Fall semester is over. One to go. I’m in the middle of developing several power points to discuss my project with different audiences. A one hour podium presentation in March! Grades are great. So glad I’m doing this but I am ready to be done! How are all of you doing?
Ugh, last 2 papers due at midnight Monday with another due at 6:45 pm Monday just before my last class. I am stressed to the max but so glad it’s almost over. Classes don’t start for next (and final) semester until 1/28 but I only have 2 weeks off (Christmas week and New Year’s week) from my customary 3 days/week of fieldwork but I will need to work Christmas Eve to finish my hours for the semester. Bah humbug!
Great job, everyone!!
Hang in there all!
@oldmom4896 I’m struggling with my clinical hours as well. It’t not really “clinical” since I do that for my job, but professional hours. Which is why I am running around doing power point presentations.
Aw, this is a fun thread. I am finishing a master’s I started almost 25 years ago (they let me back in like not a day had passed!). Two As in my last two classes, now working on my thesis. So much fun. I just wish my teens would be quiet so I can think for a minute!
I finished the first semester of my program. It is strange sometimes as a 52 year old woman- I feel like the instructors don’t always make good choices and I have a hard time not calling them out on it. (They are too punitive instead of uplifting in my opinion)
I am enjoying having a cohort! There are 18 of us in my community college program and I feel like we were an instant family. Today I need to box up all my rented textbooks to send back tomorrow.
Finished writing my papers! It was fun, but I am taking fewer classes at a time from now on. I need more time for my grown up life.
glad i found this thread. good job to you all. I’m basically a retired stay at home mom. And i think i need to take some classes! i like the idea of learning something new, reacting with people of all ages, and maybe look for job in the future. thanks for this thread.
I applaud all the amazing stories on this thread. You are all very inspiring. It is very hard to go back to school at a later stage in life. My daughter graduated in May and I at 50 am contemplating going back. The ? is does my brain still function?
In my late 30’s I worked fulltime raised my daughter and was working on my Master’s degree in IT PM.
Now I am looking to do something just for me. I need to figure out what it is. All I know is that I want to focus on myself and be the best that I can be.
@raclut, I graduated from college in 1971, and my first semester of graduate school in 2017 was really, really hard–a gigantic adjustment. But adjusted I did, and now I am kind of sad that all the skills I have developed as a 21st-century student will be added to the collection of antique computer coding was really good at!
@bgbg4us Do it! Super fun, sometimes hard, always educational. I make all kinds of silly mistakes because I don’t know the tech, but I am more relaxed about grades and more open to just learning.
@bgbg4us , and @raclut I do feel like I have to study more than some one the youngins. However I am much more disciplined than I was the first time around. I thought I would be out of touch with technology - but sometimes they ask me for help. I love going to school with tech. Powerpoints, and google docs and online class info makes it much easier to know what is going on.
@veruca, I agree–Googledocs, sheets, calendar, keep, etc. are all amazing tools.
@raclut I was worried about my brain functioning as well at the age of 57, but it really does seem to work just as well, if not better at my age. Writing takes me longer, but not because I’m a less good writer, it’s because I now know what good writing is, and I work multiple drafts so I can create something that is both meaningful and readable. Both my parents have dementia, and I refuse to go down without a fight to preserve my brain. Though I do find, myself and 2 other older students (4/24 are over 55) are some of the better writers in the class.
@bgbg4us my husband directs a graduate liberal studies program at a major University. He has students of all ages, from those just out of undergrad to those retired from their current job.
@veruca and @oldmom4896 Love the technology too. I spent all weekend on a power point for a 1 hour podium presentation in March. So much functionality and the time passed quickly because it’s fun! Learning a reference data base system (I use Zotero and DH uses Endnote) was my biggest leap and I don’t know what I would do without it. Remember references on index cards and trying to type footnotes and proper reference format on the typewriter? (so much whiteout!) I do seem to get points taken out always for APA format 
@gtalum, after struggling with APA, I am a champ! I compose all my papers in Google Docs and only convert them to MS Word just before submitting. PM me if you’d like me to look something over and I’d be happy to share my tips about references and citations. FWIW, the Purdue OWL website has recently been redone and it’s better:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_style_introduction.html
Thanks all for being so encouraging. I am just trying to imagine myself with these supersmart high stat kids that pick up things so quickly and I fear I will be lost and behind. I am going to pick up a book on artificial intelligence and learn more about that from the library.
I just started the final semester of my MSW curriculum. Two classes yesterday, two tomorrow, and three full days of fieldwork every week. Graduation 5/24! Now to study for that pesky licensing exam and, of course, get a job!
I took a math class over the 3 week winter break. The final was the day after my spring comp sci course started. But I’m having fun.
My mom just got accepted to grad school for masters at SU! I’m very happy for her since she didn’t have the opportunity to study at my age due to some difficulties, she now she’s studying because of me. She says I’m her inspiration and I’m so glad to be part of her journey. She’s 43 and I’m 23 and I should be graduating in 2021.
Hope everyone is having a great semester so far, can’t believe spring break is around the corner