Going back to school for older adults

“Oh all right, so it happens in Michigan too. You all need to stand up and yell "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!!!" It works on the movie, anyway.”

“I’m pretty sure this is not a universal problem. My father is a retired professor and Dean who still acts as an advisor. He developed pretty strong friendships with a number of his students and I get nothing but positive stories from people he’s dealt with. My sister is a financial aid director. I know she cares about the students she assists.

I do remember dealing with some a-hole administrators though.”

“SG
im with you about the job thing. i will have to leave my full time 9 to 5 job maybe by next Sept. so then i will need to find a night job that pays as much as this one.
i wonder if my family will remeber what i look like
its going to be hard. real hard.”

“So Violin is a product of academia, eh? That explains a whole lot! Where was your Dad a prof? Really, in the past I took classes at Guilford College in NC, Univ of NC at Greensboro, Rutgers U., Middlesex County, Morris County, and Centenary College. I never had a problem. This year the only problem I had was with an ornery advisor. The registration process was fine. Next year I will attempt the online registration, and maybe that will be another ballgame.”

“Thats' intresting because I thought to go back to College but theyr'e all too liberal and this Personage does'nt need any more liberal propganda!”

“He was a professor at the University of Maryland, Rutgers College & Livingston College. I won’t say where he was Dean because then I might as well post my name here.”

“The most amusing thing I found with the online registration is that after a certain date, you're not allowed to registered online - they want money first. Thing is, the online system doesn't tell you that (that would be considered good customer service) you just can't access the site.

The other thing I avoided was letting the work study students in the bookstore find my books for me. The only times I ever had the WRONG books is when I did that.

I've been thinking about going back to school again. I was ready for this semester, but something came up and I have to wait for the next one.”

“Twigeater, what are you going to study when you go back to school.

And you couldn't go back this fall, because you have the Isle de Haut trip. This is the problem with planning trips way ahead of time. But I understand that with Baxter and other popular places, you have to book ahead of time.”

“"Advising" and "processing applications (a.k.a. Admissions)" can be two different things. And any advising that doesn't come directly from the major department is always subject to being old and wrong.

For my last two degree programs I did some investigating before starting. In one case I visited the department and walked around the hallways talking to people at random. They didn't realize I was not a student and I got unbiased feedback. For the second program I did a web search for who had graduated from the program and then emailed them for some advice. That worked great.

Both experiences worked out well.

That being said, I couldn't even help MY OWN NEPHEW get accepted at my school. They kept saying he was missing records from one year of high school. He had it sent three times and they never got it staightened out. He finally went to another school.”

“ah - naps are good.

So I'm going to do this one class this semester. It's about all I can afford plus its a saturday class which gives me some more time to work and save and scholarship and loan hunt while still getting back into the swing of school.

As far as the advisor is concerned - she can piss off. I'm going to make an appointment with the head of the biology department at Hunter. I am also going to raise a fuss until someone tells me which of my BFA credits transfer (bunch of freakin' idiots).

In the meantime, at least I'm starting and the class is good CUNY wide.

Pre-calculus - Saturday mornings - 8-12pm with a two hour commute to get there.

Oh joy. (I can't wait to get to the school I want)”

“For pre-calculus taken one day a week you will definitely need this.

Math should ideally be taken spread out two or more meetings per week so you can study and absorb it in smaller chunks. If you force yourself to transcribe your notes as I suggest, you will actually master the material and make your life much easier.”

“

OMG I did it. It's all done! I survived it! Boy it was very hard. But darn it I did IT!!!


I begin Sept 6th.
I still need to get the $$ strighten out, but thats cool.

I am so stoked!!”

“I start class tomorrow.

Cell Bio for 3pts Bob”

“Phil,

You are so awesome! Thank you!!!

I am absolutely terrified about this class. I'm not the greatest at math and now its all in one day?

But I'm trying to look at it like this - I have one day of hell - and then 6 days to study my butt off.

If I make it through this - the rest should be managable.”

“LOL at Newgirl....your sooo funny, that pretty much sums it up...another word of advice pay attention to the Add/Drop dates 'cause you WILL get billed for any classes that aren't dropped in time. Not only that, if you don't drop a class the right way, it will screw up your GPA too. Sooo be very careful all you new fresh bait, I mean freshmen.... And good luck, you can do it!!! :)”

“LOl fresh bait. thats just how I feel.”

