Mature/Returning Students

that would be wunnerful ~kate.... seems its a lot easier to find women's stories... and it is, of course, easier for me to write from my perspective.....but I want the project to include men's as well

can I ask how old he was when he went back?

I returned to school for a change in career. I majored in accounting, but was not happy in that field.

so what did you take when you went back, Kelly? did you have kids when you went back?

Why did you decide to go back to school? I had just had a baby and I wasn't really welcome to go back to my old place of employment. I knew that Iif I didn't go back to school, I could never earn much more than minimum wage.

What were you doing before? Before going back to school I was a medical office manager for a nephrologist.

What factors influenced your decision to go back? I didn't have a job to return to and my husband had finally graduated with his bachelor's degree. We had stopped paying for his education and it made sense for me to pick up my degree where I had left off in 1993.

P.S. I am not on Gather as much anymore, fall semester started today. If I can be of any further help Flit, just e-mail me, I so get to check that regularly.

Why did you decide to go back to school? I chose to go back to school when I was told that I was not able to return to work because of health condition. Instead of doing nothing I felt that it would be beneficial to go back to get my college degree
What were you doing before? I was a manager at Pizza Hut for 5 years.
What factors influenced your decision to go back. Mostly my children did. As they were approaching high school my son showed he was losing interest. Since I had dropped out because I was pregnant I felt like I was being a hypocrite telling him education was important when I didnt have my own.This way we could go to school together and we can study and I could actually help the kids with the college level work. Hope that helps

A friend is a "mature" student...has 5 boys, the oldest starts college in a few weeks...the youngest 8th gr. He went back to get a degree in engineering, because with the G.I. bill, he can afford it. Shawn was a marine for years...and was in desert storm....now has the money, from the gov't to go back.

thank you guys so much!

this - and any other stories (where are you, Jodi!? oh yeah...first day of school...spanish class! LOL oh well... you're excused until you get home & get your homework done) - are going to help me huge! ....will likely send some followup questions by email later... for now I am SO procrastinating about driving.... gonna be very late if I don't get off my butt and go

Sry I can't help!

Well I'm not a student but I am very mature.

Thinking about it....not done it yet ;)

Gee if I went back to school I would have to say, because I didn't learn it the first time.. ha ha ha

Flit: I had a job making about 30K yearly, not bad, not great, but it almost paid all my bills, (at least until our natural gas went shooting up!), but my FEET WERE KILLING ME! The job was a fast food restaurant manager, and there was room for promotion, but I came home and cried most days after work. Plus the job was salary, and my kids had to visit the restaurant in order to see me more than a few hours a week. Also nights, weekends and holidays coupled with two then pre-teen daughters. Something had to give! I felt I was not utilizing my full talents and needed to do something more with my life - because of the family and my love for helping kids teaching was a natural choice. Sure it doesn't pay well initially, and Michigan is laying off more teachers than it is hiring, but I can always find some work - colleges, before/after school programs, tutoring, etc.. Hope this helps!

Flit, I have audited classes on and off for the last ten years. I was scared to death to commit to attending a class because of my health and memory issues. The first class I sat in on was one on playwriting. I was determined I wanted to write another play. It was tough. There were days I brought my oxygen tank with me!

Then I wanted to take another class on playwriting, then one on poetry, and I tried to take another writing class until my health faltered. It was hard for me to accept that I couldn't complete that class. Then I realized I had learned much already and to be appreciative of what I had the opportunity to learn.

I don't know if this will help Flit.

definitely can use all the input, thank you.... well, assuming I ever get to writing it.... not making much progress with anything right at the moment

Ha! Finally home from school so I can catch up on Gathering! I'd be happy to be an interview subject for you privately (rather than air all my dirty laundry right here in front of God and everybody, which I already have to some extent) so just let me know what you need.
Waiting for the bus now so I can see how dd's first day of kindergarten went!

When I first went back to school as a mature student it was because my ex was constantly belittling me and saying that I should formalize my accounting training to become a CGA. I found that I enjoyed the actual courses but the extra work on top of my full-time job as an accounts receivable supervisor and looking after the house and 2 kids was a real grind. You absolutely know that he didn't take up any of the slack for me either, in fact it almost seemed like he undermined my efforts to study hard and turn in my assignments on time.

For some of the courses, like contract law I did very well but somehow I couldn't get my head around taxation. I suffered from exam panic and for that one, although I went to write the final exam, I couldn't force myself to go into the room and take it so naturally I failed, duh!

After 4 years of it I finally realized that the company I worked for was not going to pay me $10 or $20K more per year the day after I got my degree so I decided to stop.

A few years later I decided to try again but in Marketing. I wanted something which was not so closely related to my working environment. I got a real kick out of marketing and my favourite subject was Warehousing and Materiel Management. My divorce and remarriage occured before I finalised this degree but I thoroughly enjoyed all that I learned during that time.

When next I went back to school it was just for assorted courses which I was able to audit (full participation but no credits received) courtesy of the fact that my husband was a teacher at the local college. Those courses were a year of Italian, a year of Spanish and several years of Fine Arts.

I love to learn new things but I find now that the Internet satisfies most of my needs for tutorials and courses. I got to the stage where I felt the experience of the physical classroom was a frustrating one due to the poor behaviour and idiocy of some of the students. Many were good kids and there to learn but one or two bad apples could make the whole thing a pain.

Good luck with your project, flit. :-)

Why did you decide to go back to school? It has always bothered me that I didn't finish. I was too caught up with the social aspect and dealing (or not dealing) with my own demons when I was younger. I was finally in a place where I felt like I was settled down and could set goals, looking toward the future.

What were you doing before? To be honest, I wasn't doing much. I have had a succession of dead end jobs and was just starting to work from home, part-time on a website project.

What factors influenced your decision to go back? Finally getting my mom to shut up:) Seriously though, a lot of it was the ease. I have taken one semester and have started my second this week. All of my classes have been online so far. How hard is it to get up in the morning and log on?? I do it already, so it was a piece of cake.

I think that it was a matter of being the right place mentally at the right time. I was and am really happy at home, had stopped drinking and could finally lay down some roots and bloom. Before, school always sort of took a back seat to whatever drama was going on in my life. Now that I have been going on an even keel for a while, it was just time.

That is my story in a very tiny nutshell:)

I would be honest, i find an education a way of continued personal growth, I am never to old to learn, I do not like to limit myself