<p>OK, help me out here please. I am 44 yrs old and just now going back to school to finish what I should have YEARS ago. Better late than never I suppose... I have to say, I am a bit nervous about sticking out like a sore thumb in class. I just want to blend in as much as possible. What would be your advice to me? I like to consider myself a fairly "cool mom", my son's are 20 and 22 so I'm not too old school lol. Give me one peice of advice one what to do, or NOT to do. Another thing... do you run across many "older" students in your classes? Thanks!</p>
<p>I didn’t run across many older students in my classes since I was a bio major, but in some of my gen ed classes, we did have a few. The only thing I noticed was that the non-traditional students tended to have a harder time participating in group projects/group work that was done outside of classes. Regular students tend to have pretty flexible schedules, whereas non-traditional students had a hard time fitting that into their already busy schedules. </p>
<p>I would generally say to keep on the quieter side for the first few classes to see how the dynamic is–you don’t want to be the person (regular or non-traditional student) who asks 8 million questions and annoys everyone. Also, try and keep up on whatever your school’s ‘thing’ is (football, basketball, a performance group, etc.) so that you always have that in common with traditional students. You may not be able to talk about that party Friday night, but you can definitely talk about the big win. Finally, I would say to familiarize yourself with your school’s ‘tools’ (Blackboard, etc.), that way you’re not struggling to understand where to find the readings and get acclimated to those things as well as getting back in the school groove.</p>
<p>I’m a junior (and a transfer student) so I’ve been at a couple different schools. At a CC level, especially in later classes there were plenty of older students, some to the point where they outnumbered the traditional students. So if you’re headed there, aim for late classes and you’ll be perfectly fine. :P</p>
<p>At my current four year school, I would say it depends on the subject of the class. In a WW2 class I’m taking, maybe 1/10 are older students, where in technical courses it seems closer to 1/100. I’d just say be nice and be yourself, I’m sure you’ll find friends somewhere.</p>
<p>Thanks soccergurl! I will definitely take your advice… I myself can’t STAND when you have the ONE person that keeps asking questions… not to mention, the questions that have already been covered!</p>
<p>Failure622… I am headed to a CC for now, starting my gen ed classes. I have one late class, so I’m on the right track! 
Thanks!</p>
<p>First and most important, congrats on taking this big step! I find that my nontraditional age students tend to be more engaged with the material than some of the younger students - they are more likely to keep up with the reading and to want to discuss/question things. Since nontrad students are paying for their own education, they want to see competent instruction and engaged class discussion. </p>
<p>This can sometimes be perceived as over-involvement by younger students, who may be happy when class is cancelled or disengaged from discussion.</p>
<p>The way to combat this is (a) bite your tongue - let the other students get in first on class discussion issues occasionally, (b) be honest/yourself - students will respect your experience and perspective if offered humbly and respectfully (I had an older student rant about how rude people were for not taking off their hats, but she did it in such a nice way that no one was offended), (c) participate in campus activities - esp majors clubs - to the extent that your schedule allows. This will build you a network of peers.</p>
<p>I have found that night classes tend to attract more nontraditional students, and you could check with the Continuing Education office at your school to see it that’s true where you are. </p>
<p>If your professor is very young, they might be intimidated by you - and you will need to keep that in mind during your itneractions.</p>
<p>On reread, I feel like I’m making it sound very stressful…but the good parts outnumber the challenging ones. Have a great time on your journey!</p>
<p>Good for you on getting back out there!! </p>
<p>I haven’t had any nontraditional students in my classes yet, (I’m a freshman) but when I see them studying in the library or in the campus caf</p>
<p>I TA-ed this semester, and I have to say I’m very thankful to have some of these older folks in my class. At first, I thought they were all freshmen, but some of those excellent students actually turned out to be 23, 25 or even 40 (dude was born in '71, who knew!). These people were more mature, more eager to ask questions, get involved in the learning process, and made teaching so much easier for me. It’s the young bloods that I sometimes can’t stand. They just want to be invisible, and quiet. It’s like talking to a bunch of mannequins… horrible.</p>
<p>I have been teaching physics at the university level for 30 years and I have run across more mature students more than a few times. Generally, I think they are very serious and highly motivated because going to college is an important decision that they have made consciously. My advice is to choose your university carefully to make sure that the prevailing culture fits with you. It is possible that you might prefer a more professionally oriented university rather than a “party” school.</p>
<p>Thank everyone! I do tend to take this seriously. This should have been done years ago, but it didn’t happen. I started college 2 times… husband, then kids came along. Now I’m starting new… in more ways than one. Anyway, your posts are putting me more at ease. Thank you all again!</p>