Deciding between continuing education or being a full-fledged working adult can be challenging- the mind says, “Let’s read! “But your account says ‘oh no.’ We considered taking a part-time degree course to find the middle ground of doing it simultaneously. Here are some of the fundamental misconceptions and misunderstandings that we checked out:
“You won’t be able to make friends.”
Many hold a common misconception that it is impossible to make friends in a part-time course, culminating in isolated school life. You would always need to put in the effort to set aside time if you are doing part-time studies, much as you would in a full-time school or study. But for those worrying about making friends, you should be glad to know that there are lots of student-initiated chat groups in most private universities in Singapore for you to stay in contact with your classmates, and there are tonnes of study rooms available for F2F meetups to mug with your groupmates too! But here’s the thing about #adulting: making friends everywhere and keeping the ones you already have becomes exceptionally challenging.
“Part-time classes are filled with old people.”
Perhaps the most amusing thing about the lot is that all part-time students are old. You could imagine a whole classroom packed with aunties and uncles. While there’s nothing wrong with senior citizens seeking further education, part-time classrooms typically consist of a decent mix of people from every aspect of life. Having older students with real-world job experience is not always negative, either! In reality, class discussions and community assignments for others with industry-based expertise will give you a better insight into what you’re in for when you graduate.
“You’ll learn less than full-timers.”
Tell this to a part-time student, and you may encounter a full-on “hell no.” In reality, the curriculum for part-time and full-time courses is the same, except that the former happens more at night instead and has streamlined curricula to cater to busy raising a family or a full-time job.
“Part-timers take longer to complete a degree.”
Beep, incorrect! You will potentially complete the degree or even less than a full-time student in the same period. Full-time schooling in the form of school holidays will be provided several times, particularly in the final year. Any of my full-time schoolmates took on overlapping internships to optimize their resources or broke off a whole semester to resume college early after meeting all their course requirements. If you’re the kind of cheongster, a part-time degree course might be best tailored to your teacup – you will be finished and dusted quicker than speedy Gonzales would tell!
“It’s too difficult to juggle!”
If you look at points # 3 (same curriculum) and # 4 (same or less time needed) topped up with the fact that you may be occupied with work on the side, a simple little calculation will conclude that the road will be difficult. While the inference is still real, with many people succeeding in balancing school and jobs, it isn’t insurmountable – it all boils down to time management! Many part-time schools offer self-directed online classes to align study-work-life better so you can OTOT (own-time target) and flexible learning sessions to accommodate your free time. To find out more about part-time education and private universities, visit https://www.auston.edu.sg/advice/private-universities-in-singapore-what-to-consider/.
