<p>I received a B.S. in Biology back in the time of dinosaurs...2011. After being in Pharmacy school for several months and being in the real world for a couple more, I'm just about set on going back to school for Chemical Engineering.</p>
<p>Good news is that I had a 3.5 GPA when graduating and that I've completed Organic chemistry, gen chem and math up to Calculus 2 for my B.S. degree, so hopefully it will be able to transfer, since it's at the same school.</p>
<p>Pharmacy school wasn't for me. I can't really find any jobs with my B.S. in Biology which doesn't involve being a lab slave. With an interest in chemistry and proven track record in chem classes, I thought chem E would be a logical choice.</p>
<p>Is going back to school at 25-26 unusual? I need some input/criticism/advice if anyone has any.</p>
<p>No, it’s not unusual at all. I had a 28-year-old friend in my classes when I was just 18. My husband dropped out of college as a senior - he decided teaching wasn’t for him. He wandered around and ended up living on a commune in Alaska for four years. He got interested in structures after seeing the guys trying to guess what size logs to use for long-span buildings. At the age of 28, he went back to get his BS in engineering. Then he went down to UT-Austin to get his MS. He was 30 then. I thought he was ancient! We joke that he had to wander around for a few years so that I could grow up enough to date him! He is more than 8 years older than I am.</p>
<p>In grad school, one of our classmates was in his late 40s! He went on to get his PhD and become a professor.</p>
<p>Go for it! You’ll do well. My husband said it was nice going back as an older student, because he knew how to work hard and appreciated the education more.</p>
<p>Oh, wow. Your situation sounds a lot like mine, sproles. I got a BS in molecular biology back in 2010. I’d originally planned to go to medical school but decided in my last year of college that it wasn’t for me. So I worked at the NIH for a while, and considered graduate school in biology or possibly an MPH or something along those lines. By the end of my stint at NIH, I’d decided that wasn’t for me, either.</p>
<p>So I took some time off, did a lot of soul searching and exploration of various fields, and decided I wanted to study mechanical engineering. I had taken calculus I and II, calc-based physics I and II, general chemistry, and two semester of statistics. Not exactly the same as engineering mechanics and thermodynamics, but close enough, apparently. I didn’t want to go back for a BS in engineering; I had already been an undergrad and wanted to do graduate level work, and for my intended field/career paths, I don’t need the PE/FE licenses (in order to sit for these exams, most states specifically require a Bachelor’s in Engineering from an ABET-accredited college–a Master’s will not suffice). So, three years after graduating from college, I signed up for Multivariable Calc and Differential Equations, took the GRE, and began applying for Master’s programs in mechanical engineering.</p>
<p>I am currently 26 years old and in my second semester of a thesis-MS program in mechanical engineering at a top-ranked school. To echo MaineLonghorn: go for it.</p>
<p>My best friend (and coworker) is about to graduate with his bs in mechanical engineering. He got his bs in biology in 2007, was in the peace corp for a while and then decided to go back to school for engineering. </p>
<p>You may want to answer the question, “what do I want to do when I grow up?” to optimize your studies rather than pick the one that transfers the most credit. </p>
<p>I personally started off materials engineering before I dropped out of college. It wasn’t until I was 28 and had a moment of quiet contemplation that I came up with aerospace engineering as my calling. I’m sure no matter what you pick you won’t have to start from scratch like I did (I won’t graduate until I’m 33).</p>
<p>At the age of 25, you are just a puppy. I started on a ChemE degree when I was 34. Finished in two and a half years and I had to take all science classes and calc 3 and diff eq. It can be done. </p>
<p>My god, I went back at 30 (after a previous non engineering bachelors), I am finishing an MSIE this December at 33. I am definitely not ancient. For me it has been better, there have been a lot less distractions this go around. Knowing how much the real world sucks if you don’t have the right training provides a good motivation to do better.</p>
<p>I went back to school to get a 2nd degree in Industrial Engineering at age 35, hopefully I will graduate before I am 40 but most of my classmates have no idea how old I am.</p>
<p>It can be annoying dealing with the immaturity of kids in your classes but I also realize that I was their age at one time. The guys can be annoying and immature, the girls, a little better though</p>
<p>I have a buddy who is 38 and he is also getting a degree in IE. He got a co-op his very first semester because he had already worked in manufacturing- I mean, many of the kids we are competing against never had a job in their lives.</p>
<p>As long as you look young and you are not too old, you will be much more desirable to an employer, you will probably sound a lot more mature to an employer than 95% of your cohorts and that makes a huge difference.</p>
<p>25 is ancient? I just turned 24 a few days ago and I will be going for a master’s in mechanical this fall. I’ll need to make up a few courses. I majored in Applied Mathematics/Statistics, though. 25 is not ancient. One of my friends is 25 right now and doesn’t expect to finish his mechanical engineering degree until he’s around 27. </p>
<p>A friend of mine graduated with a degree in music education and went back to college at the age of 25 for electrical engineering. He also got a co-op and got a six figure job on graduation. My son is getting his BS in mechanical engineering in a couple of weeks. Many of his partners on his senior project are in their late twenties, are married, and have had great jobs lined up since the fall. My son is not a drinker, though he is now 22, and he goes out with them to a local bar for trivia night every week. He’s taking some core curriculum classes this semester, like French and a humanities course, and there are grad students and older students in those courses that he has done projects with as well. You’ll be fine. </p>
<p>Everything is relative. My brother went back to medical school at the ripe old age of 36. The kids in medical school used to jokingly called him old man. </p>
<p>DrGoogle, in my ChemE program, when my classmates called me old, I used to answer “I have a 100% chance of living to 36, you don’t.” Pretty much stopped them dead in their tracks.</p>
<p>I’m an 18 year old college student right now but the year I graduated high school, one of my teachers also left to go back to college to get a 2nd bachelor’s degree in engineering. We actually could have been classmates lol but we ended up going to different colleges. I don’t know how old he is but I’m guessing his early 30s or late 20s. </p>