I'm 29 years old and have about 55 college Units under my belt. I am still not even sure what my major is, but I have decided to stay sober and go back to school and finish this time.

Honestly, I can't help but shake the fact that I am too old and I feel like a loser. Of course I am fully aware that there are people much older than me who don't have any college credits at all.

Its kind of a personal psychological barrier that I am dealing with for some reason.

I welcome any thoughts or comments or personal experiences about this.

Why would you care what a bunch of immature 19 year olds think of you?

I guess its not that I care what they think of me, its more what I am thinking of myself.

I'm honestly not sure, but you make an excellent point.

Why does anyone care what anyone thinks about them, for that matter.

for the record im 19 and in college, i met a good friend there who's 32.
i woulden't worry about it. people arnt nearly as judgemental as we think they are.they're far to wrapped up thinking about what people think of them.

I believe that this is very true.

One of the best students I've ever met was in his thirties. He destroyed my Discreet Mathematics course.

No one thought it was weird that he was there because he was comfortable with his environment. If you appear to be confident, people will assume that all is well.

27-8 is the avg age of college students in the US. You're not anywhere near old. I bet you'll have 40-50 yos in your courses. I teach plenty of classes where 4-5 students are older than i am.

there's a lady in her 70th yr in my friends English class fwiw

Don't worry about what other people think. Just do what you feel is right and what makes you happy.

I agree with the above.

As a professor I tend to like older students. Plus they tend to do better in my classes (as long as you don't try to dominate class discussion and talk too much about your "life experiences" that don't really relate to class material).

But overall, older students know that life without a degree can be tough (unless you're an awesome poker player) and so they don't mess around.

If you're confident and try to fit in, the younger students will likely think you're cool - definitely not a loser.

I'm also a Uni. professor, and I also have a preference for older students in my classes. They tend to be harder working and to have a much better sense of what they want out of life. They actually come to class wanting to learn something instead of just killing time in college because that's what their parents expected of them.

Anyway, it isn't my experience that these students have any trouble fitting in. Just be yourself, a 29 year old going back to school, and I think your experience will be great.

You'll be fine, there will be people twice your age. Unless you're going bald a lot of the kids won't even realize you're 29 anyway.

i'm 19 and in college and i can't imagine myself, or anyone i know, looking down on a 29 year old going back to school. seems pretty standard to me.

i really doubt people are going to notice/care.

the old(er) people in class def. work harder and care more than the "kids"...probably because they are paying for it themselves and know what the real world is like without a degree.

you can always take night school to be with other adults

When I was in engineering school, I remember quite a few "older types" in class with me. I bet 30% were +/-35 years old. Some were as old as mid-50's and those guys were more serious about school.

I bet you'd be surprised if you go visit the school for yourself, particulalry these days when a lot of people are re-visiting their ambitions.

dandy

Not really, and considering the economy lots of nontraditional students are in school.

When I was in my first year, there was 45yrs old guy with a job and 3kids. He was nailing maths and physics. Everyone respected and treated him well, but unfortunately he was too occupied with his private life and left school. ****ing do it, It's no brainer.

my gf is 26 and will be graduating with a BA this year. she does feel older, and sometimes doesn't feel like she fits in with all the privileged white kids (she's white too, but not privileged) at her private, catholic university with a $30,000 price tag that she can only afford through a good chunk of scholarship and the rest in loans.

i think if she could do it over again, she'd probably go to a larger public university. but i mean she's still found friends there and never felt like the younger students were judging her or anything.

you can do it man. best of luck.

Really? And what do you mean by average?

http://www.hulu.com/watch/42615/satu...school-musical

I'm 29. I'm in week 2 right now after having dropped out 8 years ago (putting off writing a lab report due at 8am as I type) and I don't feel at all like it's too late or that I'm too old. The biggest thing I'm noticing so far is that I can actually see how petty everyone is around me. I'm there for school and if I make some friends, great. I'm happy to be back and that I'll be doing things the right way this time (lol still putting off that report)

Went into my 8am accounting class today where our extremely eccentric prof, after spending 10 minutes showing us his dogs' website (no joke) and talking about how he takes her to dog shows, broke us into small groups. There are 3 other people in my group, two of which were women in their late 20s/early 30s, both of whom had kids. Obviously I noticed that they were older, but didn't think they were 'losers' or anything..actually my reaction was one of contentment because I'm assuming they'll be taking it more seriously than the other people I could have been paired up with. This was my first experience with older people in classes of mine and I immediately thought of this thread. If it's something you want just do it, you aren't going to be judged negatively by others (at least from my experience) and I'd think your negative feelings about yourself would be overcome by the feelings of accomplishment once you go back and pwn your classes, opening up avenues previously not available to you without a degree.

Same. The age is only a big deal if you make it one. You will fit in fine if you don't act like it is a problem.

Were they hot? Prolly not though since you mentioned they had kids.