Yes, I'm still here... (and a reflection on Coleman College / Coleman University)

for now. Still at the same house that I've been at for the past 18 years, but that might change. I guess we'll see what happens.

And, yes, I do take the time to read and approve comments on this blog. It might take me a while to approve them, but I do get to them eventually whenever I remember to log into Blogger. The ones that seem somewhat spammy won't get approved, but there have definitely been some good contributions from visitors, especially in regards to my posts about Coleman College / Coleman University. I approve comments whether they're good or bad. I think it's important for people to know the good and bad in order to make a better decision about something that could affect their future. Education isn't cheap and I want people to spend their money wisely. I think almost every post about Coleman has a comment, so definitely read the comments because I think some of them are even more helpful than what I wrote.

Here are the links for anyone that needs them:

A review of Coleman College's / Coleman University's CIS Program Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

Since those are my most commented posts, I thought I'd revisit the subject and reflect a little more on the entrance process than on what happens once you're in (because I already wrote about that in the posts above).

My interests have somewhat changed from programming and are more along the lines of internet/affiliate marketing, social media, SEO, and whatnot. Still computer related, but not really anything that has much to do with creating software/scripts/apps.

If I were to go back to school for CS/CIS, I really don't think I would go to Coleman at all. I think I would take courses from UCSD Extension, as mentioned in one or more of the comments. Or even go back to a community college. At least I really felt like I was learning something when I went to Palomar. Whereas, when I went to Coleman, it just felt like with each mod, we'd start all the way at the basics again. I wanted the mods to get progressively challenging and build upon what I've learned, but that wasn't my experience at Coleman. You could probably even learn more from tutorials online, seriously.

Thinking back on the whole process on how I ended up there, it's pretty much just one big sales funnel. If you didn't realize it already, admissions officers = glorified salesmen. From working in the offices at Coleman (not in admissions, but in career services, but it was all pretty close quarters), the admissions officers do seem to have some sort of quota that they need to meet of appointments that they need to set to get potential students. I heard the same pitch that they gave to me told to other people over and over throughout my time working there... so much that I knew what they were gonna say and when.

So, they get you to come in for an interview and tell you more about the school then they give you their silly little logic test to see if you'd be a good fit for the program you want to go through. I think you get two chances at passing it, and they really want you to pass, otherwise their time would be wasted and they'd get no money. They even show you some questions from the test beforehand... probably the ones that are most missed so that you get the answers correct when you take it. It's pretty much the same as the ungraded quizzes before the test that give you the actual test questions - that's what makes it easy for anyone to pass and continue onto the next mod. I passed my math/logic test on the first time, but from working there, I know that there are some people who actually don't pass the first time and they do whatever they can to help you pass.

You passed the test? Great! You're one step closer. It's not really until then that they want to talk money. They don't want to scare you off by talking about that first, so they make you feel good about yourself by giving you a little ego boost from passing their test and then they hand you off to financial aid. They really pushed getting a loan with Wells Fargo. I don't know why, maybe that gets them more money? So I think most people end up getting loans whether they want one or not. After that, you're in... see you next mod!

Once you're in, they were really concerned about attendance. 6 or more absences and you'd fail. They want bodies in those chairs just so they don't lose whatever accreditation they have... because then I don't think they'd be able to call themselves a college/university without it. A former instructor who commented on part 2 of my review could give you more details about that.

Like I said, I don't feel like I really learned much until maybe mod 7, but even then it didn't seem like much.

Furniture shopping

Well, I figured since this is home.blogspot.com, I think I'll write about things in my home.

First is the couch in the family room. It's so old (as old as our house, which is 15 years old this year) that the fabric on it is all torn. I might post a picture or two later.



Both of the cushions are torn, so even if we flipped them over, it wouldn't make a difference. So, to fix it, we've put a blanket on top of it just to hide the rips.



So we went to take a look at furniture to get a new couch, and maybe a bed for one of our spare rooms, or maybe just a sofa bed/sleeper sofa for now until we decide what to do with the spare room.

Anyway, we went to Mor Furniture since they were having a New Years sale... it seems like they always have a different sale every week, so that was the sale for that day. For a place that claims to have "more furniture for less" they really didn't seem to have that wide of a selection. Maybe it was just the store that we went to, so I wonder if their other store will have more inventory.

It was kind of disappointing. Nothing we looked at was a must buy and the prices weren't really that great either.

After that, we went to check out some other furniture stores in the area. There were limited places that were open, especially on New Years day and at almost 8 PM at night. We just peeked through the windows of the Jennifer Convertibles store and then checked out Lane Home Furnishings next door.

Picking out furniture is hard! I think we should just go on one of those TV shows on HGTV or TLC and just have a designer redo our whole family room, not just replace our couch. Maybe I should apply to be on While You Were Out or something.