School can I do it

Im seriously thinking about going back to college but Im worried I wont be able to handle it. Does anyone here go and how are you doing with it?

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I’m interested in the responses to this also. I too am considering returning to study. So if anyone works and study’s, please chime in.

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If someone will bankroll me I’d love to go back for a masters degree or phd. Don’t see that happening. Good luck though. I think being a little older will help you succeed.

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Doe anyone else find it perplexing that there are few to no scholarships out there for sz university students? There are heaps of them for people who are deaf or blind. Are sz considered a poor investment?

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“School can I do it”

poll please…

lol lol just kidding.

but I don’t think I could do it with my MI.
if I had money, I’d go for online courses instead.

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Many people here go to school, though all of them may not see this thread.

Personally, I was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 1980 when I was 19. After some hospitalizations and group homes I enrolled myself in community college when I was 23 or 24. I was lucky back then because nobody could tell I had a mental illness which freed me up to do stuff in life that maybe not everybody else who has this disease would be able to do. I’m not bragging, I had nothing to with it, it was just dumb luck; like being born with good looks or being physically strong. Everybody is born with gifts. Mine was my appearance. I won the lotto with my appearance with paranoid schizophrenia, but that did not mean I did not escape incredibly horrible suffering, going through hell, and spending 8 months in an insane asylum when I was younger.

Anyways, I attended college sporadically over the years, and now at age 56, I am finishing up my degree online; I have three classes to go. I handled college very well. I was almost always older than the other students when I attended in person but I was friendly and in some of my classes I was on OK terms with some of my classmates. Meaning we occasionally chatted.

But, I don’t know if I’m the best example for you. Sure, it was me who signed up for class and did the whole enrollment process on my own , it was me who got myself up in the morning in my board & care home, it was me who took a shower and dressed nice, and it was me who drove or took buses and taxis there. It was me who sat in classes and did all the difficult schoolwork. But the largest part of my (relative) success might be due to passing for “normal” . You be the judge.

By the way, my grades were mixed. I got a lot of A’s, I got some F’s and scattered B’s and C’s. I re-took some classes I failed the first time which were required to get my degree and I passed them the second time around. Over-all, going to college was a positive experience and I am proud of myself for going.

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Consider starting part-time study to see how you go before making the financial commitment.

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Lots of colleges have some form of help and resource for disabled students. I have used the ones in my colleges to help me. They do stuff like have special counselors to help you plan your educational goals and they help sign you up for classes. They help give you priority registration which means each quarter you are almost the first students to be able to pick and register for the classes you want. This is especially good because sometimes for certain classes there are many students at once wanting to take them and the classes get full so not everybody gets in. But we have first shot at them before most of the other students.

If use the disabled services, you can go into a counselors office and they will help you sign up for it and pay all the fees in there without standing in line for a half hour or so at a crowded Admissions & Records office with all the other students. Some Disabled School Services even pay for some of your expenses in registering and enrolling and if you get lucky like me, they might even pay for your units which these days can run from $35 per unit to a $100 per unit or more. I got lucky that I attended a college that did this. But I’m not sure if any other schools do this.

If you attempt college you might want to research their website online to see if colleges you are interested in have a disabled students office and if they do, give them a call to see of they can help you. In most instances, whatever you tell these people is kept confidential, even from the teacher. But in some cases it may be needed to tell a professor that you are disabled even though you don’t have to reveal your specific diagnosis unless you want to.

Just some stuff to think about!!

Good luck to you if you decide to try!!!

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I finished a master’s last year and I am now working on a graduate certificate. I am going online, though. I don’t know what your plan was but I didn’t do well on campus and opted to do some online degrees, instead. I’ve got a BS from State University of New York and the MA is from a little university called Western New Mexico.

I did very well. I got 3.8s on both the undergraduate and the graduate degrees. I got used to needing more time that I thought I should and made sure I had the time available to finish my work. Paranoia became a problem on two separate occasions but both were with the same instructor, he figured it out and there was no major damage, though I was really embarrassed.

In the beginning, my thoughts were very disorganized and I learned not to post in the discussion forums until I had a rough draft and final draft of what I had to say. I am way too lazy for that now but my brain has gotten used to organizing information better, too.

I think the most important thing I did was keep trying. I had to re-read, reconsider, rethink and so on. There was a lot of repetition especially in my first two years. I wanted the degrees, so I kept pushing but it was hard at times, for sure. Still, I wouldn’t trade the cognitive benefits I’ve received from pushing my brain to keep going for anything. They could have kept the degrees; it was worth it just to think more clearly. I also learned some things about neuroscience as I moved forward and I would suggest that, too. Understanding how the brain goes about learning new information is interesting, helpful and really worthwhile in the context of being a student.

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There is this one:

http://www.disabilityscholarships.us/disability-scholarships/lilly-reintegration-schizophrenia-scholarships-for-disabilities/427/

I don’t think online students can get it and I am pretty sure the student must be on meds but it’s been around for a while. However, I do not know of ANY others, so I totally see your point.

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My suggestion would be to make an appointment at your local community college with an academic counselor, and/or see what services are available from the students with disabilities office. Then start with just one class. Whether that is online or in person really depends on you. I will say that online classes always seem to be more work to me than in person ones. It just seemed like there were more assignments, and I learn pretty well by lecture, which the online classes I took did not do, it was reading and then online quizes about the topic. Sometimes short videos. If you go online, expect there will be a heavy amount of reading, pretty much no matter the topic - except math maybe. Interestingly, the online classes even had online exams, not proctored exams at the school, which I thought was odd. I found going to class was less of an issue than motivating myself to do the online modules in a timely manner. I procrastinate. But I was able to get my butt to class. I got a ride most times actually which helped.

Community college classes are usually transferrable, and they are relatively cheap. It’s also not unusual for students to just take one or two per semester. There are also many older, working students.

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I can’t handle being stuck in large rooms of people. Correspondence and self-directed learning I can do. Have done a lot of self-directed learning over the years.

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The main problem I had with in person classes (just me, your mileage may vary) was group projects. OMG I hate those. So does everyone else I have ever met though.

Oh and I always had to do afternoon or night classes because I am basically not functional before noon. That’s a good thing about online too, you can do it at 3 am if you want.

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