ourrug [r-rug] a.k.a. Russell Smith

Athabasca University: Canada’s Leader in Online & Distance Education

I have been thinking about trading up my 2 yr Honors Diploma i earned from Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning in ‘03 for a Bachelor of Commerce Undergraduate Degree (BComm) from Athabasca University (AU) and i can say now that i have taken the first step in the process; i have officially registered in the program. After inquiring “how long it takes to for admissions to make their decision” i received “you will automatically be enrolled in the BComm program. You may go ahead and start taking courses “. On that note i believe i can safely say that i’m indeed admitted into AU’s BComm program and a University Student!! Wow, that feels great!

I feel if i want to further my Web Analytics career i will need to compete on this level. While browsing recent job descriptions i have noticed that having some sort of a BA/BS/BComm or equivalent Degree is a common requirement whereas none that i read mention a College Diploma and if they did they’d just couple it together with the hands-on/on-the-job experience line.

During the AU application process i had the opportunity to be evaluated for transfer credits toward the Degree and am still waiting on their response, although i have read on multiple discussion boards that other people in the same boat have been quite happy with the outcome. So that is encouraging.

You figure a full 4yr AU undergrad degree is 120 credits; knock off say 1.5yrs or 45 transfer credits, that leaves 75 remaining credits (AU can only grant up to 50% or 2 yrs per total transfer credit); I could complete my 4yr degree in 2.5yrs. That’s if i do it full-time, however, i plan to go at it part-time whilst working full-time and, with my wife, raising a newborn as of August ‘09.

If we break it down even further, AU gives you 6 months to complete one course which is 3 credits; if i can register in a new course every 2 months, that’s 6 courses/yr or 18 credits; that divided into the 75 required credits equals roughly 4 yrs realistically to complete my degree. I have a feeling though this could be quite demanding. So i may have to equate it like so: register in a new course every 3 months, that’s 4 courses/yr or 12 credits; that divided into the 75 required credits equals 6.25 yrs to complete my degree.

On the other hand if i receive full transfer credit, or 60 required credits to begin with, that would reduce my overall completion time by 1.25 yrs resulting in 5 yrs in total to complete my degree! We’ll see i guess, i’ll have to play it by ear and assess what i can get away with.

My wife Leslie and i had our second ultrasound on Tuesday, June 23. Here are the pics to illustrate our experience.

Our little Stella is getting very big now into the third trimester / eighth month of pregnancy  so getting an overall body length pic was out of the question, instead the RN had to narrow it down to specific areas i.e., Stella’s head and feet. Check it out! Six weeks to go!!!

The next image is a little joke played by the RN; look closely Stella’s trying to tell us something! Hehe.

Check out the pics from the first ultrasound of Tuesday, March 17.