I am going to being going back to school in my late 40’s and wanted to know if there are any students over 35 on here? I am intimidated but I have no choice in order to make a fruitful living. I plan on pursuing computer science (even more intimidating). If you’re in school and over 35, how old are you, what are you studying, where are you going to school?
I’m looking for inspiration. Even more inspiring is those that are going to school on meds. I have my work cut out for me.
I’m 55 years old. I need just four more classes for my AA degree. When I was 30 years old, I was living in a group home and I enrolled myself in community college. I started taking two classes at a time and I continued for the next five years that I lived in the home.
Incidentally, I was also working part-time and I didn’t have a car so three days a week I made a one hour bus trip to work, three days a week (and one hour back) and two days a week I made a 45 minute bus ride to school (and 45 minutes back). So I did those things for 5 years.
In 1995 I stopped going to school. When I finally went back to school I was about 50 years old but I actually started taking online courses exclusively.
I take only one class at a time. I have had lay-offs of months sometimes between taking classes. My next class will start this coming Fall. My grades are mixed, I’ve had a few F’s, several A’s, several B’s, several C’s. My grade point average at this point is a 3.0
By the way, many schools have offices for disabled students. You may want to look into that. They will often pay your registration and other fees , they will sometimes let you skip the hassles of long lines to get registered for a class and they will often registrar you in their own of office , they will often give you priority registration which means you get to register for classes before other students so it makes it easier to get the classes you want. They will arrange for accommodations likes letting you take tests alone in a room by yourself.
I’m 28 and going back for software development. Its got great long term potential so really doing it at any age is fine I think. Just gotta motivate yourself
Priority registration was a huge help for me. I was in a huge university and taking fewer credits than most so my normal registration was always in the last group. I was taking Clozaril and had a miserable time waking up before noon. Like nothing could wake me up at all. I was able to sign up for all afternoon classes so I could actually attend.
I’m not 35, I’m 34 and just graduated. I studied nursing at a local private school. I had originally planned on attending full time during the day. But with my meds waking up in the morning is tough and classes started at 7am, so I switched to evenings. The good thing about evening courses is that most of the students are older, ranging from 18-60yo. Full time didn’t work out because I had trouble with the nursing school entrance exam, so I went part time. Which was for the best, because it was intense and stressful. except for my final semester when 12credits was required in the program. I went through a med change last fall. I don’t recommend this during the semester if possible do it over the summer while not taking classes. I got so depressed I was barely functioning and my grades suffered a little, I’ve barely retained info from those months. But I still managed to graduate with honors and was inducted into the national honor society phi beta kappa.
Going back to school in my 30’s was a totally different experience than the one I had in my teens-20’s. Its totally different wanting to be there to learn as opposed to semi-forced by parents and society. Plus this time around mine was the only name going on those loans, so I wanted my monies worth from the school.
Thanks for the tip on the disabled early registration. I also have a really hard time getting up early because of my meds. Hopefully, I will be able to attend in the afternoon. Due to my meds, it may take me a little longer to get my degree. We’ll see.
I just made 46 and I go to school full time. I am getting a technical certification in aircraft maintenance. I take meds and have straight As. In school 8-4 Monday thru Friday
“It was me who put the turtle in your girdle”, declared the March Hare smugly. “The Door Mouse wouldn’t fit and The Mad Hatter suggested I do it before med time at 9:00 p.m.”