Is it pathetic if I go back to college to study for a masters

There's nothing pathetic about pursuing further education, anon. Just make the education count and use whatever you learn.

Look at it this way: the 26 year old in class looks a lot less out of place than the 52 year old.

>>18121932
>Not doing what you want in life because of what some teens MIGHT think of you
That's pathetic, not your wish to go to college.

>>18121932
It's completely normal. I'm a 20 year old going for a System Administration degree, and a quarter of the class is just 30-40 year old guys that got into the field without a degree who are now going back for one.

It's perfectly normal.

Also, colleges love older students, you're easier to teach.

>>18121932

I had an accounting class with a guy in his early 50s, and everyone loved him.

he was cool and rode a motorcycle tho

>>18121932
Huh? Aren't most people going for their masters older?

>>18121979
OP here. I have researched a bunch of people who have studied the same degree at the same college and they were mostly 22 / 23 when they started. I will be turning 26. I realize it's not a huge gap but I just feel real old and tired, and I've always had a lot of trouble not feeling like a pathetic individual around others.

Do it

>>18121932
I'm 30 and trying to break into psychology after a decade working in engineering.

Nothing weird about it at all.

>>18122002
How are you going about that?

>>18121932

It's perfectly fine. If you don't go at 26, you'll be wondering what-ifs in your 36, and that's way more pathetic.

>>18121986
I'm back in school at 35. It's not that weird. And you trounce the other students with your superior life skills and knowledge, so it evens out the insecurity about being older.

Older students are known for ruining the curve for a reason.

>>18122010
This is one of the things I'm scared of. I earned a top grade during my BA, but since then I feel like my mind has gone to mush and my temperament and general mental health is in the shitter. I don't know if I have the enthusiasm, focus or mental stamina to go back to studying and so on.

>>18121932
Did it when I was 29. You'll be fine

>>18122005
Right now I'm devoting a lot of free time to getting a clearer sense of what it is I'd actually like to do. Mental and behavioral health is a massive field. It would kind of be like someone telling you "I want to go into medicine!" You'd be like, "Okay. In what way? Do you want to be an MD? Do you want to be a PA? A nurse? Do you want to go into clinical research? If you do want to be an MD, want area do you want to specialize in? Oncology? Psychiatry? Anesthesiology? Etc etc" So I'm doing volunteer work and reaching out to people in various spheres of the mental and behavioral health field to shadow and get a clear sense of what it is people do on a day to day basis so I can pick an educational path that is right for where I want to end up.

The long story short game plan to is to build a resume from the ground up and hope to land some good foot in the door opportunities. Volunteer, work for free in a lab on weekends, whatever I need to do to get some experience and some people that will vouch for me. I'm also looking to potentially take some night classes after work just to have some academic history in the field that says "Hey, I dont have bachelors in it, but I've taken X, Y, and Z courses in psychology (e.g. intro to psych, child psych, abnormal psych, cognition and learning, etc) and aced them. I'm no dummy."

That's the start anyway. It's a 5 year plan that would hopefully culminate in a PhD program after eventually getting some research experience.

>>18121932
26 really isn't that old.
i'm 24 in a class of mostly 21/22yo people and nobody even bats an eye, and one guy is 27 and thinks he's an old guy who can't fit in but literally nobody cares and everyone treats him the same as the rest.
last year i was in class with a guy who's 35 and he was by far one of the coolest in the class

>>18121986
Look op. I'm a 27 year old piece of fucking shit. I'm one class a way from an associates and hate the fucking hell out of the field. Going into compsci and saying fuck off to any other subject until I'm happy. I wont have a bs in compsci in less than 3-4 years. It's better than being fucking pissed at not doing what you want to do.

>>18121932
Wtf?

Why would that be pathetic?

>>18122213
self esteem issues

>>18122213
OP here, basically this:

>>18122235


It's just I researched the ages of the people who have studied for the course before and they tend to be 22 / 23.

>>18121932
people get masters when they need to, its not always straight out of undergrad you idiot.

I'm a 28 year old MLIS student OP. It's fine. I'm not even the oldest here.

>>18122380
What's the course like?

Thanks for the reassurance.

When the only thing holding you back is fear, that's when you know it's what you should be doing. (e.g. fear of being called 'pathetic').

This must be what you want to do, so get off 4chan, stop worrying about this thread, and take some steps toward this goal.

File: 1466914872373.png (283KB, 400x462px) Image search: [Google]

283KB, 400x462px

>>18121932
What the fuck? College is normal at any age. Why the hell do you care what a bunch of stupid teenagers think anyway?

>>18122443
My self-esteem has always been in the shitter plus I have a lot of regrets that my youth is over with nothing really to show for it. I had high expectations of where I'd be at this age.

>>18121932
Listen to this guy OP:
>>18122336
My dad is in his mid-50s and he got his master's in business. Because he fucking wanted to. And there's tons of other people out there in the same boat. Going to college is normal at any age, you idiot.

>>18122461

26 is still young dipshit. Stop regretting and just live.

OP here.

Thank you for all your replies. It is very uplifting to read through this thread.