Non-traditional student

raindog
Fri, 06 Jul 2012 10:44:09 +0000

I am a 30-year-old recovering alcoholic with a General Equivalency Diploma. I’ve been taking classes part-time at Hillsborough Community College since 2009, and I have completed their general education program with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average. To graduate with an Associates in Arts degree, I need four more elective courses and a capstone.

Unlike most students, I am not in college to prepare myself for a career, research, or networking opportunity. I go so that I can have interesting conversations with receptive professors. Typically, these are adjunct PhD candidates from the University of South Florida. If it were up to me I’d stay at HCC forever, but now they want me to pick electives, and a major, and go to USF.

I’ve explored a few academic dead-ends: mathematics, sociology, and journalism no longer appeal to me. I have an interest in natural science, computer science, and psychology, but I have reservations about them as majors. Namely, I don’t believe I’m very good at hard science, I’m good enough at computer science, and a psych major is more familiar with research methods than I will ever care to be. At the moment, I’m looking into the history program. History is a sort-of tired subject for me. Much of my real-world work experience happens to be in the field. I even worked awhile for an institute based out of the USF College of Education, but that’s another story.

I’d like to know if I’m headed for a brick wall. I’d like to believe the jump from HCC to USF won’t be terribly traumatic. I hope USF will offer tiny classes, in good classrooms, with excellent professors who make time to talk with students out of class. Perhaps there are current USF students, or transfers from HCC, who can share their experiences, impressions, successes, mistakes, or regrets. Thank you.