Old Folks Going Back to School?

[unluckyseventeen]

I'm not necessarily "old", but right now I am at the end of my Sophomore year in college and I will be 28 in May. I spent a lot of time working, some as my own business owner, some for companies, but largely just goofing around because I had somewhat little life responsibility and didn't really know what I wanted to do for a career. Still, I'm older than a majority of my teachers and older than about 95% of the student body.

But I still interact with 19-year-old kids/guys. We hang out outside of school, play video games together, do homework together. Although, I am kind of a rare case because I am the coordinator/president/captain/whatever of the Starcraft 2 team at my school, and all of my school friends are on the team. Point is that you're really only as old as your mentality makes you out to be. If you're constantly afraid to be around younger people, then you will be perceived as old. Just relax and be yourself.

Most importantly, the point of school is to gain knowledge relative to a high-level job, so you can get that job once you're done. The social structure doesn't have to matter if you don't pay attention to it, and your job won't care if you're able to hang out with 19 year old kids.

 

[//r00t 4 Jazz]

Funny similar, I'm 36 went into the service and then dinked around for 5-6yrs before going back to school, so I was like 28 when I went back and finished when I was like 30 (only went for associate degree). And while I was on the older side there was a few people older then me most younger but a lot of people had taken at least a couple of years off between HS and going back and as U17 said you can probably relate better than you imagine.

Although I blamed it on me being as mature as a 15yr old.

 

[leftyjace]

Finally! A thread where i can make a meaningful contribution. Well... relatively.

I started going to college classes when I was 22, but didn't ever really take it super seriously, nor did I consistently take classes. I even switched majors from Computer Science at the U to Economics at the U back in 2005 (I was 35) when it was apparent there was no way I could do the career thing and still get my CS degree because of class availability. I started trying to get at least one class done a semester in evening school so I could just get it done.

In late 2006 I finally said screw it, I gotta get my Bachelor's done and this is taking too long. My career had been up and down and I never had the degree to fall back on. I wanted to get it done but had 48 semester hours left. So I made the tough decision of quitting work for a solid year and getting it done in 3 semesters. It was trippy... making friends with people nearly half my age and being in classes during the middle of the day. It was also hard to stay focused on schoolwork as I was doing some other consulting work on the side as well as some musical projects. But I got it done, and graduated with my B.S. in Economics in December of 2007.

Seeing as how that's when the Great Recession started, I feel very fortunate to have gotten a job with my current company in June of 2008. This was the kind of company that wouldn't sniff at you unless you had a Bachelor's in SOMETHING.

About near the end of 2008, I started actually thinking about graduate school. I had always wanted to get my MBA but wasn't sure if it was feasible. So I started exploring options at the U, specifically the Executive MBA program as well as the Professional MBA program. Because of my work travel, the Executive program was a better fit, so I went to my CTO (who I reported up through at the time) and got permission for schedule flexibility so I could be in class every other Friday if I needed to. I took the GMAT and did pretty darn well so I was accepted to both programs, but chose the Executive one and started in August of 2009, graduating in May of 2011.

Looking back, it's kind of cool. I didn't graduate with my Bachelors until I was 37, and didn't graduate with my Masters until I was 41. But I'll tell you what... absolutely no regrets, and would do it again in a heartbeat. Being an adult it made me value the college experience more, and I think I gained a much deeper appreciation for my school and for the education process than I would have if I'd gone to college right out of high school. It was difficult, yes, but not overly so. My MBA experience was particularly rich and rewarding. It wasn't perfect - doing it that way cost me a lot of money in student loans and my marriage didn't hold up under the strain of graduate school (as many of the old-timers on here are simply not surprised about, I'm sure), but my occupational security, prospects, and marketability have gone through the roof.

There's just something about going through a decent portion of my adult life without so much as a graduate certificate and dealing with all that crap (struggling to work my way up the ladder and having to do it over and over when things changed, hating skipping over the "Education" portion of my resume and job applications because I didn't have anything to put there but High School, always being worried that someone with a piece of paper would advance where I wanted to) and then all of a sudden within a space of 4 years having not only a Bachelors but also a Masters. The sense of accomplishment is huge, the pride in my education and my background feels darn good, and I'm making more money than I ever had (and not by a small margin).

I would have to say that I would very much encourage anyone to go back to school and get something that they want/need, regardless of age. From my perspective, it's the hardest thing and yet the most rewarding thing I've ever done (besides breaking bricks with my head).

 

[bluenote]

I went back at 34 to pursue a graduate degree (12 years after receiving my bachelors). I'm not going to lie, going back to school at a later age was extremely challenging and a major adjustment that took me about a year to finally settle in to. New environment, new technology, new routine, getting used to an occasional all-nighter - it took a while to get into the flow of things - stick with it.

The plus side of being an older student is bringing wisdom to the discussion - life experiences that you can bring to the problem at hand that the younger students can't offer. Most times you use wisdom and intuition to solve problems more so than what you've learned in the classroom, and being an older student you will be able to tap into this more.

I'm graduating in May and realize it was one of the best decisions I've made in my life. It gave me so much more flexibility with my career choices and financially speaking it was well worth the investment. No regrets at all. Congrats and good luck gameface! Keep us posted.

 

[Scat]

This thread gives me hope. I'm 45 and seriously thinking about going back to school. Problem is, I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. Guess I can just start and go from there.

I've been taking a hard look at Western Governor's U. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of WGU?

 

[bluenote]

This thread gives me hope. I'm 45 and seriously thinking about going back to school. Problem is, I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. Guess I can just start and go from there.

I've been taking a hard look at Western Governor's U. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of WGU?

My dad went to graduate school when he was 44 with no regrets. Two years will fly by like that (snap).

 

[One Brow]

I re-read my OP and wondered what the point of this thread was. Anyway, anyone else go back to school later in life? Got any advice? Any funny experiences?

I regularly get people in my class that are my age. You'll be fine.

 

[midnight_hwy]

This has been a pretty inspiring topic.

I'm 47, and have been looking into going back to school as my chosen career is no longer panning out. My biggest fears have been the thoughts of being 50ish when I graduate and looking for work in a new field.

But I think I'm going to pull the trigger. My wife and I have discussed this a few times. I'm fortunate that she has a great job that will allow me to be able to leave the work field to concentrate on school without hurting us to badly financially.
I hope that this will be a good choice. I know if I don't do it, I'm just going to regret it and will always wonder what could have been.

 

[leftyjace]

This thread gives me hope. I'm 45 and seriously thinking about going back to school. Problem is, I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. Guess I can just start and go from there.

I've been taking a hard look at Western Governor's U. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of WGU?

Scat, I have a good friend that is just graduating with her degree in Business from WGU, and she has really liked the experience. My brother-in-law also graduated from WGU and is now pursuing a Masters through WGU. I haven't heard much about the "regard" that the university is held in within HR circles, but it is fully accredited and I think the curriculum delivery system is pretty logical and novel. You should consider it, for sure.

 

[Duck Rodgers]

Do you guys puke every time you look at those 'best' degree to jobs list that come out every year for 2013? Apparently you have to be a human calculator to even get a sniff at a decent job these days.

 

[Scat]

Do you guys puke every time you look at those 'best' degree to jobs list that come out every year for 2013? Apparently you have to be a human calculator to even get a sniff at a decent job these days.

If you've been looking at jobs at all recently it is not at all unusual to see a bachelors degree required for $15 an hour jobs.

 

[Zulu]

I love having students my age in my classes... They get the jokes I usually tell!!!

Had a great Sienfeld joke the other day and only one student laughed!!