Are you thinking about going back to college?
Maybe you started at 18 but got sidetracked by one of life’s many unexpected turns. Maybe you didn’t start at all, but now you’d like a do-over of the years you spent concerned with other responsibilities.
I’ve been teaching at universities for over 30 years. I started my career by teaching first-year composition classes as a graduate student. Since then, I’ve earned three graduate degrees and taught a wide array of classes.
I’ve taught in windowless basement classrooms, on military bases, and in a freezing cold portable building behind a potato-processing factory. I’ve had students who were 18 years old and straight out of high school. I’ve taught students who were in their 20’s or 30’s, with kids and without. And I’ve worked with a number of students who went back to college much later in life.
There are any number of circumstances that lead students to drop out of college the first time around. In many cases, that student just doesn’t have the maturity to defer more immediate desires (like the money that comes from working full-time.) Other situations–like becoming a parent–make going to college really difficult.
But most of the students I’ve worked with who made a successful return to college had a few things in common.
Their personal lives were manageable.
Life happens on its own schedule. If you’re halfway through a semester when your spouse decides to end your marriage, there’s nothing you can do but cope. But going back to college in the wake of a major upheaval is a mistake that it’s best to avoid, if you can.
I know it seems like a logical choice. Your spouse is gone, you’re left to build a new life on your own–better finish that degree and expand your career options. The missing part of this equation, though, is the emotional toll big transitions exact. If you have the luxury of waiting until everyone involved has a chance to make peace with their new normal, take advantage of that. If you don’t–and many women don’t–then take the transition as slowly as possible. You’ll make up for lost time later.
Initially, your only goal should be to keep things manageable. That will give you the confidence to move at a faster pace when you’re farther down the road.
They were ready to explore.
I started college as a Marketing major. It took me less than one full semester to figure out this was not the right path for me.
Unfortunately, I didn’t know which path was. So I gave myself some time to wander. And you know what? I still managed to graduate from college ahead of schedule, in 3.5 years.
I don’t think it’s important to know exactly where you’re headed when you start taking college courses. In fact, I think it’s a very bad idea to defer your college education until you’ve formulated a specific plan. That level of confidence has the potential to lead to huge disappointment when you discover the major you’ve chosen is either 1.) not interesting enough to motivate you or 2.) beyond your present capabilities–or your willingness to stretch them. I’ve seen many excellent students drop out simply because their original plan wasn’t the right one.
Successful students understand that education–not a specific college degree–is beneficial. Because they recognize this, they also understand than every course and any major will benefit them in the long run. They’re learning how to be effective learners. That’s what most employers want–not robots who can perform a task, but effective problem-solvers.
They were going to college for the right reason.
The only good reason to pay for a college education is the desire to learn how to learn.
The person who goes back to college because they’ve run into a wall–they can’t get promoted at work without a degree, for instance–is very rarely a good student. They see the degree as a hurdle; their only goal is to get over that hurdle, preferably with as little effort as possible.
While one can, of course, graduate from college with a C average (which is why students plagued by senioritis adopt the mantra C’s get degrees!), the student who works hard is doing more than putting together an impressive transcript. That student is learning how to learn. If you don’t know how to do that–how to put aside your ego and admit what you don’t know–then you aren’t likely to go very far in any field, even with a college degree in hand. If your lack of knowledge doesn’t get in the way, your arrogance will.
I’ve watched older students do well in my classes in spite of very difficult circumstances–unexpected health problems, bitter custody battles, even sudden homelessness. I’ve also watched students with every advantage give up because college wasn’t what they expected.
The bottom line is this: if you’re interested, you’ll succeed. Figure out what interests you and chart a course that allows you to focus on it. In the long run, the right attitude is far more powerful than perfect timing.
No Comments