I graduated high school at 19 and then took two semesters at a community college but ended up doing poorly and basically wasting a year due to various personal reasons, namely immaturity and lack of motivation. Now I’ve straightened myself out and I feel ready to take school seriously. I’m going to be starting afresh this summer at a community college in another district so they won’t get my transcripts, and my plan is to transfer to a four year college after two years when I’ll be 22 and graduate by the time I’m 24.
I’m basically just feeling really insecure and stressed about the fact that I’ll now be a year or two older than the majority of my peers throughout college as well as getting a late start on my career (accounting). I guess what I’m really looking for in posting this is some sort of validation. If anyone has gone through a similar situation or started college late because of a gap year or any other reason, I’d love to hear about your experience. Did your college experience feel “normal”? How did you overcome insecurity about being an older student? Did graduating two years later than most people set you back in your career and life in general? I just feel like a failure.
@friedliver You are young. A year or two older than other students isn’t going to be noticeable to anyone. It wasn’t to me. It took me six years to complete college, so I graduated when I was 24. I spent the first three years floundering around, ditching classes, dropping classes, and getting put on academic probation. Then I finally buckled down, and I ended up making the Dean’s List. I still felt very young when I was 24, and I am sure you will too.
Maybe I am really confident or really clueess, but I never felt like a failure. I never ever thought about my age for one second in college. I had loads of fun. I partied, I travelled, I worked, I dated, I went to the beach, I went to the coffee shop, and I did a lot of that while ditching class. The good news is, I still managed to have fun even when I finally got serious about college. Some people just have to sow their wild oats. My college experience was normal to me, that’s all that counts. Career wise, well, I had a very different career path that involved lots of travel, with the airline industry. I would say one difference now is that employers seem to value internships, so try to get some of those lined up while you are still young and don’t have a lot of responsibilities for bills, etc…
FWIW, I am now a middle aged mom of two teens. My eldest is about to go to college. Trust me, in the eyes of most people, you are a young whippersnapper. I sense a bit that you are hesitant about going back to college because of your age. Are you sure you aren’t trying to create obstacles? Let me say it again, you are young. You have a lifetime of experiences ahead of you. Make the most of your youth and your opportunities.
Also, I want to add, that even now, my degree has been useful. I am involved in tutoring and test prep with high school students. This is work I could have never done without a degree. Going to college is something that helps you throughout life.
Four year schools weren’t a big pull when I graduated from high school in the late 70s, or at least in my rural area. A few did go away but most of us either went to community college or trade school or started working full time. I went to a business school in Boston for a one year paralegal certificate program. I graduated, took a job at a law firm in my home town and went about my business but I knew something was missing.
At 22 I had saved enough between two full time jobs to build a small house (where I still live lol). After two years, I decided to travel, rented out my house, and backpacked Europe for six months. Nope, still something missing. Came home, went back to community college and got an associates in accounting (25 years old sitting in classes with 18 years olds), got married a few years later, had a child, went to work each day. I was able to make a decent enough living with the associates but I was bored so I continued to take classes. Unfortunately, I just took whatever interested me and I now have a collection of credits to nowhere haha. Fast forward to mid 90’s and I had another child and decided it was time to go back to school and get a degree. I was in classes with kids in their 20s and I was 40+.
Long story short…I finally got my bachelors degree in 2000 (adolescent psych) and continued to taking graduate classes online. In 2012 I became a licensed social worker. Talk about being old when you finally get to the finish line (53 years old !). My D started college this year and I will live vicariously through her now !
In this day and age I don’t think it will make a whit of difference. Many kids aren’t really getting going with life until 24-25. All things considered you’ll be 24 either way, degree or not. Go for it!
" I’m going to be starting afresh this summer at a community college in another district so they won’t get my transcripts"
When you become a degree-seeking student at that new CC, you will be obligated to provide official copies of the transcript from your first CC. So do clarify with the people at the new CC that you aren’t a degree candidate there. You are a non-degree student who is just taking some classes.
When you apply for transfer, you will need to provide official copies of your transcripts from both CCs.
