I work 50 hours per week hard labor. How the fuck do I go back to school? I want to do something like environmental science, ecology, marine biology, mycology for my bachelor’s and from there I’m not sure but I can’t keep breaking my body like this. I’m in the US, have no support network, and worried about how much everything costs and how to thread the needle of housing, food, tuition, loans, etc after quitting my job.
You must log in or # to comment.
There are scholarships available for quote-unquote non-traditional students and nontraditional student associations that help navigate the transition. But I would talk to people in your chosen field before making the leap or deciding on a major. Ecology, marine bio, and mycology tend to be popular majors that require graduate degrees for any advancement beyond the level of warm blooded autopipetter and most graduates end up leaving the field for something else. Entry level jobs can be hard to come by (especially since a lot are with the feds), internships and research assistantships can be career-defining, and the top schools tend to hog all the good opportunities. Schools often have programs where you can talk to recent graduates. I’d try to take advantage of them when applying.
I think “ ” nontraditional students make up 5-10% of undergrads, depending on the university
Do you intend to work in one of those fields after going to university? If so I think careful research is required to select a path that offers any prospects. Especially if you will accrue a bunch of debt.
negative nancy
Almost everyone I have known who is in university seems to be constantly complaining about it. To leftists, the universities seem to be excessively corporatized and exploitative. The exceptions I can think of are people who went to university to learn a specific job like engineer or nurse. For those who make it through, they get what they want. Out of the zillions of university attendees who went for a subject they found interesting (not for a specific career destination), I can only think of 1 who had extremely good things to say about it. They attended a very small, elite private US university. (They weren’t from a rich family but were able to utilize very good class drag to get the schooling funded. From my observations, class drag and middle-upper class connections are essential to university.) I have also known a couple of people who skipped straight into a Masters on the basis of personal experience but you have to be a charming smarty pants and have good connections for that.
The other ones, best case scenario, get trapped in precarious or dead end jobs that weren’t what they wanted to do or create constant ethical dilemmas for them. (E.g. went to school for math because math is cool, now finding all the work is with weapons manufactures etc) But so many people drop out part way through with only a mountain of debt.
I feel like you need to have some insider information to even select an institution and degree path that won’t waste your time.
I have tried doing evening courses on a much more casual basis than a degree and found it was too much after work and I couldn’t manage it.
What about a college course in a less physically strenuous career? Maybe in a program who’s credits are accepted at university where you could complete a degree at a later time.
At any rate the first basic step would be to go to some university websites and click around on them. Here is a page of a random university about financing a degree. They all have pages like this that’ll help you get the lay of the land. They all have a phone number you can call to ask questions, like guidance counselors. BEWARE these are basically salespeople. They can be way overly optimistic about how plausible it could be. If there is a student union or other such organization you could try contacting them, walking into their office etc and just ask for advice.
Honestly, I think that being a therapist might be the ultimate move but in my state you need a master’s to get licensed so my undergrad would just be something I want to learn and could fall back on. I love helping people and would orient myself towards ND and queer folks because that’s also what I am. Other than that I could see myself getting really into field work because I love being outside.
hmmm if you want to be a therapist, a BSc in marine biology might be a bit circuitous.
There are probably other job titles you could access that help people without doing a full masters.
If you haven’t done so yet, request a paper copy of course catalogues from some institutions (colleges and universities) nearby or elsewhere if you want to move. Just flip through them to get an idea of what’s available. You can get into health, education, or administrative with 6-12 months of training. There are all kinds of jobs. Have you thought about Disability Support Worker? It might be up your alley and the training is shorter. There are also various lengths of social work education programs from 6 months to MA. Firefighter? It’s a growth industry… But you have to be around cops all the time.
You can also try looking at it from the opposite angle… check out job postings where you want to live and consider education to match the job you want. Look at job websites for municipalities, schools and other institutions where unionization is likely.
When switching careers, consider how likely you are to get a union job.
