One of my only regrets in life is that I never went to college. It just wasn’t in the cards for me as a late teen-early 20 something. Now at 32 I’m finding myself wanting to go for it. My job will pay for it (tuition anyway) and I’m tired of making excuses for why I can’t do it. I’ve got the money, I can make the time (put down the video games Russell!) and having a degree can only help my career.
So today, I applied to go to LA Valley College to pursue an associate of arts in business with a management focus. Frankly the prospect both excites and frightens me.
Any other adult students want to share stories to inspire, educate or otherwise scare the hell out of me before classes start in the fall?
Be prepared for an age shock. At 32, you may not feel all that old, but that’s cause you’re out in the real world. When you’re surrounded by kids right out of high school, you’re going to feel elderly.
You will amazed how smart you are
then you will be chagrined how dumb you are.
You will feel old, then you will thank God you’re no longer a kid.
Stuff that makes the average teenage sweat is old hat to you.
That was my experience. The students who had just left school studied full time. Weekend classes were dominated by students who were in their 30s and 40s. This in itself was a great advantage. They came from a wide variety of backgrounds and had experience in all sorts of fields. I learnt a lot of useful stuff from them.
I went back to college at the age of 38 and I’m taking daytime classes full-time. I’ve got one more semester left. Don’t worry about being an older student. For one thing, there are plenty of older students in my classes doing the same thing. In some cases, I’m not even the oldest at 43! For another thing, no one cares about my age. Most of the time I don’t even remember that I’m old enough to be their mom.
I’ve taken classes off and on since I was in my early 30’s. Other than some health issues that led to my just-plain-not-doing-the-work-for-reasons-too-long-to-explain in my last semester, it was fine. I’m hoping to go back this fall, now that I’ll have one chick out of the nest.
At 32 you will find that you’re not as old as you think you are. It’s a bit weird when you’re talking to a fellow student about something that happened in 1989 and they say something like, “I was born in 1988!” :smack: You’ll get over that.
For some of your lower level classes you’ll find that you might be older than the instructors. That’s no big deal and you’ll get over that as well. It might feel a little strange to call someone who might be 8 years your junior Mr. or Mrs. but you’ll get used to it.
Here’s just a few tips.
#1. Try to avoid dominating class conversations. I don’t know what the deal is with some older students but many of them can outright dominate a class discussion. So long as you stay on topic you should be fine.
#2. Remember that you’re just a student. Just because you work you shouldn’t expect the professor to give you breaks on when homework assignments are due.
#3. You work full time. Don’t overdo the hours of classes you take.
#4. Try to apply for scholarships for financial aid of some kind.
#5. Treat college as more than just a ticket to a better paycheck. This is a good opportunity to better yourself as a human being.
Congratulations Antinor01. I think you’ll do fine.
Marc
Awesome! I also need to get a laptop. I’m hoping to schedule placement tests soon. It would chap my ass if I end up having to take any remedial courses.
