My youngest has been out of college for 2 years. Somehow, I’m not feeling the life with an eye towards retirement and am enrolling this fall to get my doctorate (I have a master’s and a post-masters certification). Perhaps it’s because I have parents with dementia and I feel I need to continue not only the life of the mind, but to contribute to the world with meaningful research. I will also continue to work full time and take 6-9 credits per semester. Anyone else go back to school? Perhaps you should talk me out of it.
Nope, no talking out of advancements for the mind. I have a biology final this weekend, the first course on my way to a 2nd degree. Both my children will be in college before I finish. I hope my husband joins us. College is fun. 
My mom went back for her master’s in sprcial ed just before my older sister started. She used the money she earned to help with college expenses for us. She was a model student, earning top grades and seemed to enjoy the experience.
My friend got her PhD while being in charge of and teaching the CC paralegal program in our state. She worked full time plus the PhD load.
I admire those who do this and have flirted with it myself.
Not going to talk you out of it, but rather say, go for it. Took three graduate level courses as refresher and for recertification rather than the relatively easier CEU programs, and while it was a lot of work in addition to working full time, it was also very stimulating and I learned a lot. I was really proud of the projects that I did too. Best of luck.
I’m embarking on master’s #2 this fall. I haven’t been making the best use of my free time since my S went to college so I’d like to be more productive. I had one parent who stayed physically and mentally active throughout life and didn’t develop dementia; the other parent the opposite. I know that’s not a guarantee for my future but I’d like to try the path that had the more positive result.
@GTalum - go for it! It’s great and crazy at the same time. I’ve been in school since 2013 (completing my B.S. and M.S.) and hope to have my PhD completed by 2020.
Want to give a huge shoutout to @oldmom4896 after seeing her recent post about going back to school. Way to go!!!
(Speaking of typing… I am a pen and paper gal. I am not the fastest typist… but I managed to beat more than 90% of my younger classmates who typed lightening fast. B-) )
Thanks, @BunsenBurner, for pointing out this thread. Sorry I missed it when @GTalum started it!
I graduated from college in 1971. I had a bunch of unsatisfying dead-end careers, and then it became impossible for me to hold down a job for several years when my dad and stepmother became more and more needy.They passed away a few months before my daughter went away to college. Once the estate was (finally!) settled, I trained and volunteered as a crisis counselor for the Crisis Text Line (text START to 741741 if you are in crisis! http://crisistextline.org/howitworks) and became inspired! I was admitted to a MSW programs in NYC where I live and started classes on August 28, the same day my daughter started classes for her senior year in college. Fieldwork starts this week.
As my name here indicates, I am indeed an old mom (by adoption: I became a mom when I was almost 50 and my daughter was almost 2). I will be 71, almost 72 when I graduate and I certainly don’t think that age is just a number but I feel really good and I am looking forward to doing meaningful work. The reading for my coursework is kind of overwhelming, to say nothing of the technology (there was no Internet when I graduated from college!) but I think I’m getting a handle on it all. And for sure my financial situation in retirement will be enhanced after I go back to work, even if it’s just for a few years.
I just started back as well. But not post -graduate. I am in vocational school hoping to be a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant. I posted this on the empty nest thread -but wow technology sure has changed school! Maybe the workload has increased because of it but school is much more fun with the internet!
I can remember the drudgery of doing a works cited page. I did one in about 2 seconds online.
I wasn’t a very good student the first time around -so it is nice to try again with a mature outlook
I finished my MBA/MS program the same year my son finished HS.
I occasionally look into going back for my doctorate, but haven’t done it yet. My son’s finishing his BS in December, maybe then it’s my turn to go back.
5 weeks into my program. It’s going OK but I really have a steep learning curve to improve my research skills with multiple data bases and different search terms. Perhaps folks can help suggest their best data base organizer and other APN formatting tools. It is fun @veruca to have my cited works done so easily! Wonderful @oldmom4896 You are an inspiration. An MSW is a challenging program.
@oldmom4896, I see a LCSW-C who is 71. She sees this as a career she can continue for as long as she wants.
Way to go, all of you!
You’re all amazing and inspiring!
I have a MA and am starting a college counseling certificate program mid-Sept. Very excited- now when my husband asks if I am on College Confidential yet again I can tell him it’s all in the service of my future job
I just started filling out applications for a one year residency for post graduate certification (chaplain) next fall. 40+ hours a week of combined classroom and clinical. But it also pays a salary! I’ll be 60 when I finish the program, and then need 2000 supervised hours before certification.
So how did everyone do this semester? I (first-year MSW student, 69 years old) did pretty well, although I had to take an extension on one of my papers and don’t have all my grades yet. Looks like 3 A’s (maybe one A minus) and a B or C. I have this coming week off for everything, and then just fieldwork two days a week until classes start again on January 23.
I was so, so stressed out when I started! Between figuring out the technology and all that academic reading and writing, it was hard. Plus concentrating on 4 different courses and 6 students to mentor at my fieldwork site (a small high school for students who had finished at least one year at another high school where they were over-age and under-credited). Very different from my life of leisure as a retiree. Plus I got two colds, one of which eventually required antibiotics, and I was sickest during midterms. Thus the possible C–68 on the midterm, ouch!
I am hoping that next semester is less stressful. I am learning A LOT and have done very well with the high school kids. It definitely helps that I have recent experience with a high school student who had a lot of issues during the latter years (i.e., my daughter, now a senior in college and freaked out about what comes next). Although several (most?) Sundays, the day before the day I had 3 classes, I had a moment of freakout, ruing the day I decided to go back to school and fondly recalling my days of leisure, ultimately I am very glad I decided to go back to school. And I’m even kind of looking forward to going back in a month. All classes are extensions of the first semester, all with the same professors and mostly the same fellow students (including a 62-year-old who has become a friend).
Anyone else?
Congrats @oldmom4896 ! Great job. Pretty soon you will be amazed how much free time you will have! 
I went back in my mid 50s and graduated with my bachelor’s a couple of days after I turned 60. I had been an accountant back in England but back then you did not need a degree but instead did your training while you worked and took the exams for the accounting association you were in. I was half way through when we moved to Egypt and I never finished. When I wanted to work I was told I needed to get my GED to answer phones at a call center - well I got it but enjoyed the prep classes (I had forgotten most algebra since school!) So much that I decided to go back and get my degree. Enjoyed it a lot and graduated with a 4.0 despite having to take some incompletes at the end of one semester when my H was diagnosed with cancer (it was nearly a year later when I took this exams!). When I re retire I plan to take some more classes. Never too late - I would never try and talk someone out of it!
Congrats @oldmom4896! I did well but I spent days learning how to do research and organize my data! But, I ended the semester with a 98 average!
Nope…Ive learned far more during self study, youtube, and google than any class. (Labs excluded)