Back to school after 23 years

[Merlin]

The last time I was in school it was to get a Graphic Design Specialist Certificate from a now defunct college.

My self-esteem (especially in a work setting) has always been affected by my lack of a degree. It's always been my dream to have a bachelor degree and I'd like to start that now during my 40s. I've been trying to get my feet wet and trying to understand all of the requirements, acronyms, and 2021

You can do it! I'm 57 and I just started in June. Doing it for the same reason as you.

Doing this in your 40's is no big deal. I'm over 50 like monchevy. I completed my bachelor's and master's degrees within the last two years. Primarily for personal satisfaction reasons as described above since I didn't really need the degrees for my career. I'm on hiatus to do some research and relax a bit, but I am planning to start on a Ph.D. or maybe another master's degree within the next year or so.

Age doesn't really factor into it. In fact, it may make getting degrees easier... you've got a lot more life and career experience to draw upon to push through classes faster. Particularly if you take advantage of the competency-based options we outline in this forum. Like using ACE credit sources like StraighterLine, Study.com, etc. in conjunction with schools with high ACE transfer allowances and/or attending a college with competency-based degree programs like WGU, NAU, SNHU, UMPI, Walden, etc.

I'd like to choose a degree that I'm already familiar with. For starters, I'm leaning towards psychology more so because of my experience plus the fact that I've ready a lot of self-help books. But I do think that BSBA would be more beneficial for me in this point of my career as an Executive Assistant.

If I were you, I'd go with whichever one is more interesting to you. Neither is likely to help directly in your job (unless you think you can get a pay increase or move into a better position in your company or another because of the degree). When job hunting, most employers just want to see that you have a bachelor's degree and don't care what it is in. So it really comes down to what you'll enjoy doing since that will go a long way in helping to ensure that you complete the degree.

Personally, I went with a BSBA but nearly all of my GenEd's and electives were Psychology courses. Part of me feels like I would have been happier working on a psychology degree, or at least adding psychology as a second degree. But at the time, I was more concerned about keeping myself motivated to complete the degree quickly so I could move on to an MBA. I am considering going back for an MS in Psychology, which I think would be quite interesting.

Good luck!