I graduated with my BS in geology over a year ago. I am older (45) and I haven’t found a job doing geology yet, and I’m not really sure I want to. I find geology fascinating, yes, but I don’t find myself totally passionate about it, and now I think I may have made a mistake in getting a degree in that subject. I thought since i love being outside and have collected rocks all my life it would be a good fit - and it was for the first few years. But later classes were not as interesting to me, and I struggled with some of them. But at that time, there wasn’t anything else I liked better, and quitting wasn’t an option for me.
I miss school. I am working menial jobs that I don’t even need a degree for, and the though of going to grad school for something different keeps entering my mind. When I was about 3/4 through doing my geology degree, I noticed that some GIS and cartography classes would count as both directed electives for my geology degree, and get me really close to a minor. I decided to stay another year (i had to, due to required class scheduling conflicts) and just do the minor in GIS/cartography. I loved doing that coursework and wished I would have taken those classes earlier in my academic career, as it may have changed the direction of my major.
So if you went to grad school later in life, how’d that go? Anyone do it later than age 45? Did you go back and get letters of recommendation from past professors? I don’t even know the process, as I hadn’t really planned on doing grad school when I did my undergrad. I thought about it briefly, but figured I cross that bridge when I got to it and didn’t do much research about doing it.
I spent 9 years working with just a BS in Geology before deciding to return for my Masters. Essentially I’d climbed as far as I could go without an advanced degree and when there was a downturn in the industry I decided that was the best time to return and pick one up and was 30 at the time.
I too considered doing something different, mainly becaused of the cyclical nature of the industry, and spoke with a number of friends and industry professionals about different vocations. When it came down to it though there really was nothing else that interested me near as much and despite the fact it will always be subject to fluctuations and job security is never guaranteed, I’m so glad I stayed with it. A Masters does expose you to an entirely new level of opportunities. The last 20 years have been better than average and I’ve fared very well.
Returning was relatively easy in that many of my B.Sc. professors were still there and admission wasn’t an issue. Classes were much more interesting in that it was all advanced structure, stratigraphy, geomorphology, mineralogy and petrology, geophysics, geochemistry, etc and no calculus, English Lit. and the like. Funding was there by teaching labs and one of the companies I’d worked for paid for my thesis research and publication. I set my own hours, doubled down and finished everything and graduated in a year and a half.
Sounds like you’ve still got some soul searching to do though. I’d be happy to answer any other questions and if any are private feel free to PM me. Good luck!
I started grad school at age 48, for some reason determined to have a grad degree before age 50. I have no idea why, but it wasn’t all that hard to do. My undergrad is in compsci/math, and I got a Masters in systems engineering. I think it was worth it, but my overlords at work are probably more impressed by the college name, than the degree itself.
Part of me hated the pupil/homework thing, and part of me loved it. Almost all of my classmates were younger, but since I’d spent 25 years in a career, I was used to getting projects finished on a schedule. I think it was actually easier for me than for them. I only took 2 classes per semester (about 6 hours), and I spent 2 years completing it. Fitting classes around full-time work, my part-time job, my kids, etc. turned out to be pretty stressful. As an old guy, I wasn’t used to online tests; But as an old guy, I was always way ahead of the schedule and was able to handle serious interruptions*. ymmv
This occurred in 2005, and if memory serves, I only needed letters of recommendation from former managers and co-workers. My college profs from the '70s would’ve been awfully hard to find. I also had to write a small essay explaining my goals and suitability for the program.
*During one online test taken from home, the power went out. I just cranked up my backup generator and reconnected my computer. I completed the amidst the roar of a gasoline engine:p. If I had been doing this during my college days, it would’ve been the last hour of the last day before it was due, and I wouldn’t have survived the power outage.
38 and in my last year of doctoral work in molecular biology. It’s been a mixed bag, honestly. I’m utterly determined to carry through with it, but I left a lucrative job to pursue this, and it’s really tough taking a 75% pay cut to come back to school. In addition, my wife and I just had a baby. I hope this whole rigamarole will be worth it.
