Yup I’m finally doing it. It’s been a long time coming. My life has led me in many different directions. I’d say the majority of those directions have led me to the happy life I live today. Though I’ve excelled in my career when I was in the medical field there was always a small still voice encouraging me to finish my degree. I’ve always loved academia and I’m so glad that I can pick up where I left off.
There are a few reasons why I didn’t finish my degree. I had to grow up really fast. I spent my freshman year away at college in New York. About an hour away from my childhood home. I wanted to stay close because my mom was always sick and in pain. She has suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis since I was about 10 years old. By the time I graduated high school her condition worsened. She was in and out of the hospital and went through hip and knee replacement surgeries. Sometimes she was even too weak to feed herself. I was her rock. The person she always turned to to get her dressed for work, comb her hair when she was too weak to lift her arms and run errands for her. I never minded it because that’s what a good daughter does. So going away to college broke my heart. I felt like I couldn’t be there for her like she needed. I’d go to school all week and come home on the weekends to check up on her.
By the end of my freshman year I made the decision to move back home, find a job and go to school locally at night. I didn’t even have a car then. I was busing it to work at 5:30am and not getting home until almost midnight most nights. It was just too much. Something had to go! So I chose to continue working. It sucked major ass balls because i’ve always done well in school. But within a few months my career really picked up. I was managing a private medical practice by the time I was 20. Within the next year I was promoted to Director of Marketing within the company. I was making more money than the college graduates that worked there. I was so good at what I did that I would just live off of my bonus money. I used to have paychecks thrown on my dresser for weeks. Those years of medical experience is what brought me out to California. A company found my resume, flew me out for 3 days and offered me the position before I even got back to my hotel. One month later I became Director of Marketing for a facility in Beverly Hills.
But that small voice was still there pushing me to finish my degree. So I had my old transcripts sent to my new university and enrolled in a few classes yesterday. I don’t see it as something to fall back on. It’s more about proving to myself that I can complete something. I haven’t had that feeling in many years-even when I was successful working for someone else. Now is the perfect time for me to go back to school. I have my own business that affords me lots of leisure time and I really don’t have any other stressors in my life. I have about 2 more years before I receive my bachelor’s degree. I’m still deciding between Human Resource Management or Finance. I love both so this will be a challenging choice lol.
Did you take a break while in college? Did you ever go back and why? What did you get your bachelor’s in and did it benefit you after graduation? Please share.
Till next time…
Filed under: Finances, Health, Love, Relationships, School, money
27, 37, 47+
You should always go back to expand your mind…I am next. Even if it is 1 class per semester it is a great way to keep an agile mind.
I just graduated uni and I’m already wanting to go back!
I love learning stuff and I think I’m going to take a few casual courses (like beginner languages etc.) while I work and decide what I want to do for a post-grad degree.
No I didn’t take a break during uni, but I did take 5 years to finish a 4 year degree (I went on exchange for a year and took less classes per semester so I could take advantage of an internship opportunity only offered in 1st semester).
I got a Bachelors of Human Kinetics (Kinesiology aka Sport Science and Human movement) and yes I’m currently using it (sortof) working in a non-profit sporting organization. However I don’t know if this is what I want to do forever or what. I’m pretty indecisive.
No breaks for me
I got my BA in Psychology and went straight to a PhD program in Developmental Psych. I’m still in grad school and ready to gouge out my eyeballs. I wish I would have taken a break between undergrad and grad.
It’s great that you’re going back to finish. Now that I’m on the other side of the classroom (as a graduate teaching assistant), I see that older students tend to be more focused and engaged. They also tend to do much better than a more traditional student would.
Good for you!!
I took a break for a year due to not having my “papers” yet. Once they came through I was off!
I went back because it was like the expected thing to do so I went and I wanted to g et out of the house. I got my BA in Criminal Justice and no it hasnt helped one BIT! I might as well have one in basket weaving.
I would have rathered it be in Computer Science or Psychology. But my Masters are in Counseling Psychology and Forensic Psychology. I had regrets about those too but they have worked out nicely.
Go for it!!!!
I took about a five year break before returning to get my MBA. I have about a year left on that.
Life happens but never give up!! That’s the key to longterm success.
I wish you well.
Talulazoeapple
I actually started school at the same age that you are going back. When my kids were both in school, I decided to go get my degree. It took me six years and four schools later (because my hubby is in the Army and we moved so much) but I finished, graduating Magna Cum Laude.
I am not saying this to brag, I am saying that if I could do it as a military wife and mother of two elementary (at the time) school aged kids, anybody can. It is never too late to go back. The majority of the people in my classes were over 25 and some were even in their 60s. A lot were single mothers, some were married, some worked two jobs. Trust me, you can do it, and you won’t regret it.
I wish you all the best.
O.
Another post I can relate to.
I feel your need to have that “degree”.
But from all indication you seem rather successful without it. Why do you feel like you need a degree to achieve what you already have?
Maybe you’re just doing it for you, and thats what matters!
If you still have it in the back of your mind, do it, life is too short for regrets.
You have nothing to loose. With your work experience and know how you’ll actually bring a lot of the real world to your classmates and even prof!
When I went to collage in VA, there was a 72, I kid you not! – year old woman majoring in Math. She said thats what she always wanted to do, and shoot that she did.
I lived in New York all my life. I quit school when I was 22 and now I am 47. I learned my way around and office and got some promotions. I started out at a receptionist. Then Administrative Assistant to the Director of a program and then Administrative Assistant to the CMO/VP to Visiting Nurse Service of New York. In jan. of 2009 I was laid off. I was so devasted and so depressed I stayed in bed for a month and mostly cried and told my drama to anyone who would listen. I decided recently to go back to school. I have many fears of not doing well. But, I need to do something to prepare myself for a better life. My life is not over just because I am 47. Also, learned the quality of my life was and is not determined by the company I worked for. Lastly the next four years are going to pass by anyway. I don’t want to say I wasted them. I will have to try my best!
i have finished my first degree almost 5 years ago, then planning to get my MBA. But there’s nothing attract me to move up the way . Recently , I am intrested in taking another bachelor degree, in mandarin program . But my mom said that a girl should just work casually and wait someone to pick you up… yaih…. i am worried because no one aggree with my decission for this moment . My granny speaks out and encourage me to take the move . So here i am , trying to fill up the application . I am still worried , but the strories in this page make me believe . If you guys can do it . Why can’t I…. Thank u