How old were you when you graduated from college?

[jonathan_matos5]

Crap I knew I forgot to do something after high school

[ivanthetrble]

Undergrad - 26

Grad school - 30

Residency - 32

[toolbar]

My momma told me I couldn't go to college for the rest of my life, but I fooled her - I became a professor.

[Phantasm]

Graduated at 23 with a degree in Chemistry. I've been working in I.T. since then and I've never actually used my degree, but it's been helpful to be able to say that I have one.

 

I probably could have shaved a year or so off of that if I hadn't had a full time job, a band (sometimes 2 or 3), girlfriends with emotional crises, etc. at the same time.

[liko]

I was 23, almost 24 when I graduated (2 months to go). Took me five years.

 

It's becoming very common to take five years plus to graduate college. This is especially true if you double major, pursue a minor less related to your major, major in science or engineering, fail a course, change majors, transfer, or otherwise do something that ends up with you needing/having more than 120 hours of courses taken.

 

15 hours per semester is "full-time"; the old adage is that for every hour spent in the class you spend 2-3 hours studying for it, which at 15 hours of lecture is 45-60 hours a week total time spent engaged in schoolwork. My university required counselor approval to take more than 19 hours in a semester. And most majors at my university (Texas Tech baby!) require more than 120 hours (my MIS degree was 130; a CS/EE double major is a whopping 168). So to graduate in four years would take summers and course overloads, and you'd have to be 100% focused on your graduation date. No electives, no second-guessing what you want to do with the rest of your life.

 

So my advice to you? Don't try unless you won't be able to continue financially after four years. Stafford loans are your friend if the scholarships do run out; $5500 a year goes a long way at most universities, and you pay em back at 1-3% rates.

[Deep Bass]

 

Good job it is tough to go back!

 

 

Thanks! It was tough to go back, especially after the 3 year period of working. I got used to having a salary, and it took awhile to live like a student again. Luckily I already had my bass equipment!

[RoboChrist]

I probably don't belong in the same company as others in here, but I went back to school when I was 34 and ended up with an honours diploma as a machinist/CNC operator. That diploma included two semesters of technical writing, a humanities course, and an economics course. To me that's a heavy workload! But I trudged through it and was determined to do it right the first time.

 

I can see myself going back quite easily as I really enjoyed the experience...

[Deep Bass]

I probably don't belong in the same company as others in here, but I went back to school when I was 34 and ended up with an honours diploma as a machinist/CNC operator. That diploma included two semesters of technical writing, a humanities course, and an economics course. To me that's a heavy workload! But I trudged through it and was determined to do it right the first time. I can see myself going back quite easily as I really enjoyed the experience...

 

Those who go back when they're older often do better. Usually at that time, you know that you want to be there, and you are paying for it yourself.

[Super Bass]

I never completed college, tried it for a year. It wasn't for me. Got a full time job and thats where I'm at now.

[playdrums]

 

I never completed college, tried it for a year. It wasn't for me. Got a full time job and thats where I'm at now.

 

 

Same here. I should have at least finished my 4 yrs. out of HS...one of these days I'll have to go back. I've got some damn good construction knowledge that will last me a lifetime though, so at the moment I don't really regret where I'm at.

[doetwin]

I'll be 22. Of the people who do graduate college, most do it at 20/21/22. However, the important thing to remember is that most people never graduate college period. http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d13/tables/dt13_104.20.asp

[doetwin]

I know this isn't relevant to the question, but I'm new here and I have no idea how to post new questions. Can someone please walk me through this like I'm a 5-year-old?

[DeepEnd]

I know this isn't relevant to the question, but I'm new here and I have no idea how to post new questions. Can someone please walk me through this like I'm a 5-year-old?

I think there's a minimum number of posts before you can start a new topic. One of the mods can tell you for sure. Anyway, you should see a "New Topic" button on the left (outlined in red below). Click on it and you'll see a place to enter the title of your thread and, below that, a place to type what you want to say:

 

[isaac42]

I know this isn't relevant to the question, but I'm new here and I have no idea how to post new questions. Can someone please walk me through this like I'm a 5-year-old?

On the home page for each forum, there is a button labeled +New Topic. Click on that. Enter a title in the box labeled Enter title. Then enter the information you want in your post, be it question, assertion, joke, whatever, in the box labeled Write something... When done, click on the button labeled Post.

[isaac42]

I got a Bachelors degree while I was in the Navy. No graduation as such because it was a long distance degree. I was in my late 30s, I think. Then I went back to college after being laid off and got a technical Associates degree. Again, no graduation ceremony because I finished the degree at the end of summer term. I was 54.

[DeepEnd]

FWIW, I was 22. Pretty standard. Graduated from what is now McKendree University with a degree in Communications, class of '75. Go Bearcats!

[Idunno]

I started college at the tender age of 27 and grajiminated 2-1/2 years later with a BS in BS. I had licenses and other certifications that were creditable towards the degree. That was 9 years after I left high school and comprised 4 military active duty, to get the benefits for college, and 5 in a civilian job to further acquire the above licenses and certifications to pare down time at university. I call it a BS in BS because I never used it as a tool to acquire a job or promotion within one. Plus, I started my own company and decided not to judge myself on my education to give myself a job. I hired myself based solely upon my experience, which was a wiser move it turns out.

 

Joking aside, college merely points out a person's staying power. I think the ultimate judgement of that is whether the graduate paid for it himself as he went, and graduated with little to no debt, accumulated personal debt to cover it, or was gifted it by parents or the system he qualified to receive funding within. I've hired/fired many people over the years and I find the educated are not the work force darlings the no child left behind syndrome promotes and produces. They are the entitlement darlings at best.

 

Anyway, that's a bit off-topic but remember that regardless of the education, a fair day's work still only begets a fair day's wages.

 

Best essay I ever read and only one I kept after cawlidge -

 

How to Study in College - Cengage Learning

 

"“The best service one person can render another person is to help him help

himself.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Danhedonia]

You're going to need money. Get the career going, then return to music.

[doetwin]

On the home page for each forum, there is a button labeled +New Topic. Click on that. Enter a title in the box labeled Enter title. Then enter the information you want in your post, be it question, assertion, joke, whatever, in the box labeled Write something... When done, click on the button labeled Post.

 

Thank you. I just did it.