To add on to what was written in reply #5, it sounds like you see this as a fresh start and plan on just pretending your prior CC never existed.
Won’t work. There is a National Student Clearinghouse that has data on everyone who has attended colleges. When you apply to your 4-year college you will have to sign a form saying your application is truthful, and the application will also require you to list all prior colleges attended. If you omit that first school they will easily catch you, and they will revoke your admission.
I took two years between undergraduate & Masters, and another three between Masters & PhD. I refer to the experiences of those years in my academic work constantly.
My eldest brother took jumped straight into the university and was overwhelmed. He dropped out and took almost five years off before returning…because now he knew why he wanted to. Aced it the second try.
My very favorite undergraduate student, ever, was a 49-year-old who was taking classes not because he wanted a new career, but just so he could understand the material in his current job - a blue collar job, with no financial benefit from having a degree - better.
@happymomof1@mikemac I don’t know why I assumed I could get away with not disclosing transcripts from another school. Thank you so much for making me aware of that. I got really bad advice from someone. I guess I’ll just have to live with my C and four Ws as much as I wish I could make them disappear.
Everyone else, thanks for all your personal experiences. I feel a bit better now.
Lots of students take gap years or help out their families or whatever and don’t graduate at 22. Especially if you end up attending a public university, you will come across many less traditional students. I wouldn’t worry about it.
You will be fine and you will be launching into a very solid career. I’m a CPA and know many people who came to the field a bit later and it is totally fine. Go forth and conquer.
It is also true that there are many students who have the same start as you did. Having a bunch of W’s and one C is nothing! It won’t make a difference in the long run. You can start again. You are not your transcript. You had a false start but now you are ready for the genuine run. You essentially have only one C that could ever be entered into a GPA and that is pretty easy to neutralize.
A bunch of W’s and one C = nothing to worry about. You did the right thing when you withdrew and by that one decision 'preserved’your college record. MANY freshmen don’t have the self awareness to realize they should cut their losses and withdraw.
Your GPA WILL start fresh at your new cc. To professors, you’ll just be a student - it may feel very different to you, and in particular other freshmen may feel like they’re wasting their/your time not realizing how lucky they are to be in class, but to everyone you’ll be a normal freshman.
Hiya! I’ve been through that whole phase of feeling super blue because of my age. I’ll be starting college this Fall and I’m 21 years old!
I really want to stress that were are by no means “too old for college” but there’s another fact that I want to get across. In the words of my older friend who started college:
“No one really gives a bleep about your age, man.”
Start college, do your absolute best! Plus, being a little older than your peers has its perks. In a foreign environment, the younger ones tend to need someone to look up to, etc… Good luck pal!
Starting college as a non-trad is more common than you may think. It’s so common in fact that many colleges have programs just for non-trads, including Columbia U, UPenn, Yale, Brown. You may want to look at the list of nontraditional program on the W pedia site that otherwise shan’t be named for fear of moderators. Also check out the thread for nontraditional students on this site. Cornell CALS offers great transfer options, for example, for students coming from community colleges. If you call the department that you’re interested in at CALS they will answer any questions you may have about transferring in, what classes you need beforehand, etc. One person I know didn’t start college until s/he was in the mid-twenties and went on to become an Ivy professor. Starting late can actually help a college career because, as you yourself noted, older students tend to be more mature, have more life experience, and that means they tend to be more focused.
Think of this as a wakeup call. Your friends are going to tell you all kinds of things about what you need to take in order to transfer, what classes future employers really care about, what type of internships that help you get ahead and how to find them, etc. Sometimes they’re right, sometimes not, as you’ve seen.
I’m not saying not to talk about this with your friends. Just the contrary. You can get some good tips and advice from friends, they can be examples of what you ought to be doing. It’s that bad advice doesn’t come with a label. So I suggest asking yourself whether it matters if what someone tells you happens to be wrong, and if so then make an effort to verify it independently from a reliable source. So when someone tells you that class X isn’t required to transfer to some school you’re thinking about, you’ll take the time to look up the xfer requirements online. And so on.