Returning to college after many years

In My Humble Opinion
1

I have returned to college after about twenty years. What’s it like? Let’s share our experiences. The main thing I noticed is that, despite my feeling that the culture has been dumbed down and juvenilized over the past few decades, I would have to say honestly that on the whole the students seem as intelligent and committed to their classes as they had before. So there goes one prejudice.

A few differences I did notice: everyone walking around talking on cell telephones! No such thing back in the Eighties. Are all those calls necessary? I don’t think so. People, you will survive just fine without them; unglue them from your ears. There will also come a point in your lives, at about thirty, when you cringe every time the phone rings, knowing it’s probably someone who wants either your time or your money.

My pet peeve is the constant use of the word “like” among young people these days, in virtually every sentence, sometimes several times in a sentence. “I’ve got, like, five classes, and I’m, like, trying to do all this reading, and my roommate is, like, Do it on the weekends, and I’m, like, No way.” Arrgggh! Stop it! If it gets any worse, I will smile and repeat “like!” every time someone says it to me in conversation.

The women also sound a little more potty-mouthed than I last remember women talking.

The thing I dislike most about being back in college is how you always have something hanging over your head — an upcoming paper, quiz, exam, project. This follows you around mentally 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Out in the working world I had projects and assignments, but I physically and mentally left them at work when I went home for the day. For some reason, college doesn’t allow you to do this. Which is probably why for years after you leave college you can still have nightmares about missing an exam.

The thing I like best about being back in college is how much more I feel engaged in class discussions. Whereas back then I might have been like the others, hiding in the back of the class, with my eyes cast down on my desk, hoping, “Please don’t call on me,” today I sit at the front of the class, raise my hand all the time, and have much more confidence in my ability to contribute to the discussion.

I’d enjoying hearing from other older returning students.

2

Well, im only 25 but college is alot different than high school was in the mid 90s. The women dress like prostitutes and the men dress like homeless people. And the cell phones are really pervasive, I never saw a cell phone in high school.

3

I graduated four years ago and I had a bad dream about being late for class last night.

The “like” thing tends to be from teenagers (in my experience) and they don’t know they’re doing it. I’ve had similar verbal tics, but they’re, like, hard as hell to get rid of. :slight_smile:

There were a few reasons I talked on the phone a lot on campus. I got free long distance and a billion minutes. I rarely had free time except between classes, and when you’ve got an hour to kill, catching up on phonecalls is a fine way to do it.

4

I went back to college at 30 to earn my BA. I loved it. I found the students to be intelligent, inquisitive and fun. I think I got more out of my profs, too, cuz I wasn’t afraid to ask questions, meet them after class to talk about projects, etc. But I was less tolerant of slackers, you know, people who are in your group and a project is coming due and they are no where to be found, but they get the same grade as everyone else without doing all the work. That makes me nuts.

I found it easier to be a student at 30 than I did at 20. I was just too wild, too irresponsible, and I didn’t have the right priorities. At 30, I really wanted it, and my grades were much better than they were in high school. Actually, I was a high school dropout …

I’m going back again, I hope. I am trying to get into law school, and should know in the next three weeks or so if that’s going to happen. I’ll be 41 going in …

I wish I could be a student for the rest of my life, but then how would I pay all those student loans?

:smiley:

5

I went back last year at age 38. It had been twenty years since college for me, too. I was a very irresponsible 18-year old; this time it is going much better. I am in my first semester as a sophomore and I have made the Dean’s List both semesters of my freshman year.

I notice the cell phones a lot! I keep mine turned off most of the time and it amazes me that most of the other students have them out and turned on the second they walk out of class. Ditto on the word “like” (although sometimes I find myself slipping that into conversations…it is an “umm” or “err” thing).

I also find myself participating in class discussions more often. I am over the phase of worrying what people think of me. I will add my comments and give answers even though I may not be right; I do not feel embarrassed to be wrong at this stage in my life. I think younger people are so afraid of what others might think if they speak up, or be afraid to be laughed at if they give wrong answers.

One of the biggest problems I have run into is that it seems to take me longer to catch on to concepts and work through things than the younger students. Maybe that is because I have been out of school for a long time, and they have had material covered recently in high school that I had over twenty years ago…and I have forgotten most of it while it is still fresh in their minds

Calculators have been a big challenge. Kids in college have been using TI calculators since high school; back in my day I do not remember calculators being allowed in most classes (although I did not take much math back then). I just got a TI-89 Titanium and I feel like I need a class just to use it.

School does take up most of my time. I am carrying a heavy class load this semester; I do not think I will be doing that again! I have tons of stuff hanging over my head at this very minute.

In most of my classes I am not the only older student. I was so afraid of that at first. At times it does feel weird being old enough to be the younger students’ mother, but so far I haven’t felt left out or anything.

6

I only waited 6 years between getting my BA and starting my MA, but even that short time proved pretty dramatic. Though my body had changed, my work habits reverted back to their old ways, so I foung myself pacing myself to do all-nighters (par for the course for writing all my papers), only to find out my body wouldn’t always cooperate. Also, I was really energized by going back to school, but most of my classmates were rolling straight off of undergrad and were largely burnt out. This made things frustrating because classroom discussions would often be extended conversations between the professor and myself. Even after consciously waiting for other people to contribute, the aching chasms of silence just drove me nuts to the point that I stopped feeling guilty for “monopolizing” the conversation. Hey, I wanted to get my money’s worth even if my “peers” couldn’t be bothered. Dorm life was sure different too (I was an international student) and I gained a lot more weight fending for myself than I did when I was younger (though living in the UK probably had something to do with this).

Congratulations on going back Walloon! Hope you get the most out of it. :slight_smile:

7

The one gigantic difference between college-age students and adults returning to college IMO (I’ve been teaching in a university the past 25 years) is the older students understand what I’m saying when I explain that the way to excel in my classes is to exceed my minimum expectations.

I.e., when I tell them that their assignment is to answer Question X in at least 1500 words, arranged in syntactically correct sentences, referring to at least two authors we’ve read, and making a thesis of some kind, the adults often hand in papers of over 2000 words, in sentences that are not only syntactically correct but often using witty diction and refer to four authors we’ve read (and two others we have not read in class), making a strikingly powerful and original thesis.

The college-age ones tend to go, “Hey, I did what you said to do–where’s my A?” while the older students understand that A’s generally designate work that goes way beyond the mimimal fulfillment of the assignment.