Going back to school for older adults

“Do you mean bach - geology and hydrogology for grad.

Or do you already hvave a bachelor degree and a graduate degree and your going post-bachleor studies so that you can go to post-graduate studies?

Or are you still shaking for good grades so it doesn't matter.?”

“interesting field, where do you wanna work?

i do floodplain mapping(engineering H&H) for the state.”

“Sounds interesting Sacco...would love to hear more about what you do and how you go about doing it.

Not quite sure yet where I want to work - figure I'll get more of a feel for things this semester. Ideally I'd love to be involved in wetland conservation.

Where are you located Sacco?”

“ah...New York!”

“Twinks, I think we've talked about this before...my degree is environmental engineering, I work at a civil firm, and I'm finally getting more wetland work under my belt. Did several delineations a few weeks ago, waiting for the survey info to come back (they picked up our flagging) and then I can fill out the permit, and hopefully the state will agree with what i'm doing. My e-mail is on my profile if you want to discuss more!”

“OH, by the way, I got another A this past semester. 7 credits finished, perfect 4.0 so far!”

“congratulations!”

“i set up GPS networks for surveying drainages, recieve the survey data from the crews (cross-sections) and digitally construct the barriers (bridges, dams, culverts, ect)

do some [very minor] hydrology and *poof* you got yerself a floodplain map baby.

i mostly use:
ArcView with specific scripts
and some CAD”

“do you enjoy your work?”

“i love my job.

or were you talking to SG ?”

“ArcView rocks, doesn't it? I mostly just see what it produces, I don't get into the details of actually getting it done. My group almost exclusively uses ArcView now, and we can populate our h/h models with data from ArcView. It friggin' rocks!”

“yup. it's wicked fricken powerful!

i wish i knew more about writing scripts for it, but then again you can find one to do just about anything you want online.”

“i use it for making my own custom maps for backpacking too.

errr - well i mean i would if i was allowed to use my work PC for personal use. [wink,wink, nudge nudge]”

“man - I wish I knew what you guys were talking about :( I've only just begun....”

“They lost me after "i".
;)”

“LOL @ Lumberzac!

Twinks, if you get the chance to use ArcView in any school projects, learn as much as you can with it. Its what everyone is using, great to put on your resume!”

“ArcView is just a mapping program that's very adaptable.

think of topozone or a delorme software or something - only waaay more features.”

“you guys don't use arcview at all?

if you can, try to get your boss to cough up the dough.

i'm sure you're familar with CAD, right ?

imagine combining NGtopo + AutoCAD + Excel”

“Sacco, I had to fight with the boss to get a $400 computer.
lol
I don't see arcview in our future any time soon.

We don't do a lot of mapping and surveying work anyway.

The two programs I use the most are AutoCAD and Photoshop.”

“NERDS!!

hehheee”

“Twinks - I think you are taking more than enough classes....maybe even one too many!!

Good luck!!”

“12 credits for me. 9 credits of education (blah) and 3 Biology. That should get me within a handful of classes to complete my masters.

full time job
school is after work 3 days a week, home by 10pm.

My wife and I are saying our good-byes to each other this week. She is picking up all the duties that I normally did at home, Bills etc. I expect I'll be living at the library when I am not in class. I gave her a picture of me and signed it see you in December. :)”

“Oh, sirpete, that sucks! i'm purposly NOT in school 3 nights a week because i think i'd end up a bitter, horrible person.”

“Three nights? Yo, I've got you pansies bet....4 nights here.

;)”

“Good Luck Dude....

I still have your photo here, waiting for your return.”

“Been there, done that. I finally cut back and took an extra year. It was worth it.”

“hey guess what - I'll be working with Archview this semester :)”

“Good luck, sirpete! Hang in there!

This past weekend, I finally got my grades in:

B+ : Poli Sci

B+ : Michigan History

A : World Civ.

In just four classes, I raised my grade point from an F to a 2.17 and growing.

Now, I have a another week or so until I head on out for Fall semester. I can't wait!”

“Congratulations :)

Keep up the good work spanky”

“Thanks, ole twinkle one!”

“Ohh!! Thanks for reminding me....I should prolly pay my tuition soon before they drop me from my class.


I've got one week to "relax" before school starts. Gee, and I even get to stay at work late tonight!! Yippee!”

