Quick Highlights:
- Accelerated degrees offer quick completion by compressing terms or adding extra classes, saving time and money.
- They provide career advancement and flexibility, with options for online, evening, or summer courses.
- Challenges include a heavy workload, stress, limited interaction, and possibly less depth of learning.
- Balancing life and accelerated study needs careful planning and strong time management skills.
Table of contents
Once you’ve made the decision to return to school, you understandably want to get everything done right away. While there are many challenges of accelerated degrees, there are also fast-track benefits as well. An accelerated degree can help you finish your degree years earlier, so it may be worth the extra time and energy. Adult learners in accelerated programs can enjoy going through a fast-track degree process. The difficult part is balancing accelerated learning with the rest of your life. By reading through the accelerated degree pros and cons, you can gain a better understanding of how this degree track can help you.
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Understanding Accelerated Degrees
Quick degree programs can be set up in different ways. They may use a compressed term system so that you can fit more terms in each year. Other online accelerated degrees involve taking extra classes or enrolling in summer school each year.
By considering the accelerated degree pros and cons, you’ll learn about the major fast-track education benefits and disadvantages. All of these pros and cons stem from taking a more intensive course workload. While a traditional bachelor’s degree typically takes four years to complete, an accelerated degree can often be finished in just three years.
Adult learners in accelerated programs can often reduce this timeline even more. Many schools provide prior learning credits for your work and life experience, so you may be able to skip some classes completely. If you’re trying to understand a return to school for adults, you may want to initially consider programs that allow you to get work experience credits.
Pros of Accelerated Degrees
There are many fast-track education benefits, which is why so many adult learners are drawn to this type of degree format. Other than time savings, you may be able to decrease the amount of time you spend on your education and advance your career earlier. Plus, it is an incredibly flexible form of education.
Time Savings: Time savings are one of the most important considerations when you look at accelerated vs traditional degrees. With a bachelor’s degree, you can typically save a year of time.
Cost Effectiveness: If you are charged based on semester instead of per class, speeding up your degree can save you a lot of money. You will also save money on having a year less of school fees to pay.
Career Advancement: One of the major reasons why there are adult learners in accelerated programs is because it helps them get ahead in their careers. By finishing early, you also get to access that career advancement earlier.
Flexibility: You can enjoy a greater level of flexibility in accelerated courses. For example, you may be able to take courses online, during the evening, or at a summer program. This makes completing your degree much easier.
Cons of Accelerated Degrees
Before you spend a lot of time and money on your education, it’s important to consider the challenges of accelerated degrees as well. The intensive workload and stress can be challenging, so think through the cost-benefits of accelerated education before you sign up.
Intensive Workload: The main way that accelerated degrees speed up the education process is by increasing the workload. You’ll need excellent time management in fast degrees in order to get all of your work done.
Stress and Burnout: Because of the amount of time and energy these degrees require, it is easy to become burned out. Balancing accelerated learning requires excellent planning and time management.
Limited Interaction: While the accelerated learning outcomes are similar to a traditional degree, the networking opportunities may be less. Because you’re spending more time in school, you have less time to talk to other students or to work at an internship.
Depth of Learning: Another one of the challenges of accelerated degrees is the depth of learning. Adult learners in accelerated programs take the same classes as traditional learners, but they often take these courses faster or with many more other courses. In both of these cases, they may spend less time and energy on the subject matter.
Making the Decision
Balancing accelerated learning with the rest of your life isn’t easy. Adult education decision-making should be done with care. You should start by carefully considering all of the accelerated degree pros and cons.
Many of the challenges of accelerated degrees are extremely personal. For example, you might not be able to take a night class because you have children to watch. In other cases, you may have an easier time doing an accelerated program if you have internet access at work and can study online during your lunch or in between clients.
Tips for Prospective Students
To make the most of your accelerated learning program, incorporate some of the following tips.
- Plan ahead. Think about how you will handle work, childcare, and school before the quarter begins.
- Start reading assignments before school starts. In addition to making you look like an incredibly dedicated, intelligent student, this technique reduces the amount of reading you have to do after the school year officially begins.
- You can use YouTube videos and the Great Courses to learn about your more challenging subjects.
- Visit the tutoring center at school when you’re having issues.
- If you are having trouble paying for school or other issues, most campuses have a student services center, academic advisor, or financial aid department you can go to for help.
- Use anti-distraction apps, like Freedom and Focus, to help avoid distractions and improve your time management.
- Form a study group to work on your assignments and get help.
Learn More About Accelerated Degree Programs
Adult learners in accelerated programs can get the same degree, but it involves much less time. To make the most of these programs, you need to review the accelerated degree pros and cons. While there are many fast-track education benefits, there are challenges of accelerated degrees as well. By balancing accelerated learning and the rest of your life, you can take the next step in your career progression.