How do you approach big decisions?

I ask my mom for advice. Also my outreach worker . In your case I would buy the classes textbook and study it on my free time. Then challenge the course. Repeat for additional classes.

Always go with what is the more fulfilling choice for you, the one that is best aligned to who you really are.
If you have a choice. I vote for dropping the old job and going with the new, fun, and well suited job.

I always – always – try to put more options on the table. To me, the choices you’ve given yourself are pretty limiting:
– give up one job, keep the other job and sign up for university;
– keep the first job, give up the other job, and sign up for university;
– keep both jobs and don’t sign up for university just now

And that’s it?

Where’s the option to chuck both jobs and dive into university more-than-full time?

Where’s the option to chart a whole new career path, that may or may not involve one of the jobs you currently have, and may not even involve university study at all?

And these options are just dancing around where you already are.

Put all of your options on the table, and invent some new ones. Think more creatively.

@CWOTUS She mentioned being spread too thin as it is with other personal obligations and being tired, noticing her physical limitations being taxed.
Diving full time or more into University might not work, and if she needs to generate income, ditching both jobs may not be feasible either. Sure, think of as many combinations as possible but there are limits to what we can do a lot of the time.

I have no advice concerning the particulars of this decision, but here’s how I settle most of my big decisions these days:

First, I think about the options from every angle I can think of. I do this without any expectation that this is going to resolve anything; I’m just familiarizing myself with the landscape of the decision at hand. Typically, this leads to a kind of saturation point where I just can’t really think about it anymore. At that point, I just set the matter aside and go on about my other business.

What has actually happened is that I’ve referred the matter to my subconscious. This can be a little unnerving at first, because you think that you ought to be consciously reasoning the problem out, but I’ve been through this so many times that I now have complete confidence that my subconscious will take care of it.

It does this on its own time schedule, though. Fretting about it doesn’t help in the least. I just occasionally check in with the question, to see if anything has clarified. If not, I just leave it to ripen some more. That’s really how it seems: a ripening process. At some point, it will just fall from the tree.

When the matter does clarify, the resolution is usually beautifully satisfying. I just recognize that yes, this is clearly the way to go. And, interestingly, I also feel that I really had nothing to do with resolving it. It’s as if I just put some informational files together, sent them off to an expert consultant, and then got his wise council in my inbox one day.

This has worked for me more times than I could count.

School, university and or a degree is a temporary obstacle that if you apply yourself it will be over before you know it. You have the rest of your life to work so get done now what you feel will benefit you the most for your long term plans.

What are your goals in life? Write down on a sheet of paper the pros and cons of each scenario and usually the answer will jump out at you.

I talk things through with people I trust. Not too many because that can end up just confusing things. Usually one or two trusted wise minds. Often talking it through is all I need. It helps me present the pros and cons (to myself as much as them), and they will usually throw in some other ideas for me to consider. Usually, this helps me to sort out what I need to do.

If not, I go through the process again and make lists. Eventually, if it’s very close, I go with my gut instinct.