Midlife in College

Week 47 of approximately 186 is in the books in my doctorate program.

I had to adjust my degree completion plan in the number of weeks. I had forecasted wrong at only 130 weeks but when I tabulated the weeks it looks more like 186 weeks to complete the degree because the dissertation/project phase is broken down into 16 week semesters per course instead of the usual eight.

So, about 3.5 years, total rather than what I thought would be about two and a half.

So, it looks like I will be closer to 53 years old when I finish.

I am in the second week of the second spring term and fully engrossed in BMAL714 which is Risk Management. This week we had to write a 16-page risk management plan on a project for a firm or organization. This was not to be a full risk management assessment for the entire firm but something that the company is working on.

As usual, I picked my own business to use as a platform. I developed a risk management plan for the digital offerings of our dog training program called PupPortal. It shed some interesting insight that I will use as I continue to develop the program.

Who said that college work is all theory!

I got my grade back on the first paper. It always amazes me how much different one instructor grades than the others. This one deducted 10 points for a couple of structure errors such as double-spacing after a sentence in just a few instances. It is always stressful waiting for the first grade to drop to see how the instructor will score. At least I know now.

Also, Michele is starting her journey this week too and she is very excited! Please do me a favor and follow her over on LinkedIn.

Weeks 45 and 46 of approximately 130 is in the books in my doctorate program.

This is the first week of a brand new course in the spring term. It is BMAL714 and is all about risk management. I am looking forward to this course and it will be interesting to compare and contrast organizational behavior and outdoor leadership.

The first week is always rather easy. We just had our normal introduction posts and a very short discussion board thread. It requires only 400 words and three scholarly sources. I haven’t had one that short since one of my first master’s courses.

Next week the real fun starts!

Also, Michele is starting her journey this week too and she is very excited! Please do me a favor and follow her over on LinkedIn.

Score: */*

Week 44 of approximately 130 is in the books in my doctorate program.

This was the big writing week in our term and it did not come at the right time. The first week of March has started off with a real lion. On the second, my 50th birthday we had a very aggressive moose in the dog yard and so much so that Alaska Fish and Game had to come out and kill it. The next day Michele ended up in the hospital with a kidney stone and infection. She ended up having surgery and was released the next day but it was a big scare. All of this meant I put off writing until Friday and I banged out my huge research paper in about three hours.

Also, Michele is starting her journey this week too and she is very excited! Please do me a favor and follow her over on LinkedIn.

Score: 250/250

Week 43 of approximately 130 is in the books in my doctorate program.

This week was another one of our epic 2200 word discussion board posts and two replies. We researched and wrote about organizational networks and their environmental factors. I managed to get a point or two about television shows, Shark Tank and Sesame Street. I also talked about my grandfather’s huge retirement party and his fancy gold watch. How’s that for doctorate-level writing? I love my degree program!

Also, Michele is starting her journey this week too and she is very excited! Please do me a favor and follow her over on LinkedIn.

Score: 130/130