Idk what state you’re in but there’s a lot of options for online schools that will offer flexible schedules for people working full time. Try searching for a non-profit university that’s fully remote, and you might be able to find something less pricey and that fits your schedule. Fair warning: it’ll take up what remaining free time you have for a few years. Also I can’t speak on this for everyone, but I’ve got folks in my life still in uni/getting secondary degrees who were denied student loans this year, mid-way through their education. Hope you can find something that fits your needs.
deleted by creator
I went back at 29 after dropping out at 19. now (in my 40s) I have an MSc and @ p cool career, both on paper, in anecdotes/experiences, and in my own evaluation.
the absolute hardest part of going back to undergrad is figuring out a housing situation that is cheap. In the US, student aid/loans cover tuition and to an extent, if you play it tight, food. but you gotta find some cheap as balls housing situation, and try to get on the teat as a student worker for a research professor where you can get a few flexible hours during the academic year, and chase coin in the summers. they like non trad students generally, because they are typically more mature and responsible and they’ll be chill about exams, studies, and conferencing. you can’t treat school like it’s just another job, you gotta like do the optional shit, meet the people, network and all that b.s. as much as online education SHOULD be discounted to the students via tuition, they just aren’t. and your loans/aid are covering that part. the value proposition of what higher education offers is knowledge/training, yes, but it’s significantly augmented by social capital and professional development networking.
that’s why the heart of the puzzle is finding the subject matter area where you can’t shut up about it is crucial while finding the housing that lets you get to all that stuff (campus job, classes, conference spaces, special lecture events) without a car is like the bullseye, with the housing being the absolute hardest part. landlords run wild in college towns and as actual student aid has dried up, the demographics for higher ed skew heavy to nepobabies/rich kids whose parents pay for all that stuff. so all the housing has been converted to get their money.
you gotta find that sublet that says “I am not ever gonna get laid here” because it’s an unpermitted ADU with no a/c or some shit. as a non trad, you can have more opportunities there because you won’t be having 3-8 friends over, getting drunk in the porch, and playing music at 3am, but they won’t be easily found via advertising. it’ll be more relational.
so your housing will suck, and you’ll be scraping by on rando piecemeal work… but at least you’ll have that shitty health insurance for students through the school/student clinic! so if you slice your hand or break your butt, you can get seen and taken care of.
Yeah, housing is my number one concern. The cost and roommate situation will make or break me, as a trans ND person. I know some people living in a very cheap and cool situation but getting in there is hell. There’s like 25 applicants every time a room opens up.
I was very lucky to have an option available that was mostly online and someone kind enough to let me stay with them for cheap.
It’s not easy though. I haven’t been eating well and my car is held together by duct tape and spit
Community college is how you want to get started. The classes there are substantially cheaper, you can take whatever classes you want without concern over cost, you’re not punished financially for doing less than full time (12 credits per semester), you can typically take them outside your work schedule or possibly go down to part-time at work to fit classes in, the instructors are there because they want to teach, rather than because they’re some PhD researcher that they plop down in a classroom, and it all has a more proletarian character.
Figure out what university you’ll want to transfer to, based on things including degree programs, undergraduate research opportunities, core requirements, and transfer stipulations (e.g. to earn a bachelor’s, they may require you to earn 60 of their own credits). Oh, and cost. Factor cost of living into this; many college towns have cheaper housing and are bikeable and have food pantries you can rely on if you need to.
As hellinkilla said, the public university is a great place for those who know exactly what they want and where they’re going. Complete as much as you can at community college before transferring, including any side interests. If you’re looking for a master’s for psychotherapy, there will probably be some prerequisites for it; get those at the community college too.
For each institution, you should be able to find a course catalog with 1-paragraph descriptions of each class. This is one of your most useful tools.
I did an AA at community college and some work toward a bachelor’s right after high school. I moved out of my parents’ house because it was a toxic environment and the added burden of working a full time job drove me into a deep burnout where I dropped out of school and stopped going to work. I’m trying to set myself up with savings and whatnot so that I can focus completely on studying, which will take a few years.