“Twink - If you nail this class, the rest of your math classes will be SOOOO much easier. Calculus will just fall into place. In fact, I thought calculus was easier geometry, algebra II, and trig.

Pre-calculus will most likely include trigonometry and lots of exponential functions. They can be a bear, but if you get comfortable with those you will be at the top of your calculus class...trust me.

Can't wait to follow your success!


Maple - Great news. Keep going!

Skeetah has a good point. Make sure you know all the deadline dates for dropping and what the procedures are. I can't tell you how many students I have seen mess themselves up from ignorance of that.”

“whohaawhaaaaa?!?!?

Should I be concerned considering I have no idea what you just said?

Just kidding. Sort of.

To all the other returning to school-bies... congratulations... see you on the other side!

*sniff* no more backpacking on the weekends from September to December *sniff*”

“we still have sundays!!!

im outta school at 4:30
we can go for a overnighter!!
then day hike on sundays!”

“Maple, when are you gonna do your homework, girlfriend? ;)”

“still have yet to figure that one out.

classes look like this
M & W ENG101
F & S MATH
I tried to pick classes with at least one day apart so i could have down time and study time.”

“LyndyS - I always wanted a degree in English. "English major" sounds so smart to me. :) (as does nursing and engineering and biology major, LOL - business is so ho-hum) Plus I had a couple of inspiring English teachers in my college years - I actually felt like I learned something useful from them.

I always take 2 weeks off in September, even when I was in school. I just tell my profs I'm going to be on vacation - never had a problem. :)

However, I believe that HIKE MAINE III will be in August next year. :)”

“how does that work if you already have plane ticks in hand and will miss 2 classes?

can you switch with another class or what?”

“maple, I used to do the exact opposite - I'd stack 'em all together and get the pain over with all at once.”

“I missed the classes - they are just starting up and exams are a few weeks away. If you talk to the prof up front, he may ask you to connect with another student and get the class notes. He may have a "pet" from a previous class that he will hook you up with to get notes.”

“Smiley - A while back, I had to go down to Wayne to sign my wife up for some classes so she could finish her student teaching. I stood in line in the main reg areaa for about an hour and when I got to the end, the person said that I had to reg over at another building. She said something about it being like a "Enrichment" type courses. When I got to the other area, there was no one to be found in line and I signed her up in a mter of minutes. I'll ask her what that was all about. I do know that she took her Masters classes at the remote campus (located near the Macomb County ISD) for Saginaw Valley. That REALLY worked wel for her. Please feel free to call us or write about school. I'm sure Kerry could help ya out a lot!”

“maple - your school may not be so tolerant, some classes are more critical, and it's prolly not a good idea to skip classes in your very first semester. Save it for once you get going. :)

At my school the profs are supposed to have an attendance policy, sometimes we got points for attending class. The reason for the attendance policy is because of a scandalous professor who awarded very good grades to students who never attended class. So it's a requirement now and some profs build it into their syllabus.

My classes were once a week, for 2hrs and 45 minutes each. Exams for the beginning classes usually fell at week 5, 10 and 15 of the semester. Also as a result of the "scandal" profs were supposed to have three things to grade us on. Later it was papers and such, but I never missed anything critical.”

“Twigeater, I was an English major my first two years in college. I wanted to be a writer. But when I sat in my first two classes of British Lit starting in the third year, a required course for that major, I hated the old English writing so strongly. People seemed to think that the only job that English majors got were secretary and teacher, so I switched to Finance. I never regretted it. I still love to read, but if I was meant to be a writer, I would have written no matter what and I obviously didn't.”

“Mapleleaf - You should not be planning to miss classes already! Shame on you!

Actually, depending on each teacher's policy and how strong you are in a topic, you might or might not be able to take time off.

I know one thing for sure about my pre-calculus class (yikes!)- I will have to be dying in order to miss one of those marathon classes!”

“From what I remember of school, you weren't supposed to miss class unless you were majorly sick or had to attend a funeral of a close relative. I don't know how the professors feel about it these days. Maybe it is no big deal unless you miss a test or an assignment is late.”

