Anyone else started school at 33 years old? I hope I'm not alone....

[bricabrac]

mike4554,

I am actually the last of my five siblings (one five yrs younger!) to earn my degree. I was on a different path right out of high school. I went to a trade school then decided years later, I wanted to own a salon but not necessarily work in one. My father was a traditionalist and I was under his care until I married. Still, I married my HS boyfriend at 21 and didn't have to worry about money so I got a job as an admin and worked my way up the food chain slowly. It really didn't matter because my household came first. Luckily, with age comes intelligence!

I started slow at my local community college. In 2005 (40yo) I earned 18cr - 3 courses and 3 credit by exams; then in 2007 another 3cr course. I started my associate and bachelor's degree programs at TESC 8/2009 (44yo) and pushed forward. I combined community college with TESC courses, DSST/CLEP/TECEP exams and alternate coursework (Aleks, Straighterline, Penn Foster) and continued on a rapid place until completed 3/2010 AAS and 9/2010 BA (45yo). I will warn you, once you begin, it becomes addictive.

We are so conditioned to believe college must be completed one way, in a classroom and that is just not feasible for many adult students. Enter the Big3 schools (Thomas Edison State College, Excelsior, and Charter Oak State College) and suddenly you realize it really is not that hard at all. Study hard, apply yourself, and you will quickly become a degree holder as well! You already have the needed motivation, your child and your dream to make life easier for the baby. You're also going to learn some valuable tools while here that will help you prepare your child for the smart road to his/her degree. You have teens on this forum with their degrees with very little to no student loan debt!!!

Use this forum! You have many years of academic, work, and life experience at your fingertips on this forum. Ask questions! Lean on us for support. And most important, never give up! Even if you can take only one class or test a year due to work/life responsibilities, don't stop. Research TESCs Pay Per Credit Tuition Plan. There is a link and cost benefit spreadsheet in my signature.

BTW, I wouldn't be so quick to throw away that warehouse/trucking experience. Have you thought about becoming a Asst Supervisor/Manager once you've earned your degree? Instead of applying for entry level jobs, you should think about coordinator or similar roles. There are also IT functions specific to production/operations or working in the accounting dept within an industry to which you already have a strong background. Put your knowledge and experience to work for you while at the same time placing yourself in a perfect position for a promotion once you've earned your degree. Just a thought.


Good luck in your journey!

[UptonSinclair]

I am 44 year old licensed electrician who just finished my first Bachelor's degree. I wish I would have started college 20 years ago. Let me tell you a little about being an electrician. Unless you serve a formal apprenticeship, the pay sucks. I had over 15 years of experience as a maintenance electrician and made $18 an hour without benefits. I was trained in the Air Force so in many states I couldn't test for a license. Thankfully, after moving to Colorado things got better. I was able to test for my license and land a union job. I am now making more than I would make with most Master's degrees.

If you are interested in becoming an Electrician, go see your local IBEW and see if you can get into a formal apprenticeship.

While you are waiting to hear from the IBEW stay in college and work on your general education. Get lots of math and science. If the apprenticeship doesn't work out, you can study to become an electrical technician and do more complicated motor controls. This gets close to IT working with Programmable Logic Controllers, industrial networking, etc. Good technicians are hard to find and the work is a lot more interesting than the grunt work construction electricians do.

Be careful about focusing on the time it takes to get a degree. Worrying about the time has caused me to make a lot of bad choices with my education. There are very few online options that are better than your local community college.

[happydayruth]

I was 32 last year when I started pursuing my degree! Others on here will have much more solid information and advice for you, but I just wanted to chime in and say do NOT think you're too old or that it's not possible to earn your degree. Sure, I wish I had started and finished my degree wayyyy earlier and I was terrified at the thought of going back to school, but seriously don't let those kind of thoughts keep you from pursuing it if you know it's what you want and need to do. It's totally possible.

One of my favorite quotes:
Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.
Earl Nightingale

Go for it! We will all be cheering for you!

[GoodYellowDogs]

I think the general consensus is that you aren't too old and we all wish we had started earlier... if that isn't a sign for you, I don't know what is!

[Kintsukuroi]

I started working on my degree at 33 I became a single mom of five kids and had been a stay at home mom for the previous 11 years. I only had a high school education and almost no work experience. I will graduate with my Associate's in Biology next semester and then I head to nursing school I have taken CLEPs while at community college to help move my degree along faster. You can do it!