“well, today was the first day of classes here at the old University of Montana. I got one credit out of the way already (last weekend) Now I have 10 to go for the semester. IT Auditing, Accounting Theory, Consolidated Financial statements and Advanced Auditing. I think I want to change to an MBA course study! jk”

“GEE WIZZ! I'm in the process of getting reinstated at MTU and they tell me I'm good to go as soon as I clear things up in accounting. I call accounting and they haven't gotten my deferment paperwork yet. Today I found out why. They want me to fill out yet another form and this one asks for EVERYTHING! I have to show my income AND expenditures. After seeing the -$21 at the end of the month NOT including this student loan payment, I think they'll approve my deferrment. Guess what. You CAN support a family of four on $1200/month... as long as you don't buy any clothes, birthday presents, forgo Christmas, and absolutely no incidentals. But it can be done. SCAREY!! I REALLY need to get a degree... AND a job!”

“Yea Sunny!! Have fun at Da Tech! Give it some love for me - I really, really, really miss that place. Wayne State in the middle of the City of Detroit just isn't the same! LOL!!”

“"hey guess what - I'll be working with Archview this semester :)"
TwinkleToes
02:06:51 PM



that's great twinks. like smileyG said, try to pick up as much as you can. it's very good for resumes and besides, you can use it to print out awesome personalized maps of any where you want in the world.”

“My geo professors rock (no pun intended)!!”

“I love my classes! Today I got to map the area of Greenland's ice cap! This stuff is sooo cool!”

“Holy crap, my class is pretty rough this semester. I was up until midnight last night doing homeowrk (started at 7PM) and got up again at 5AM to try it again. I have answers to 3 of 6 problems, the other three I simply just don't get. I e-mailed my professor today, confessing my stupidity, and hopeing I can get an appointment with him for some help.

This feels like one of my engineering classes where I didn't have a clue....its a bad feeling!”

“No word from Smiley? Hope you're doing better with that clas. Sounds like a nightmare.


I'm writing because I'm psyched to say that a measly calculus (i hate it) problem that was evading my comprehensin all weekend finally got figured out! Woowho!! Sad part, it wasn't all that difficult..once I saw the pattern.

Dope. Would you like fries with that stupid pie?”

“I got an A on my first Calc test on Monday! Yippee! so what if the test has claw marks all over it from the desperate attempt to cling to the 4.0 gpa....damn...now I need a manicure! LOL j/k”

“Good going, Twinks!!



After an incredible amount of stress and tears, I have decided to drop my class this semester. Axiomatic Algebra and me don't get along very well. The story is long and the reasons are numerous, but life is SO much better right now without the class, it makes the guilt of "quitting" go away.

I'm using this semester to work with some middle school kids on an engineering competition, and will likely take one of my teacher certification tests as well. So, my time won't be wasted, things just didn't work out as I planned them.”

“Smiley,
My hubby Thinkbubelz was a Chemistry/math major--if you ever need any help, let us know!”

“umm well so far on my tests i have gotten

96%
97%
88%
86%
95%

man i am good at this cookin stuff”

“Good choice Smiley. Your work with the school sounds really interesting and much more fulfilling then a frustrating math class! Keep us posted on the project - what are they working toward?”

“Well, it was computational mathematics, so I studied more applied math. Still, I had to take the tough theoretical stuff, too. Unfortunately, that's falling more and more into the category of "if you don't use it, you lose it". Groups, rings and fields, oh my!
Now I'm studying computer science; taking software engineering this term. My very first engineering class (because I've only ever taken computer classes at universities where they are part of the college of science).
I really want to take the music technology/recording classes, but they fill up too quickly. :( Maybe I'll sneak into a jazz ensamble next term to keep my sanity.”

“i took mechanical engineering and i hated it so i know i am a culinary arts major”

“I just knew that Think would sneak into this thread and post a comment! ;-)”

“sneaking? Sneaking?! --Gollum”

“I fantasized about pursuing Environmental Engineering for about 15 minutes...then I accepted the fact that I suck at math and would rather poke my eyes out with a spoon than have to take any more math than I already have to.

I have mucho respect for you engineering folks :)”

“What the heck is axiomatic algebra? I tutured some education math classes and they were lots different from the ones you took, smiley, in your engineering curriculum. Some of the stuff fell into the, "It's so easy, it's hard" category. They were so far afield of Calc and DE's that it took a while to get your mind around it. Is that what you're running into?

I know what you mean on the drop though. After DE, I took 2nd semester DE's and it was all physics majors. I spent more time on that than the eng classes. My gf, now wife, talked me into dropping. I didn't want to, but she was right. I can still recall the feeling of freedom when I didn't have to go to that dang thing again.”