Going back to college at 25.
WantToHaveALife
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WantToHaveALife
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WantToHaveALife
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Andreger
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WantToHaveALife
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I wasn't even allowed to go to college until I was almost 21. Then halfway into my third semester, when I had just turned 22 I quit because the experience was depressing me and had driven me to do something drastic enough to be put in the nuthouse for 3 days, and I didn't go back until last year. This time around I'm a lot more introverted than I was before because I found out that talking to people and trying to be social and make friends in real life is bad for my mental health.
It feels like a waste of time though because in the three years I've been out of school I've taught myself the subjects I want to major in well beyond the level that they are taught at a community college, which is why I'm only taking classes in subjects that I'm not such an expert in... but it's worn on me really fast, mostly because I don't like to be bothered to worry so much about getting good grades in subjects that I don't even want to major in, when I'm not even allowed to have classes that are worthwhile in what I DO want to major in (math and physics) plus I feel like I'm a lot less tolerant of sitting in class and being around people than I was in high school or even earlier in college.
Even though I feel very... young for being 25 years old, I feel like I'm too old to be bothered with wasting my time at such a place when I know what I want to major in and do for a living (and have known more or less since I was 17, although nowadays I think I might major in just math and wait until grad school to take physics since I find lab classes to be particularly difficult to tolerate... actually, I'm planning on just skipping undergrad level classes altogether and taking graduate level classes straight away if I can get away with it) but my state has a stupid rule which states that if you have soiled your precious higher educational virginity before applying to the state universities then they are off-limits until you have at least 60 credits from a community college. Which is atrociously unfair, considering that I did well enough in high school to go to a good university right off the bat (long story why I didn't; long story short my evil foster parent wouldn't let me go anywhere else and then I left and went to live with my long-lost dad in another state at which point I discovered this rule) and I think this measure is promoted just to support the overgrowth of the community colleges, to put a barrier against the "riff-raff" from entering the unis; putting as many of them as possible through community college first acts as a lint trap to filter out the lower-class students into lower-class careers (this is called "cooling out" and it might be a good idea if they weren't filtered out for the wrong reasons and if the spawn of the elite weren't exempt) and I believe it's made artificially cheap by making the universities more expensive but it takes more time to get through and may actually be more expensive, in time if not in cash as well, in the long run...
I'll admit it, I am terrified of going back to college. Don't get me wrong, I am excited but it's just scary going back to college because I haven't been in school for a few years now plus I'm older. I have a feeling I'll be at that age where most of the students will be a lot younger than me. Would it be awkward trying to make friends with somebody freshly out of high school? I usually have to have at least one or two friends in college or else I'll probably have a nervous breakdown from anxiety. I'm worried that I'll find the work too difficult and that I wont make any friends or that I'll faint from pure anxiety on the first day. Another thing is I'm turning 26 this September and now I'm living back with my parents again so that doesn't make me feel that great but I don't really have a choice if I want to survive my college experience.
Would anyone like to share their personal experiences? Is anyone in the same boat as me this year?
I landed myself in-patient on three (3) separate occasions as an undergrad -- coping skills weren't a strong suit. Turns out that several of my parents friends, plus half my closest girlfriends did too by graduation. Professors were super-understanding, as was my college. To the point that getting Baker Acted (not sure what it's called in Canada) a time or three is basically an upper middle girl rite of passage.
There's also a very, very good chance that you won't be the only "older" or "returning" student -- I was one of only 8 undergrads in a tiny program at a huge state school, 2 of whom were older AND returning students.
I met my best friend in grad school -- she was a 25 yo sophomore on her 4th college & I was her TA. She too lost a year to the Baker Act.
You will likely be okay. Good luck at school, try 2!
Ban-Dodger
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When I was in my 20s, partly due to always working all the time, any friend that I associated with was usually a lot older than I was. Age is NOT a genuine barrier to friends. The only REAL barrier is either a lack of or due to conflicting interests. For example, I have interests in the scientific-literature regarding anomalous/para-normal phenomenon, particularly as authored by researchers like Dr. Dean Radin and Rupert Sheldrake and NASA-Physicist Tom Campbell, but if you know anything about the "pseudo-skeptic" movement, then regardless of whether the person is of similar age or not, I probably won't be making friends with those who exude the same pseudo-skeptical behaviours as described by Marcello Truzzi.
You will EASILY make friends with those who have the same or similar aspirations as you REGARDLESS of age.
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Andreger
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Look at the average age in Camden College - 27! So we're right in the middle, some in this topic are even young
http://www.camdencc.edu/about/college-key-facts.cfm
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