[Christopher]

I’m in a similar boat. I graduated high school in 1998. I started community college because Universities charged triple for the same lower level classes that I can take at community. At the time it was only $10.00 a credit or $30.00 for one 3 credit course. Now in 2014, it’s $46.00 for just one credit at the same community college. Argh. Anyhow, I went in with no real plan. I started taking TA classes (Theater Arts) maybe looking to major in TA to go into teaching theater. My parents wanted me to go into Business or Law. I always had desire to go into college and I loved learning so my plan was to go too college. But, personal issues, work, realizing I can’t act for crap, and never knowing what to major in I spent the next four years on/off at the same community college going nowhere. Quitting/restarting. I ended up graduated with an A.A. in Liberal Arts and Sciences just to graduate. At the time to get a TA degree required a ridiculous amount of credits (like 40+ just in lower for an AA in Theater Arts and having to act in all these intense plays) in 2009 it was adjusted to only 24 because no one was majoring in it and it’s not very marketable. I think I only need six more credits but I have no use for that now. Anyhow, what should have been done in 2000 ended up taking me into 2003 and wasn’t even done with a proper major. Simply put. I didn’t know what the heck to major in, and I’m horrible at math. Hate math always did. Im not a STEM major. Sciences are fine. So that was that. I refer to myself as a college graduate but I know my degree means little compared to many I work with. People with BS and MA’s in various of “set in stone” majors.

I don’t have a bad job, but it’s not the best. Too get deeper into it or go another direction I need a BA. Preferably in Business but Im so bad at math I’m skipping that. So, I’m looking into it and I’m 34 years old. Most of my AA credits I don’t even know can be transferred over and requirements in 1999 have changed. Only needed Elementary Algebra to get an AA now its Intermediate Algebra for example and College Algebra for BA/BS. Need two history classes now when it was only one in 1999 where I’m at. So, I’m in the same boat – might have to go back to community college. I’m looking at the “Big 3”. Only way I’m going to go. For me it’s because I don’t have the time or desire to drive down to Los Angeles to attend regular University and on top of that don’t have the time to take the traditional day courses since I work like anyone else. Online college is it now. In 2001 when anyone mentioned “online college” pictures of Sally Struthers on TV saying “You can become an Electrical Engineer at home” would come to our minds and no one would accept a college that was online. Now even our major state universities like California Lutheran University use online classes and our community colleges pretty much you can degree out on just them. So, don’t let the online college thing get to you. It’s perfectly fine and normal now. Just make sure the college is REGIONALLY accredited or Regionally and Nationally Accredited. Never go to a school that’s not accredited or is only nationally accredited or is only a “Distant Learning” college. Trust me on this. The big three on here are regionally accredited.

First off, take as much as you can at Community College. It’s cheaper. Classes, books, all cheaper. Sociology R101 here at the community college is $138.00 for 3 credits. At the University here it’s $200.00 for one credit coming to about $600.00 total for just one class. Same class as the community college even same book. (The whole US college tuition system is broken in my view)

Second…and most important…make sure you want this major. This from my own experience. Saves time/money not changing and you have a less of a change quitting. Im kind of stuck with that situation too if I should just get my BA in Liberal Arts and be done with it or go for my BS in Child Studies but have to spend another whole year at junior college getting certified with no guarantee nothing is going to happen. So, like me, think hard on major/concentration. No one wants to have a degree that’s non-applicable to anything. Although for the record, in most states you only need a BA/BS in ANY subject to substitute teach. In California it’s a BA/BS in ANY subject (could be in “Sleep Studies lol”) and you can sub teach as long as you pass the state CBEST test. We’re so desperate for substitute teachers here.

Right now you put yourself already one step above you were one year ago. By taking one semester of college you now fall into the area of “some college.” Many job recruits (even ours) will ask your college level and one option is “some college.” This means you’ve taken some form of higher learning classes. Instead of saying “just H.S. or GED” its “H.S. and some college.”

So you’re already adding a lot. If anything, if for whatever reason you can’t or don’t want to get an BA/BS then at least finish your AA/AS. An AA/AS is still an undergraduate degree showing you graduated college. Although it’s not as marketable as a BA/BS and BA/BS is pretty much what you needed today…an AA is still college graduate. In fact I wouldn’t had gotten into my job without my A.A. as A.A. is the minimum they’ll take. So stick with it! Only need 60 credits for an A.A. – Meet with a guidance counselor and they’ll help you plan out how to use those 60 credits properly in a major or in general studies.

[SteveFoerster]

You know, Mike, we seasoned folks really hate it when you whippersnappers come along and talk about how old you are.

[cookderosa]

33 is young. Finding this board is the start of the next chapter of the rest of your life! Welcome!

[LaterBloomer]

One thing you might be dwelling on too much is "the choice." As in, "I am making a choice that will affect my WHOLE life."' If that were the case, it WOULD have to be a perfect choice. Guess what? With the way the world is changing these days, even if you'd gotten your degree fresh out of HS, you'd probably be working at a different job today. The world is changing, and being willing and able to either educate yourself, or to seek an education will help you keep up with - if not stay ahead of - those changes. Ease up on yourself. Get a degree, or training in a field, and then be ready, willing, and able to continue to educate yourself. Even if you find a perfect job after your education or training, there is not promise that that job will still be there for the rest of your work life.

That said, welcome, and good luck.

[Hathery]

I'm 31, so pretty much in the same boat as you. Congrats on taking the next step towards your future!