Going to School

[dbasnett]

Next week I start school, a 56 year old college freshman 18 hours! After all these years I am finally going to get my ticket punched. Maybe by the time I am done I can get a job.

[baja_yu]

Will you be joining a fraternity, attending parties?

[dclamp]

bdasnett, we are in the same boat.. with a difference of 38 years... Where are you attending?

[dbasnett]

Of course! Isn't that the point.

[dbasnett]

bdasnett, we are in the same boat.. with a difference of 38 years... Where are you attending?

Rub it in. A local technical college, LSTC. If I get through the 2 year program, maybe MU...

[dclamp]

Well im pretty sure thats nowhere close to me. I'm off to Cal State Fullerton... woo Titans!

[dbasnett]

Well im pretty sure thats nowhere close to me. I'm off to Cal State Fullerton... woo Titans!

Congratulations.

[dclamp]

Congratulations.

And to you too. Remember, don't pass out with your shoes on.

[Max Peck]

Next week I start school, a 56 year old college freshman 18 hours! After all these years I am finally going to get my ticket punched. Maybe by the time I am done I can get a job.

Good for you. Us older guys need to keep sharp.

-Max ;-)

[abhijit]

Next week I start school, a 56 year old college freshman 18 hours! After all these years I am finally going to get my ticket punched. Maybe by the time I am done I can get a job.

Good luck!

[Shaggy Hiker]

Wow, I wouldn't do that if you paid me...oh wait, I DID get paid to get the MS.

[dbasnett]

Wow, I wouldn't do that if you paid me...oh wait, I DID get paid to get the MS.

If you live in the US you will be paying for my education, at least most of it. Thank you!

[TheBigB]

At least the tax payers there aren't paying for the gallons of beer consumed each year by Dutch students.

To be fair; I actually do like the system.
I'm paying very little next to nothing for my study.

[mendhak]

ha ha... education!

[oceanebelle]

Next week I start school, a 56 year old college freshman 18 hours! After all these years I am finally going to get my ticket punched. Maybe by the time I am done I can get a job.

Congratulations! and good luck to your "pag-sunog ng kilay", literally means burning your eyelashes, which metaphorically means studying hard to learn.

My question is what does "going to get my ticket punched" mean? I an unfamiliar with this analogy. It'd be nice to know.

[dbasnett]

This "going to get my ticket punched" means that I have been a IT / Network Professional for a long time without any degree. With the job market being what it is having one more box on the application checked is important.

[TheBigB]

Personally I think work experience counts way heavier than education, but employers sadly don't always see it that way.

[dbasnett]

What can I say. The world has changed.

[oceanebelle]

I found in some cases here, where by just having a good diploma from a reputable college could potentially land you a good high paying job, no questions asked. Compare that to me who had to undergo the rigorous process of interviews and of course written examinations and what not.

Seems that the pay scales with your educational background as well, not just the number of years worth of experience.

I also plan to top up my qualification not just for financial reasons but for other reasons as well hopefully that's good enough to get me a place in a University here in the UK someday.

Good luck to everyone then.

[akhileshbc]

Good luck...

[demotivater]

Maybe you'll finally lose your virginity! College girls are easy.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Wow, the advertising picked up a link for College girls? I really hesitated before mousing over that link. I thought VBF might have wandered away from the family friendly guidelines. I was afraid that there might be a "Programmers of VBF" calendar coming out, or something equally horrific.

[honeybee]

Next week I start school, a 56 year old college freshman 18 hours! After all these years I am finally going to get my ticket punched. Maybe by the time I am done I can get a job.

All the very best! For the sheer courage of making this decision at your age

.

[Nightwalker83]

Next week I start school, a 56 year old college freshman 18 hours! After all these years I am finally going to get my ticket punched. Maybe by the time I am done I can get a job.

Is this your first or second time? I hope you succeed.

[dbasnett]

Is this your first or second time? I hope you succeed.

