Did any of you go back to graduate school after a long break?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

how was it for you?

[malta blue]

1. I have been out of college for 15 years and am

in the process of applying to law school right now...I'll let ya know!

[La Lioness Priyanka]

2. i graduated in 2001 and just started my masters. i have become a slow reader.

sigh!

[malta blue]

3. Not necessarily a slow reader...maybe

you just are absorbing more now. I find that has happened with me.

[eyepaddle]

4. I finished undergrad in 1995, and am just wrapping up my Master's

I went back in 2004. It actually went really well. I didn't work much harder, but the work I did was much more productive--plus I was at peace with being a procrastinator. I just know I get things done on time now--back in the day I always sweated it immensely.

Plus, I wasn't nearly as drunk or high this time around. That probably helped some!

[Raven]

5. 9 years

between grad school and law school. I had a full time job and a first grader. I went to law school at night. My biggest fear was that I had forgotten how to study. It was very hard but well worth it and, like childbirth, you forget quickly how painful it was!

[Coyote_Bandit]

6. I finished law school

in 86. Enrolled to earn an MBA in 98 and finished in 2001. I did it full-time while working. It was a miserable process. For the most part the subject matter was not a challenge. The only exception to that were some advanced finance classes. I have a high functioning math related learning disability which was a bit of an impediment there. The worst part was that I had 3 hours of evening classes Monday through Friday. And since I was working there simply was no down time. Weekends were reserved for shopping and laundry and bill paying and studying and reading and writing papers and working on group projects. And there were lots of group projects - all of which were a terribly inefficient use of everybody's time.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

7. thats my other fear, i am one of the few working fulltime.

and i feel like these groups will just make things worse

[Coyote_Bandit]

16. There were a lot

of working students in my classes when I went back. Probably because they were evening classes. We completed all the same coursework and exams as the other students but I felt like my profs treated the working adult students with a different kind of respect - that reserved for professional colleagues. Without exception all of the adult working students I knew were focused and consistently prepared to participate in class. It was a dynamic that worked to the benefit of both groups. Interestingly, from time to time profs would comment on some of the observations of their more inexperienced, unrealistic and naive students.

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

8. Pri! I am back in school now doing science...

I haven't done science or math since 2000. So far, its my second semester and im doing ok. It was not as bad as I thought it would be, but i have to definitely kick up the studying.

:hi:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

9. hey babe! i havent seen you in a while, i miss you/

:hug: smooches!!

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

10. well school is really encompassing, sigh.

im usually lurking though :D

:loveya:

[Burma Jones]

11. 16 years between BA and MS

I would have had a hard time going to Grad School right out of College, I needed more "seasoning"

I was glad I got it. The firm for which I worked footed my MS bill too......

[ProfessorGAC]

12. Went Back For A Third One After 9 Years

Got my first one in Theoretical Organic Chemistry in 1978. Then got one in Statistical Mechanics in 1980. Then went back for a biz degree (company request) so i went back and polished up my economics resume with one in that in 1989.

I'd been doing economic modeling and cost optimization models (macro and micro) because of the science and math stuff. Figured it wouldn't hurt to apply those tools directly to the field. Worked out good, since i've published more papers in that field and taught more grad classes in that than the other two combined!

The Professor

P.S. - I was working full-time for all of this. During undergrad i only worked about 20 hours a week.

[RetroLounge]

13. I went back about 4 yrs after my undergrad.

But I complete my undergrad later in life, so I was in my 30's when I went to grad school. and I took a year of undergrad classes as a special student to be sure of my decision and help me get into grad school, so I was about 10 yrs older than everyone else.

I used it to my advantage. The little gen-x'ers had NO life experience, and I basically had a blast for 3 years learning what I needed to learn, and also laughing at their pretentiousness. I was a terror in poetry and short fiction workshops. I had professors who agreed with my asessments, but asked me to tone it down a bit, saying I was being too honest. I refused. If you are going to be a writer, you sure as hell better have thick skin, because rejection letters are not sugar coated...

The fact that I went back later in life I think was a huge bonus. Was disliked by many, was liked by my teachers, got a coveted job as poetry editor at The Cream City Review on campus, was a guest reader in several classes at the university and was also invited to another university to read my work, did local poetry slams, was published as an undergrad and as a grad student, had my thesis accepted and was told it was one of the best they've seen (Three professors on the thesis committee) and I Graduated Magna Cum Laude too :D

I don't think it would have been the same had I been younger and went straight from high school to undergrad to grad...

:hi:

RL

[eyesroll]

14. Finished undergrad in '97...started law school in '06.

It's going well; much better than it would have gone had I done it right away, I think.

[Strawman]

15. 9 years

It's great. I'm a serious student now. I actually show up to class and stuff.

[hunter]

17. I'll go back when my kids are in college.

The thing that scares me the most is the math. Most of it has been sitting around unused for a very long time now. The tires are flat, the battery is dead, there are mice living in the air filter box, and all the rubber hoses are cracked. The bottom of the gas tank, the fuel lines, and the carburetor are full of gunk. (Yes, a carburetor, my math predates the universal application of fuel injection...)