<p>So? So? How did you do? You get your scores right away, right??</p>
<p>Good luck, Garland. I admire you greatly for this. With some life experience behind you, you will make much better use of that graduate education than someone who gets it in their early 20s without the context of years to help them understand its value.</p>
<p>VH–test is this afternoon; i’ll report back tonight (unless I’m drowning my sorrows in some gin joint between here and the test center (kidding, kidding!)–which by the way is in a town in a county I don’t know at all; been poring over maps to make sure I don’t get lost)…thanks all for votes of support. NSM–at an open house, the program made a point of saying they welcomed “nontraditional” students.</p>
<p>It may encourage you to know that I’ve been a nontraditional undergrad student, taking theater and French classes for fun at my local community college and public university. I’ve been welcomed by professors and students, and have had a wonderful time. I also made friends – professors and some students who are younger than are my own kids.</p>
<p>I also have friends who got the doctorates and professional degrees while they were ages 56-70!</p>
<p>Garland - you are amazing!! Good luck today! You will do amazingly, you won’t need to go to the gin-joint! :)</p>
<p>Yay! Garland this is so exciting! I am so impressed. Now get off this site and start working on your prep or your personal statement!</p>
<p>Well, so, okay. It’s done.</p>
<p>Verbal score was lower than any of my practice tests…arrggghhhh! </p>
<p>And the totally weird thing is the Quant was higher than practice, actually, it was higher than my verbal. Huh? I don’t need a high math; I need a high verbal!</p>
<p>OKay, so, apparently, they have different bell curves, and the verbal is apparently a lot tougher, so I probably still have a higher percentile in V than Q. In fact, I’m sure I do, but still…
???</p>
<p>anyhoo, on to the rest of the app. The grade won’t keep me out; now it’s my job to get myself in. </p>
<p>W-in-P–yup, lots of work to get to. Christmas cards may be a wee bit late this year.</p>
<p>Thanks again for all the kind comments! :)</p>
<p>good luck! I have dreams of going to school for my MBA. In my dream I am in class with all these young kids and I say to myself, “Self, what am I doing here? I got my MBA 30 years ago!!!” LOL</p>
<p>garland, congratulations! Should we look for you in the “chance-me” threads now?</p>
<p>Mousegray–LOL, I think I will resist the urge to post stats.:)</p>
<p>Garland, a similar thing happened to me. Standardized test results in my mid-40’s came back with higher marks in Quantitative than Verbal. Wha? That couldn’t be me. To this day, I’ve never figured out those results, but like you, pressed forward to the next application activities. Don’t Look Back!</p>
<p>Another test memory: I was standing at the bottom of a 3-floor stairway, waiting to take the final certification test (following a one-year masters program) with a group of 20-somethings. When the proctor announced crisply, “you may go to your rooms,” the young turks began running in a wild pack up those stairways into seats while I was still rounding the second story stairwell. I asked a proctor on the top floor, “Was that part the physical evaluation?” </p>
<p>My aunt was a mid-life BFA student in the early l960’s. She was required to take Sex Education. Having 3 children at elementary school during her school hours didn’t waive that course. So strict! </p>
<p>It is wonderful that you are applying for an advanced degree now. It gives you the right not to cook or wrap, whenever you so choose.</p>
<p>I think this is the perfect time to go to graduate school — your kids are grown and you can focus on your own needs more. I’ve started learning a new language and have moved into a new area in my field in the last year. I’m able to do this because I don’t have to think about getting dinner together every night, making sure everyone’s schedule and needs are up to date, etc etc.</p>
<p>Good luck Garland and MamaDrama!</p>
<p>That’s going to be me next year. I’ll be applying next fall. Yikes!</p>
<p>Wow, you guys are making me rethink my life. I thought I was too old to think about more school. So, what is the xiggi method anyway?</p>
<p>My mother went back to graduate school for a master’s at 52 (yikes! younger than I am now!) and ultimately got her PhD at 61.</p>
<p>Wow, JHS. that’s inspiring. If I do this, I’ll also be 52 when I start, though I don’t anticipate going till 61 (got off the PhD road way back, and don’t think I’ll go that way now.) Big kudos to JHSmom.</p>
<p>garland – D just took GREs today. She too, had somewhat lower verbal scores than she would have liked/had been getting on practice tests. And, her math score was WAY higher than anything she got on practice tests/she would have predicted. Go figure! She’s applying for MPH programs. Hopefully the scores are only a small piece of the application. She’s never done really well on standardized tests, and is glad they’re over and done.</p>
<p>I knew a man who was a veterinarian, and then at age 70 got a MA in counseling and began counseling senior citizens.</p>
<p>I know a woman who got her doctorate in French at age 70. She had started by going to community college when she was in her 30s or 40s.</p>
<p>I know a woman who was about 56 when she got her law degree.</p>
<p>I know two women who had gotten married and had kids right after high school, and went to college about 20 years later, eventually getting their doctorates and becoming college professors. One is a grandmom of about 6, age 62, and has a boyfriend who is 20 years younger who adores her. She also has been named professor of the year by her university.</p>
<p>Another woman I know is in her 40s and has a doctorate and has been a college professor. This year, she became a full time law student.</p>
<p>One of my friends, who is a traditionally aged college student is very proud of her mother who is in med school.</p>
<p>The last time I was in the hospital, the best nurse I had appeared to be in her late 50s, and had gotten her nursing degree about 4 years earlier. She said she had always wanted to be a nurse, but didn’t have a chance to do that until her own kids were grown.</p>
<p>Update–today I put the whole package in the mail, after a stress-filled vacation week going over and over every detail and making my H and S crazy! By the time I got to “should I staple or paperclip these parts” yesterday, I was literally shaking. Migosh, my kids handled their college apps better than this! </p>
<p>(Incidentally, I finally got the GRE scores in the mail, and the percentiles were good–they won’t hurt me and may help me. yay!)</p>
<p>More importantly, last night H and I were talking, and he said, basically, that whatever happens, this has been a positive experience for me, and I have learned a lot about myself, my abilities, my aspirations, and what choices I have in my control to make in the future. And he’s absolutely right. So, I’m sanguine about the application. It’s done.</p>
<p>I recommend to anyone thinking of trying out a new path like this–go for it! Just in making the attempt, you win.</p>
<p>Good for you Garland! I’m so impressed and inspired by you. And you sound like you found your match in having a husband that would come up with such supportive things to say! I wish you the very best and can’t wait to find out how it all turns out for you!</p>