At UOnline we pride ourselves on the flexible courses we offer, designed to work around the busy and demanding lifestyles of students. Online courses require dedication and a strong grasp on time management.
We spoke to some of our UOnline students to get their take on the challenges and benefits of studying online at UM.
How Do You Manage Your Time?
Javier Pagan, Masters in Professional Accounting: On a typical day, I wake up at 5 am, train at the gym, then go to work at 7:30. During lunch, I take a 30-minute break instead of an hour, which means I can leave the office a little earlier. My Managing Director knows I’m studying, so I'm allowed a bit more flexibility with my work schedule. Once I'm at home, I log on to Blackboard and go through any work/exercises that need to be done. I build my own weekly schedule and try to stick to that as much as possible.
Stephen Bashore, Masters in Sports Administration: My job means I work when most other people are off and that gives me lots of time to study. I normally do any reading at night, then make sure I clearly lay out what I have to do. As long as you follow the deadlines, you're fine. It's not a cakewalk program and does require dedication and commitment, but being from the University of Miami, it means much more to me than my other graduate or undergraduate degrees.
Stacy Humphrey, MBA: I'm still working through what's normal. It changes class by class. I try to front-load as much of the reading as possible, work on the weekends, then write the assignments during the week. I do all my prep and schedule on the weekends, work for about 9 hours a day, then start studying after dinner, usually about 7 or 8 every night. I'm enjoying it because I'm passionate about what I'm working on right now and it's definitely given me a lot of focus.
Any Tips for Few Students?
Chris Ortiz, Masters in Communication: If you're not used to an online program, it can be useful to have someone to support you, not necessarily from the program, but someone who can influence, motivate and help drive you through it. It's not easy, but with motivation, passion, and a solid schedule, you can achieve anything.
Stacy Humphrey, MBA: I work on so many devices that I use Dropbox. I write essays on my home computer, so then I can revise them at work on my tablet, or when I'm commuting. It keeps all my work centralized so I can pull it out of the cloud at any time.
Michael Watkins, Masters in Finance: The orientation of the Blackboard system was eye-opening. They had a lot of things about online learning and the perceptions of it, that I thought were really good. You save a lot of time on commuting, but don't underestimate the time you need to put in to be successful. It was good, candid information. There was a recommendation to use the online calendar to list our projects each week. I have four kids at home, and an awesome wife, so I laid out my schedule on weekends and made it work around my personal life and day job, without making too many sacrifices. It's all about laying out your time and executing that plan. If you don't, you'll get behind in a hurry. So far, I've stayed ahead of the curve.
Find out for yourself what a University of Miami online program can offer you. Learn in a flexible, structured, and rewarding way while still keeping up with the commitments of everyday life. You can speak to an enrollment advisor at any time at 800-411-2290 or request more information here.
