Author: Josh Tlachac

Ever since high school, I’ve found myself increasingly more stressed out than usual. Although I’m not exactly sure what the actual reason is, I can make a few assumptions. My first reason would be my busy schedule, between school and my job. Once I turned sixteen and was able to start driving and working, I started a job to help pay for college. This was in my Sophomore year of high school, and ever since then, I have been working every Monday, Thursday, Friday, and every other weekend. My shifts on the weekdays are usually from 3pm to 9pm, so it ends up being really difficult to work on assignments on those days. Because of this, I try to work on everything on either the Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or weekends that I’m off, but then that leaves almost no free time. This is unfortunate because then I cannot hang out with my friends or work out, some hobbies of mine that I enjoy.

On top of a busy schedule, my workload has also greatly increased. While it wasn’t too bad in high school, it has definitely gotten worse in college, and this semester is very different from my last semester. Last semester, much of my work throughout all of my five classes was multiple choice-based assignments, with multiple choice quizzes sprinkled throughout. There were only two classes which I wrote essays and papers for, but that was usually only for midterms and finals. Now, all of my classes are writing-based. Every assignment I’ve done so far has been some form of writing, and I don’t think I’ve had a multiple-choice assignment yet. Unfortunately because of this, I seem to have even less free time.

While choosing classes to enroll in, I was given the option of online classes. Last semester was the first time I was able to take a fully online class since 2020, when we were forced to do so due to the Coronavirus pandemic. I have taken one online class last semester and I’m taking one this semester and from my experience so far, I can confidently say they are definitely an interesting experience, for better and for worse. I can start by listing my positives of online classes. I love the independence factor of online classes. It’s nice to be able to work at my own pace, and not have to worry about working in groups or with other students. I prefer working independently, so this works out well for me. It’s also a great time saver, as I do not have to commute to campus or to a classroom and stay there for an hour or two. It also takes me about 20 minutes to drive to campus, so not needing to travel saves about 40 more minutes, as well as money for gas. On top of this, online classes also usually allow open book tests, which is nice, as using notes and the textbook assigned to that class almost guarantees a good grade.

While there are some positives to online classes, the negatives seem to outweigh them. My biggest problem with online classes is that I frequently forget to do my assignments for them. I feel as though it is because I am not as connected to that class as I am to in-person classes, where the professor will tell us what we have for assignments and sometimes go over it during class. It also seems difficult to communicate with professors as everything is done through email. Because it is entirely online, I seem to push off my work for the classes until the weekend, as I am busy with my in-person classes during the week. This is bad, as then I am not motivated to do my work because I would rather enjoy my weekend. If I had to make a decision on if I like in-person or online classes more, I would say that I prefer in-person classes.

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