First. When I got out of high school there were no computer degrees. The closest you could get was math. So I got a job. In my case that was the military, and for a long time experience counted as much as a degree. Today a lot of employers look at the application and if the college degree box isn't checked they don't even look at your resume.

What was I thinking? I took 18 hours my first semester and it is going to kick my butt. It might not be so bad if I didn't have to be a dad also. I won't make that mistake again, 12 hours sounds good. I'll have to take a few classes in the summer.

[Shaggy Hiker]

It might not be so bad if I didn't have to be a dad also. I won't make that mistake again,

[dbasnett]

First semester finals on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. WOW!

[JuggaloBrotha]

Me too, I only have 2 classes though, easy stuff

[FunkyDexter]

I was a mature student in my late 20s/early 30s and it wasn't so bad. You have to get used to being skint, which is a pain after you've got used to getting a pay check, but you're surrounded by other people who are equally as potless which helps.

The hardest thing I found was to keep my motivation going all the way through it. I thought it'd be a breeze to do 8 hours of studying a day after experiencing real work but it was actually quite hard not to get distracted. For me, getting out of bed on time when I didn't really have to was a killer.

[dbasnett]

I was a mature student in my late 20s/early 30s and it wasn't so bad. You have to get used to being skint, which is a pain after you've got used to getting a pay check, but you're surrounded by other people who are equally as potless which helps.

The hardest thing I found was to keep my motivation going all the way through it. I thought it'd be a breeze to do 8 hours of studying a day after experiencing real work but it was actually quite hard not to get distracted. For me, getting out of bed on time when I didn't really have to was a killer.

Somewhere in my late 40's, getting up at o'dark thirty became the norm. Algebra is a major brain-drain. It isn't really hard, but it, like programming, is very detail oriented. Several hours of algebra class / homework and I am exhausted.

[dbasnett]

Finals are over! The last one was Algebra from 3:30 - 5:30 yesterday afternoon. It was only 33 questions and about question 29 my brain said "No More". It was place the answer in a + bi form and when I got to

56 i squared + 18 i + 8

my brain refused to remember that i squared = -1. Except for the last four questions I think I did well.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I was a mature student in my late 20s/early 30s and it wasn't so bad.

I was a mature student when I was 20. You must have been a late bloomer

As for getting out of bed, that became automatic. In fact, there was one morning when the alarm went off, and I got up, dressed, grabbed my books, and headed off to class. Once I stepped out of the dorm, though, I found that it was still dark, and the whole dorm was out there in bathrobes, pajamas, and the like. What had awoken me (if you could call it that) was not my alarm clock, but the building fire alarm.

[dee-u]

Algebra is a major brain-drain. It isn't really hard, but it, like programming, is very detail oriented.

Do you have Calculus in your curriculum? I'd say its 10x tougher than algebra. Not sure why we had it, I haven't had a chance to use in my programming work and I have already forgotten how it works.

[Doogle]

I used to love Calculus and Algebra, never got on with Surds though. We were taught to convert from Rectangular (a + jb) to Polar co-ordinates (R angle Theta) using just a Sliderule. (we used 'j' rather than 'i' as we were electronic engineers, and 'i' was Current)

Learnt 35 different ways to integrate x / Sin(x) and can't remember any of them, let alone ever had the need to use one of them

[dbasnett]

Do you have Calculus in your curriculum? I'd say its 10x tougher than algebra. Not sure why we had it, I haven't had a chance to use in my programming work and I have already forgotten how it works.

Nope. I got a 91 on the final. Not bad considering I probably missed 3 of the last 4. I think I will make the Dean's list.

[dee-u]

Nope. I got a 91 on the final. Not bad considering I probably missed 3 of the last 4. I think I will make the Dean's list.

I have been one, even made it as College Scholar but I preferred being an Athletic Scholar (varsity Chess player) since I have only to pay miscellaneous fees against those 2 scholarships which only grants 50% and 100% deduction on tution fees. when I will have more time I am planning on getting a Masteral and feel being a student again. =)