Ohrenberger School

It usually takes most people 4 years to earn a college degree. This can be a long period of time, especially if you need a good-paying job right now. Fortunately, there is another option. If you decide to sign up for an online career training program, you can get a certificate or a diploma in just a few months. Granted, an online career training program should not serve as a substitute for a college degree, but it can be a great way to get the education you need so you won’t have to work a minimum wage job when you are ready to pursue ‘regular’ college.

How does online career training work? Basically, online career training is simply an Internet version of trade school. All of the courses you would take during your online career training would relate to a specific industry. There would be no general education courses, and the material would be given at an accelerated pace. Depending on the school you sign up with, your online career training may be done through both the Internet and printed correspondence. Either way, throughout the whole time you are involved in online career training, you are free to contact the professor through email, the telephone or U.S. postal mail.

In terms of the difficulty of online career training, expect that it will not be an easy ride. Although there are online career training programs that may not even give you exams, you still have to do well enough on your assignments that you can pass. If you do not pass, (usually with a score of at least 70 percent), you may not be allowed to proceed to the next lesson. If you continue to fail, you risk not being able to get your certificate or diploma when your online career training ends. However, if you find yourself in this situation try not to fret as most schools that offer online career training are willing to work with people. The most common solution is extending a person’s online career training until they can successfully pass the courses.

What types of schools offer online career training? The most popular are institutions that are well-known for their online education. Two examples are University of Maryland University College and the University of Phoenix. The next popular are at-home trade schools, such as Stratford University or ITT Technical Institute. If these options are not enough, you can look into what online career training programs your local community college has to offer, or make use of an online college finder.

In conclusion, online career training is an excellent alternative if you’re interested in getting decent employment quickly. Additionally, even when you are able to get your Bachelor’s degree, the certificate or diploma earned from your online career training program will still look very attractive on your resume. Of course, you’ll still need to do a lot of studying and reading during your online career training, but you’ll quickly find the toil was worth it when you are ready to look for a job.

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

Stories about teenage phenoms winning gold medals and setting world records at world-class swimming competitions are legion. The list is long and you can add Michael Phelps’ name to the list.

Phelps began swimming for the North Baltimore Aquatic Club at age 7. He was diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and was encouraged to take up swimming to provide him with an outlet for his energy.

He attended the 1996 Olympic Trials as a 10 year old to watch his sister Whitney finish 6th in the 200-meter butterfly while trying to make the Olympic Team. He cried when she didn’t. His other sister, Hillary, would later swim for the University of Richmond.

A year later, when Michael was 11, he caught the eye of Bob Bowman, former swim coach for the University of Michigan. Bowman began coaching Michael at age 12 and outlined a program for his development. While competing at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, Phelps was nicknamed the “Baltimore Bullet”.

By age 15, Phelps made the United States team by finishing as runner-up in the 200-meter butterfly for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney (Australia). Despite his age and lack of international experience, he qualified for the finals in Sydney and finished 5th as the youngest member of the U. S. team.

Five months after his Olympic race in Sydney, Phelps became the sport’s youngest male world-record holder by winning the 200-meter butterfly at the 2001 World Championships in Japan. He was 15 years old, and he held a world record.

Before he arrived at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens (Greece), he would set 4 other world records in international competition. In Athens, Phelps would win 6 gold and 2 bronze medals while setting 1 world record, 3 Olympic records and 2 American records.

Before he arrived at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing (China), he would set another 8 world records in international competition. In Beijing, Phelps would win another 8 gold medals while setting 7 world records and 1 Olympic record.

So what does it take to perform like Michael Phelps? Start with very intense and very tough training under Bob Bowman’s watchful eye since age 12. In his peak training for the Beijing Olympics, Phelps was swimming 80,000 meters a week (49.7 miles). If he trained only 6 days a week, Phelps was swimming more than 8 miles every day he trained.

All of this training could make a guy hungry. Phelps reportedly eats up to 12,000 calories a day, about six times the intake of a normal adult male.

This endurance training is what helped Phelps win his 100 butterfly event at Beijing. He was in 7th place at the turn and somehow surged past 5 competitors to close the gap in the last 50 meters and took a half stroke at the wall to win by 1 one-hundredth of a second.

Phelps endurance training really paid off as he had to swim 17 times in 8 days to get through preliminary and semifinal heats to get to the finals of the 8 races where he won gold medals. Even though Phelps set 7 world records at Beijing, he does not have a sprinter’s speed and could be beat at shorter distances.

His endurance training would be what runners call base training, only it is likely that Phelps was much more intense in his effort than a runner would be, in part because it is easier to swim than to run. In swimming, you are buoyant on the water; in running, every stride you take on land you are lifting your body weight, which is why running is much tougher on your joints than swimming.

So how does he beat competitors who also intensely train for years? Phelps has a very unusual body that gives him a physical advantage in the water. He is 6-feet-4 and 195 pounds, but has a 6-foot-7 wingspan (arms stretched out) than is 3 inches longer than his height. His torso is also longer compared to his legs, allowing him to ride high on the water. He also has flexible ankles and size 14 feet, allowing him to use a powerful kick.

He uses his physique with an impeccable swimming form and efficiency to literally churn through the water faster than his fastest competitors.

After training at Michigan’s Club Wolverine with Bowman in Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan Wolverines, both Phelps and Bowman will return to the North Baltimore (MD) Aquatic Club, where Bowman will be the new chief executive officer. Bowman was coach of the University of Michigan men’s swim team. Phelps was a student at the school but did not compete for Michigan’s swim team because of his professional status.

Some people might think that Phelps’ accomplishments are too good to be true. In fact, they are true. Phelps was tested 9 times during the Beijing Olympics for performance enhancing drugs, and passed every test with flying colors.

Like the greatest athletes of all time, Phelps can be beaten and his records can be broken. Should you want to try, I suggest you start very early in life and work very hard. It also would help to have his physique, his inexhaustible work ethic, his ferocious competitive drive and a phenomenal coach.

There can always be debate about the importance of work experience against academic qualification. Some people will debate in the favor of experience while others will vouch for degrees. The fact of the matter is when you are looking for someone you need to work with you give preference to the one with experience rather then the academic qualification. On the other hand when it comes to promotion there should be necessary academic background before giving the candidate the nod. So it can be said that if you have experience in the field coupled with a degree you are sure to excel in your field.

Problems with getting a conventional degree

The problem that you will face in getting a degree is that you would either have to leave your current work to pursue your education or do both things simultaneously in both cases your career suffers. Online universities like Ashwood University, Rochville University or Belford University have come up with a solution for this problem. Ashwood University provides you with degrees in accordance with your experience in the field that you work in i.e. administration.

What do online universities do?

In the case of most online universities you would have to study taking online classes and then submitting the assignments given. How Ashwood is different from these universities is that it provides you with degree by evaluating your experience and hence you don’t have to give test or study for that matter.

Evaluation:

Online universities like Ashwood evaluate your work documents, experience letters, trainings and other related documents to analyze if you qualify for a degree. If you do it you get a degree from Ashwood University.

Career growth

When you will have the degree along with your experience you will jump your career ladders easily. Getting a degree from an accredited university like Ashwood would naturally help.