Free Essay On The Excelsior Effect

Transitions in life are inevitable. By choosing a career or personal path, one invests her own opportunity cost in one main area over many different options. As personal and professional paths acquire more depth and permanence, shifts become harder and choices more limited. Specific careers and personal paths become, moreover, harder still to switch from. One common, demanding professional area is military. Notably, aside from physical and mental demands required by a career in military, continuous deployments and relocations make shifts, if any, even harder still. If one happens to be married as well, personal demands add to baggage's load. The start, hence, begins in earnest both for professional and personal salvation. Personally, I have been on a similar search path, not for salvation per se, but for professional and personal growth. Against a backdrop of military personnel facing great hurdles after leaving military, I have been careful enough in my search for an adequate career path after military. I have not spent very long time before I realized education is a mandate for better job prospects. Informed by experiences of colleagues and potential growth opportunities, Excelsior has emerged as a very smooth springboard I could rely on to jumpstart my professional life after military. Sooner, I enrolled at Excelsior. Indeed, Excelsior has proven a right professional and personal choice given my background as military wife.
Excelsior has very unique military friendly programs. Compared to much hype on- and offline about mature education and adult learning, Excelsior's programs are, indeed, flexible, personalized, professional and, not least, mature-learner oriented. By offering a very broad range of learning opportunities and communicating frequently with learners in a very professional and personalized manner, Excelsior's faculty and staff continue to be true to pronounced mission, goals and values.
The experiences at Excelsior, educational and personal, – even before enrollment – are numerous. Prior to enrollment at Excelsior, I believed online education – anywhere – is virtual, i.e. student-instructor experience is hardly real and advising process is just paperwork. However, after enrollment, switch between on- and offline experiences at Excelsior is hardly noticeable. If anything, both online and offline experiences are complementary and enriching at academic, intellectual, personal and professional platforms.
Further, Excelsior is keen to make students, staff, faculty and alumni at ease communicating, socializing and, not least, exchanging personal and professional experiences at one place, experiences participants might not be able to share elsewhere. One very interesting activity is Excelsior's communal events. As a military wife, I cannot emphasize how "family" gatherings – which I believe is actual description of Excelsior's events and reunions – are crucial in educational process for adult learners whose expectations differ radically for conventional college students. Indeed, Excelsior continues to prove not only a right choice for better professional prospects but also a very rich learning context in which one's own initial conceptualizations about education, work –and I might say at some point, life – are converted into much more deeper and fulfilling experiences one is better able to invest in a decidedly smooth move from a disciplined, demanding military life into different, civil options, professional and personal.
As well, Excelsior is a genuinely transparent institution. By offering an extensive presentation on her programs, performance, appraisal strategies, student feedback, strict requirements and compliance to state and federal standards under "Transparency at Excelsior," Excelsior proves over and again an educational destination of value, both academically and financially.
As a military wife, learning at Excelsior has been a very sound strategic option. By striking a balance between military's demanding assignments and disruption in personal course and familial demands, I have been able to learn at my own pace, perform better at work and meet family demands. Further, I have been converted personally by participating in Excelsior's educational experience. Sharing professional and personal experiences with classmates – virtual and real – I am better able to inform my future career options. Uniquely enough, Excelsior's educational experience is both a mass and personal one. By customizing programs and schedules to each learner's individual pace and demands, Excelsior manages to address very specific needs for each student and establish effective student-instructor relationships which are fulfilling academically, professionally and personally. By organizing events and gatherings – on- and offline – Excelsior manages to establish platforms for collaboration participants might not be able to share elsewhere.

As I continue to experience Excelsior towards graduation, my career and personal options after graduation become far clearer and fulfilling.

Joining Excelsior is, indeed, a very rewarding experience, particularly for military personnel. True to her pronounced mission, goals and values, Excelsior enacts on a daily basis what many mature-learning colleges claim to do. Personally, I become happier with an investment at Excelsior which continues to prove as I proceed in my classes as not only fulfilling academically and educationally but also personally. Before joining Excelsior, I have had different expectation about life after military. Now, my options are much better informed, focused and, not least, flexible enough as to accommodate changing professional and personal needs.