Where will you be in five years?

Or ten or twenty or . . . who knows? As evident from recent events few people can accurately foretell their own future. Things change and there are two many factors out of your control. Still among the favorite or most common questions asked during interviews, usually job interviews, is the time honored ,"Where do you see yourself in five years?" Experienced interviewees usually have a fairly well practiced answer, something which will suffice for the time. In truth no one knows. Yet there is on thing over which you do have some control. Your degree. With application and persistence you can have your degree in five years. Five years may seem like a long time, in fact, five years is a long time. Whether you get your degree or not five years will still go by. So, decide now. No matter how difficult it has been or how difficult it is becoming you will finish. You will finish, graduate and have your degree. Then when you are asked, " Where will you be in five years?" you can answer, "Where ever I am I will have my degree."

Focus Focus Focus

Film students learn early the importance of focus. They ask themselves often is this scene in focus? In fact, on bigger budgeted films one full time crew member is the focus puller. This is how important focus is to film making.

Filmmakers, who are essentially visual storytellers, know that focus is a function of purpose. When the purpose is to tell a compelling story, i.e. make a good movie, the focus for each scene is clear. Does this scene contribute to the overall purpose of the film? If so, then it is important to keep this scene in focus.

If focus is this important for film makers then how much more important is it for you? In the ongoing comedy/ drama that has been your career on Planet College you may have lost and regained focus many times. Maintaining focus is crucial to your eventual graduation and your return to Earth with your degree. In order to stay in focus it is simply good practice to stop often and ask yourself. What am I doing here? What is my focus? Whether it is a class, a school function, the library or your job your purpose is your degree. Your diploma. Graduation. Keep your graduation in focus no matter how blurry the daily picture gets.

Focus, focus, focus.

College Tour Degree Designations

Colleges grant degrees.

These degrees indicate the level of mastery a student has achieved in a particular subject. Degrees usually granted by a college include; BA or Bachelor of Arts, BS or Bachelor of Science, BFA or Bachelor of Fine Arts, MA or Master of Arts, MS or Master of Science, MFA or Master of Fine Arts. Community colleges grant degrees known as AA or Associates of Arts.

Colleges also grant credentials and certificates. A credential indicates having completed a course of study, such as teaching. A certificate is granted after completing a course in a skill or set of skills such as word processing or bookeeping.

Doctorates.
There is one additional classification of degrees. These are called Doctorates and the scholastic designation is PhD. While people with a BA are rarely called “Bachelors” and those of us with Masters are almost never called Master, people with PhDs really like being called, “Doctor.”