7 Minute Miles

A History of Education


There has been a lot of talk recently about the value of higher education, which made me think about my particular path (which I’m still paying for, by the way). I’ve also seen some people talking about GPA and SAT scores on job applications – even for “experienced” workers like me. I haven’t tracked down my SAT or GMAT results, but I did recently finish a transcript quest.

My high school in St. Paul only charged $5 for this service, but the transcript arrived without info for tenth grade. I contacted the district data office and the helpful person there was able to retrieve everything from microfiche (yes, I am that old now). The best part was that new document also included grades seven and eight, so I now have results for every graded class I’ve ever taken. You can take a look at all this schoolin’ on this page or formatted all pretty like on this PDF.

Overall, I must say I’m a little overwhelmed at just how many classes I took over the years. I’m also relatively proud of my GPA at each school – ranging from a high of 3.8 at Ramsey Junior High to an overall undergraduate GPA of 3.0 for my BBA degree (3.5 at UND and 2.8 at UW-Madison). The 3.4 for my Carlson MBA probably could’ve been higher, but I was also working full-time while I took those classes at night. My high school didn’t do honors ranking for GPA when I was there, so that 3.7 likely would’ve been different on a 5.0 scale.

Was it worth it? Definitely. I might pick different areas of study if I had to do it all over again, but I wouldn’t be where I am today without all of those great teachers and centers of learning. People often ask me how I know how to do the things I do and this coursework summary is a huge part of it. Wonderful educators like Sandy Fox, Richard Demers, Randy Dunham and Robert Hansen made learning fun and interesting. I can’t thank them enough.

I once toyed with the notion of pursuing a PhD in educational technology, but I think I’m done with formal coursework. I still love learning new things, though, usually spending an hour a day reading about trends, following industry news or watching video tutorials. I also like to occasionally pick out a new challenge and find web development code examples or learn how to use iPhones and iPads in new ways. Many of those projects end up on this site too (still hoping to add a video post type soon).

Long live the scholars!

Originally published by DK on October 13, 2014 at 5:00 pm in History, Longform, Personal, Schools


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