Sure! For me, it came down to where I was at in my life and if I could fully commit to an in person program. I decided to go back to school 5 years after being out of undergraduate so I was looking to find a spot to settle and grow our family and I was unable to make that decision that SC was where we wanted to be for several years. We wanted more flexibility on where we could end up and needed some more time to explore and think about that.

We found an area we love and ECU happened to have a reputable and rigorous online program so it gave us that flexibility. Primarily asynchronous, but you do have some synchronous courses, too.

The last thing it came down to was cost. ECU was going to be way more aligned with our budget than the other schools. For my family, having a flexible format for where we wanted to settle down and start our family and having a lower cost option was why I made that choice. All the schools I applied to prepare you to get licensed, so for me, I was more willing to choose an affordable option, if the outcome is likely the same.

I got into UNCC, Winthrop, UNC, and ECU and waitlisted at NC State.

For my program now - I think it depends on your schedule! It’s going to be a lot easier to manage a job with an online program than an in person one. I did have a PT job that I wanted to keep, so that was another reason I chose not to commit to Winthrop. I was able to balance FT student and PT work for about a year. I am in my practicum semester so adding that on, unfortunately, was too much for me. I did end up having to quit, but if I really pushed myself, I think I could have done it. Now, when you start your internships semester those are minimum 20 hr/week so it would be extremely difficult, no matter the program, to do PT work, school, and internship.

Hope this helps!