“Thanks for the heads up, Lyndy! If I go back it'll only be one class at at time, no stress - it's not like before where I had to take 2-3 classes and bust my butt to qualify for the next promotion. So if I get a degree or not, I really don't care.

Not college classes, but I'd also like to learn French and take piano lessons. Now that I've had a year off from school, adult ed is looking pretty fun. I'm also starting to look at my sewing and knitting basket again. :)”

“I had to drop a Tues-Thurs class last fall because I have to work the 4th Tuesday of the month at night and would have had to miss class. The prof was none too happy with me when I tried to be up front with him and clear it with him first - he was actually pretty insulting, saying that I wasn't a serious student. He made me drop his class.”

“A friend of mine took two classes on the same night, same time. He showed up in class every other week. I wouldn't dare do that, but he got away with it! =O”

“Regarding missing classes, every course and professor is different. Some courses are such that if you miss a week or two you might not be able to catch up (e.g. some math or science classes).

If you have a trip or vacation already plannned, you should clear it with the professor BEFORE the course begins. If it is early enough you should be able to find a good person to get notes from and plan for time to catch up. Most professors are more understanding of adult students...but you don't know unless you ask. In my non-statistics related classes I am pretty tolerant of students who have trips planned.

If you have a math class that meets once a week, you really can't afford to miss even one class.

Frankly, I have had more trouble with students who were taking too many classes than with those who have trips planned. Here is my rule-of-thumb for how many units you should take:

(# of units x 4) + (hours of employment) should be less than or equal to 60. That formula allows enough time for you to work, attend class, study, and have a personal life.

If you are in school and are maintaining a 3.0+ GPA without too much of a sweat, you could change the formula to (# of units x 3) + (hours of work) < 60.

If an instructor is teaching a major core course (an important or capstone course in your major), they will expect you to make it a priority in your life. One of the five courses I regularly teach is like that. I tell those students that if they can't make it a top priority that quarter then they should postpone taking it.”

“Phil, I am glad you are chiming in on this thread. Its really great to hear "the other side"s perspective.

Is the # of units you describe above equal to "credit hours"? I'm in trouble if I think I'm going to take 8 credits (minimum I need to obtain financial aid) and work 45 hours a week. Yikes!!”

“Is that semester hours or quarter hours, Phil?

Not that it makes a difference now, but the vast majority of the quarters I was in school, I was taking 6 semester hours (I know, bizarre) and working 40 hours per week, and I still managed to graduate magna cum laude.

Of course, I had no life, but that's beside the point.”

“hmmm, i just added up my hours for school

14 hrs

plus working n 40 hrs

i just got a bad stomach ache :(”

“I took 6-9 semester hours, worked 40+ hours and had a kid. Took compressed classes most summers as well. I only graduated cum laude though. :(

I wouldn't recommend that schedule to people who have kids though.

No life and the tv was my best friend (mindless entertainment). Still trying to break that addiction. =D”

“I put off having kids until after I finished school. I didn't want to have to balance too much, ya know...

I realize not everybody has that choice though.”

“mine are a little older. 15 and 11”

“Maple - you need to section off a portion of your apartment for your study space. Even if it means going up to the roof with your tent and a lantern!”

“Section off her apartment. HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa
HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa
HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa
HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa
HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa
Oh ha ha he!
Ha He Ho!”

“hey - she could turn the long hallway into a study "cell"”

“All of the entire apartment together is a cell! There are prison cells bigger than the entire apartment! And the ACLU squawks if they stick another prisoner in the same cell!”

“yeah well see where you 2 get to sleep next time you want a place to crash!!


you sleepie with the fishies!!!”

“I did sleepie with the fishies!”

“What's that smell?”

“your breath dork!!”

“I just recieved the syllabus for one of the classes I registered for.

Attendance:
Attendance will be taken once at the beginnign of the class and may be taken after any break.
Lateness will be counted as an absence.
Only one absence/late arrival is allowed without reduction of final grade.
The student is responsible for all material covered during an an absence. This includes assignments or announcements that may have been made.All work must be made up within one week of the due date to recieve credit for the missing work.
Unfortunately, due to call volume, I am unable to return phone calls requesting homework and information on missed work in a timely manner. Obtain the phone numbers of a least two students to contact when absent.

Apparently, there will be no hikes starting on Friday mornings this semester.”

“What are you taking?”