree once got you.So it is back to school for me.



I've never been to college. Despite fantastic high school results, a lack of finances has meant I've been working ever since I was 18. Five years later, here I am, finally in a position where it is a possibility for me to go to college in the USA.



It is going to be challenging. More so than it would have been five years ago. You see- I don’t have a drop of high school math’s left in my head. I barely remember a thing. Really. I read over the math elements that would be tested in Arithmetic and Algebra for the College Placement Test (the CPT is necessary to even register for classes) and it sounded like complete jargon to me. Integers and rational numbers and exponential something or the other... Algebra rules...so fuzzy and vague.

Thinking about math just brings back memories of chalk boards and moustachey teachers and painful hours spent dispassionately calculating answers to questions that other people have already figured out the answers to.

 I will also be juggling a full time 40 hour a week job, a live in partner, a dog, meeting my fitness goals and cooking healthy!

So this blog is to track my journey through the wonderful land of math, CPT's and eventually COLLEGE :) Wish me luck and willpower!!!