If you’ve thought about going back to school to get your bachelor’s degree but aren’t sure you can do it, take some advice from Sonia, a recent alumnus of the UW-Milwaukee Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences: Health Sciences offered through the UW Flexible Option:
“For those students out there who are still looking to complete their bachelor’s degree who didn’t get a chance to after high school, who didn’t get a chance to go back to school again or are waiting for a good time, do your research and find a program that works for you. I hope they will find UW Flexible Option like me.”
Sonia’s educational journey actually began back in her native Bangladesh. She attended college there but dropped out in 2008. She moved to the U.S. in 2009 and got married.
Eventually she went back to school, receiving her associates degree from Chippewa Valley Technical College in 2018. She stayed home afterward to raise her children, and in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she continued to stay home while her kids attended school virtually and her husband worked outside of the home.
In fall 2021, her two oldest children returned to in-person learning, and Sonia wondered what her next step would be.
“There was already a three-year gap in my resume,” Sonia explains. “So my husband suggested to me, ‘You know, there are a lot of online degrees available in Wisconsin and outside of Wisconsin. Maybe you could look online and see if there is any program that will accept all the credits you got from your previous associates degree and then work toward a four-year degree.’ So that’s how it started. And I was thinking, ‘OK, maybe I will stay at home until [my youngest] is a little bit older.’”
Attending in-person college wasn’t realistic for Sonia and her family because they would need to pay for full-time daycare for her youngest child while the other two were in school. “And then for the two oldest, I must arrange something after school too, because my husband will be working and I will be in school all day. It would be difficult for us to afford care for three kids.”
Then, Sonia discovered the UW Flexible Option. “When I applied to UW Flexible Option, I found out that this is for mostly non-traditional students or working adults who want to change their field or who want to get a job to get a promotion. It really fit my situation. And after [I applied], the success coach reached out to me and said that they accepted all my credits. So that was a huge turning point for me. And my husband said, ‘OK, you should go for this.’”
Sonia looked at other schools, but they didn’t give her as many credits as UW Flexible Option did (67). One school gave her 36; another offered 42.
“I think because of this, UW Flexible Option will be able to attract more students because no one wants to lose those credits. Because we spent time, we gave effort to get those credits, and we spent money,” she adds.
Sonia started her UW Flexible Option program in January 2022–and it wasn’t always easy.
“For all of the parents or all of the working adults who want to go back to college, it is a challenge,” Sonia says. “Because when you are a student, you study and work part-time or full-time after college. But when you are a parent, when you have a family or significant others or other commitments, then you have to find balance in all of this. And our family is a big support for us. They help us and encourage us to keep going.”
Online learning was another big challenge. “When you are in the classroom setting, you can ask your instructor questions and get feedback right away. I was kind of worried about how I would deal with online learning and doing everything at your own pace. You must drive yourself. You must push yourself to do the work so you don’t cram things in the last four weeks, which is hard.”
However, her online courses offered her the flexibility she needed to excel.
“It is a competency-based degree, so everything was online. And that helped me a lot. Everything is there: what to do, the directions, the deadlines. But believe me, it went so fast. And I worked most of the time at night when my kids were in bed. Some nights I was awake until 3 a.m. or 4 a.m., and then I woke up at 6 a.m. again to make breakfast and lunch for the kids. It’s a team effort for my family and my kids. They sacrificed a lot.”
Sonia wasn’t able to spend much time with her kids on the weekends because she had to study. When her husband was home on Saturday and Sunday, he took the children outside and did errands like grocery shopping so that she could stay home and work.
“Another goal was to finish the degree in two years, and I tried really hard not to take a class twice unless I really had to,” she adds. (With a competency-based learning format, students must pass assessments to move to the next course).
Sonia also received support from her Academic Success Coach. “ASC is very helpful with any questions regarding registration, class add/drop, or grades, any other concerns or emergency situations,” Sonia adds.
For someone juggling multiple commitments, Sonia advises students to find a time to study that works for them.
“Try to start early. Do not wait until three weeks have passed because you only have 12 weeks. When I start early, it’s less stressful. Life happens. Kids get sick, we get sick, or there’s an emergency.”
She also notes that students should try and allow themselves enough time to read materials, do research, and write. While some course instructors will offer resources, students will have to find some on their own, which can be time-consuming.
Sonia appreciated the close contact she had with her instructors. She was able to email them and get clarification on her assignments. Some professors even video chatted with her to ensure she understood the material.
“Since I was already missing in-class, in-person interactions, when I got the clarification from my email, I got some assurance that I was on the right track.”
Sonia also received help from the UW-Milwaukee Writing Center. She says that the written assignments often took her a bit longer since English is not her native language, but the writing center helped her. For example, before submitting a paper, she would have a tutor look at it.
Sonia is now in the online Master of Public Health program at UW-Eau Claire and hopes to finish her degree in the next couple of years. In the meantime, she is actively applying for jobs to help pay for it. She’s already gotten a couple of interviews. Her graduate program can be completed part-time, so she plans to work and go to school.
“When I dropped out of college, I always wanted to go back. I made this promise to myself that maybe someday I will go back again. I get emotional because that was a really hard time in my life. But with my husband’s inspiration, I came back again, and I feel like if I can do it, anyone can do it. It’s not easy. And after a five- or six-year break from college, it takes courage.”
Think you don’t have time to earn a health sciences degree? Through the University of Wisconsin Flexible Option, you can earn a UW-Milwaukee Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences: Health Sciences in an online, self-paced format that fits any schedule. As a UW Flexible Option student, you can start any month and learn at your own pace—as well as leverage your existing technical education and clinical experience to help you progress toward graduation more quickly.