There are ups as well, though. I’m working more or less independently, and I find the subject matter fascinating. I’m also exposed to some really top-notch people who share my love of the biological sciences.
I’m now a second-year grad student in my mid-thirties. We’re getting through it. I’m not sure what advice I can offer. I’m pretty sure I’m the only grad student here raising a teenager and a newborn at the same time.
And as for letters, I got them from doctors I was working with at the time rather than trying to track down old professors I hadn’t seen for six years. It was more relevant to get current recommendations, I thought, and it worked, so, there’s that.
I got my MBA in my mid 30’s and I loved it. Being more mature, I was really able to enjoy the process of learning, much more then I ever did in undergrad. Although I did it while working full time - which was tough. But I’m really glad I did it - and in terms of the education itself, I feel that I got much more out of it because I was older and had real work experience. My wife did the same thing and I know she’s really glad she did it as well.
I did not get letters of recommendation from any old professors - I just went with colleagues and people who knew me more recently.
Since I have a fulltime job, I took one class at a time, in the evenings. Took me 8 years to get the MS.
It was a pain in the ass. Every weekend I was doing projects and homework. Nice day outside? Lots of chores to do? Couldn’t do them… I was doing school work.
I got my BA om 2000, MA in 2004, and now I am wrapping up the first year of my PhD. I think I am living a lagged version of Ogre’s life: I too have a baby on the way in August. I do not know how I am going to handle working part time (black market job, as it were), a rigorous doctoral program, and an infant. I may not tolerate lack of sleep as well as I did ten years ago, but I am capable of accomplishing a hell of a lot more.
I did go back and get letters of recommendation from both undergrad and grad school.
I am 38 and in grad school. There are a lot of older people in college now due to the economy. I am not - by far- the only one or the youngest.
The one thing I could tell you is to pick your major wisely. There are a lot of older students here in Architecture for the first time (their undergrad was in something else). They have no work experience. I ask myself if they have really thought this through: nobody is hiring and if they are they want experience, licences, etc.
Currently I am a single mom with a 6 year old child. If not for my mom, there is no way I would make it.
Letters of recommendation: I asked my bosses to write them.
Thanks everyone. I apologize for abandoning this thread.
Everyone’s experience is different. Unlike most of you, I am not working full-time, or even in a field where letters of rec. from bosses would help. I’m doing retail, and for now it is only seasonal.
But, I am so recently out of undergrad that contacting my former profs would be no problem. Part of it is my confidence level. Will they remember me, even if it has only been slightly over a year? Will the say good things about me?
I do need to do some soul searching. I have started looking into some programs for doing a MS in GIS. My age is scaring me. Why couldn’t I have figured some of this stuff out when I was younger?
I’m 40 now. About 5 years ago I was giving a talk at work (government agency) for an audience that included a couple of local professors. We got to talking after and I ended up going back to school part-time for a Ph.D in an area related to my work. Classwork was a breeze. Compared to the 20-somethings, I care and apply myself (much more than I did when I was in my 20s…)
Dear daughter arrived a few years back, and since then time management between full-time job, part-time school and family has been challenging…
I went to grad school 2004-2007, got my bachelor’s in 1989 (!).
My M.S. is in Geography with the Regional Planning speciality (but it was not a planning school ). I had had trouble getting any kind of career started since undergraduate college, so I figured this was my last chance to get one started. I considered the field carefully for 3 or 4 years prior to applying.
I also have a graduate certificate in GIS. Grad school itself was fun in a very stressful way, because I felt I was learning actual career skills. I sort of had to prove to my potential advisor that I was serious, and I became one of his best students. Be serious, treat your profs like Gods, and don’t fool around.
I had been working at a university, and I got letters from people I worked with. I don’t regret the school experience at all, but I feel that the longer I don’t work in the field the less chance I have of ever doing so. Although the economy has hosed this new line of work, I can still teach as an adjunct. Something will come of it sooner or later.
