<p>I am 31 years old. I am seriously considering going back to school for B.S EE. Starting at a CC and then transfer to TAMU. I graduated ITT (I know) 6 years ago with an Associate's degree in Computer and Electronics Engineering Technology with a 3.65GPA. I have been working in the field since then but now realize that I have limited options for what I can apply this degree to. I would still have to work close to full time hours and attempt 12 credits per semester. Opinions please...</p>
<p>Umm…if this helps any, I was in my early 30’s when I was in graduate school because I felt I need something extra.</p>
<p>My husband was 28 when he went back to school in civil engineering. He got out of grad school at 32. My college roommate, a nursing major, went to MEDICAL school when she was 30! She has dyslexia, and she had to retake the first year after failing the first time. You’re not too old!</p>
<p>I’m 33, started back almost 2 years ago to complete my BS.</p>
<p>Trust me, your hesitations about being too old will vanish after the first day of your first class. Nobody really cares about your age. I have some fun conversations with 18 and 19 year-olds. You will also find the campus is swarming with people your age, albeit grad students and young professors. You won’t be out of place, especially at a large state university.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies! Part of my hesitation involves the fact that I have a decent job right now paying $55k/yr. on average. I would have to quit the job to go back to school since my job involves extensive national travel. So it would be a big decision, but I think it would be worth it in the “long-run”.</p>
<p>I’m 27 and in my first quarter at UCSD as a Bioengineering: Biotechnology undergraduate. I was 24/25 when I decided to come back. Right now I’m at the UCSD library scanning my book so I don’t have to buy it. I’ve already made a few studying partners and friends and even a cute girl in my Calculus class has her eye on me. I’m on track to finish my BS when I’m 29. 30’s are the new 20’s man! </p>
<p>Even if you finish when you’re 35, you’ll be in your mid 30’s with about 25-30 years left to work in a profession before retirement. You’re not even halfway through your life yet and you wanna know if you’re too old? </p>
<p>I’m trying to convince my 51 year young mom to go back to school and finish an associate’s degree. </p>
<p>Maybe I’m old fashioned and I respect people older than me too much, but I just think there’s so many things you can do in your life, why pidgeonhole yourself because you feel like time passed?</p>
<p>Here’s my advice for you:
- Dedicate more of yourself to school than you do to work. This is especially the case if you don’t have kids or a wife. If you do have kids/wife, then you still need to work, but stash some notes/lecture papers to work and study in between projects/on your lunch break. If you don’t give this 100%, you won’t fully integrate yourself back to being a student.</p>
<p>2) Don’t listen to anyone who tries to tell you to spend more time at community college than at the university. As soon as you can transfer, transfer. Sure, you might rack up more debt in undergraduate studies, but the thing is, if you spend more time in community college, then you spend less time working as an engineer, so the debt balances out. Plus getting your foot in the university really changes your attitude and motivation for the better. </p>
<p>Anyway, do it! You’re young. You’re younger than Christian Bale and he’s BATMAN!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Or, the guy has a wife who can support the family, or they can live on savings and loans, or… There is nothing remotely unusual about those options, so I thought I’d throw it out there to contrast with your antiquated view of spousal roles :)</p>
<p>FWIW OP, my spouse went back to grad school at 35 for a Masters to change his occupation and prospects, then when and got a PhD in his 40s for yet another career change of sorts. So if you can swing it financially, its a fantastic idea. Will keep you young too. Besides, whether you go back to school or not, you are going to one day be 25 then 40, then 45 and so on, might as well be that age WITH the degree you desire than without. And who retires at 65 now anyways if they love their career?</p>
<p>You’re never too late to go back to school. I see people of all age ranges at the school I’m at.</p>
<p>My classmate in my CS data structure is 50+.
Consider that. You are too young :]</p>
<p>“My classmate in my CS data structure is 50+.”</p>
<p>I hope he knows that he stands virtually no chance of getting hired. Tech companies are notorious for discriminating against older people.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Which ones?..definitely not the defense companies supporting the INTEL agencies.</p>
<p>Silicon Valley employers. Several companies like Intel and Microsoft have already admitted to practicing age discrimination.</p>
<p>“Microsoft (MSFT) is known for the high quality of its hires.
Senior Vice-President and Chief Technical Officer David
Vaskevitch…acknowledges that the vast majority of Microsoft hires are
young, but that is because older workers tend to go into more senior
jobs and there are fewer of those positions to begin with.”</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~matloff/Archive/MicrosoftLetsTruthSlipOut.txt[/url]”>http://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~matloff/Archive/MicrosoftLetsTruthSlipOut.txt</a></p>
<p>Well I know that if an old geezer has a clearance, he/she can pretty much retire. I work with the “Fort Meaders” everyday. It’s not like I am seeing young 20-somethings all day here.</p>
<p>Well, I guess intel companies operate differently than civilan companies. But outside of intel, age discrimination is a major issue that one cannot dismiss. If I was 50, the last thing I would do is go to school to get a CS degree.</p>
<p>Homer, are you even a college student or graduate? You are pretty bad at formulating arguments and might want to consider taking/re-taking some freshman humanities courses. Anybody with more than a 9th grade education can easily point out the faulty assumptions and poor logical reasoning in your posts.</p>
<p>ok Mr. Humanities expert, go ahead and point out the faulty assumptions and poor logical reasoning in my posts.</p>
<p>By the way, one of the main sources I use for my data is this lengthy archive maintained by Norm Matloff, a CS professor at UC Davis who has studied outsourcing, H1Bs visas, and age discrimination in tech for over a decade. I highly recommend that every CS major and propsective CS major read over Professor Matloff’s work. </p>
<p>[Index</a> of /~matloff/Archive](<a href=“http://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~matloff/Archive/]Index”>Index of /~matloff/Archive)</p>
<p>For one thing, the CEO is pointing out a basic reality, not making an admission of age discrimination. The vast majority of CS college graduates happen to be young people, the CEO can’t change that.</p>
<p>For another thing, you are assuming that the student in his 50’s is there for a bachelors in computer science. He could be taking CS courses to help get a computer background for his current job/career. He could be doing a CS minor as I plan to do, or he could be taking the class to get some prerequisites out of the way for grad school.</p>
<p>You also assume that everyone who gets a CS bachelors wants to or will work for a large private company, but that is hardly the case. There are not only government employers, but a very large amount of small to mid-size employers as well. </p>
<p>And what if the man’s goal is to own his own small tech business? It’s likely that he’s been working in the IT field for years and is going back to college to either re-acquire forgotten knowledge and gain credibilty for potential customers, or to get a degree that is required to advance in his current company. </p>
<p>I find it odd that you would even jump to the conclusion that a man in his 50’s in a CS course is there so he can compete with young 20-somethings for jobs at microsoft and IBM. The fact that you fail to even acknowledge other reasons/motivations for the man being there shows either a severe lack of critical thinking on your part or a willful attempt to bypass alternative possibilites to advance your idea.</p>
<p>I looked over that website and all I read was “they took our jobs!” berderker derrrrr.</p>
<p>
Some people return to school for fun. Maybe he’s a wealthy person and all he wants is just learn the stuff, provided that he doesn’t has to attend Columbia (which is only a station away from CCNY).</p>
<p>Provided that people still return to school for many reasons.
I wouldn’t ask him - that’s just rude.</p>