Quitting work and going back to college

lancer

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Has anyone here ever done this?

I'm 25, drop out of college yrs ago, but want to get back in, I have a pretty good job well paid especially for my age, but I don't have a degree and in America that seems a pretty important thing to have, probably either looking at computer science or Geography.

My plan was to get a part time job and then start college this fall. I also have a wife and daughter, my wifes salary is ok, and i think financially we would be ok with me part time and her f/t.

Anyone got any advice or done this themselves.

Also last question, I'm english but live in america, would it be easier to go back to england and study or stay here and study?

Thanks
 
I can't really give you any advice, but I just wanted to say that it sounds like a good idea. I hope it works out well! :)
 
Not sure about the US, but here we have evening classes for those who need to work during the day.... ie. full-time/part-time.

Anyway, it sounds good. :)
 
they have that in the us as well, but i just don't want to take 6-8 years to complete a degree in the evening.
 
Here is what i do and it works great. I went to community college for 2yrs and got all my minor courses down. Now i am transfering to a major university where some of the classes are online. Its a lot better because i can take 5classes a semester and still work full time. You are slammed with work but over all its worth it in the long run to finish in 1.5-2yrs (depending on summer classes) and not drag it out.
 
Good luck...I did the opposite, racked up too many bills, and had to go to work to pay them all back :)
 
mooo said:
Here is what i do and it works great. I went to community college for 2yrs and got all my minor courses down. Now i am transfering to a major university where some of the classes are online. Its a lot better because i can take 5classes a semester and still work full time. You are slammed with work but over all its worth it in the long run to finish in 1.5-2yrs (depending on summer classes) and not drag it out.

This is a good idea. If you still have some basic classes to take, do that at a community college and save yourself some money there. Look for internet course offerings or even independent studies at whatever university you want to attend. I don't blame you for not wanting years of night classes... I don't know if that would be worth it.
 
I did college in england so i think i have to start again from scratch in the usa. I am planning on going to my local community college first. How many classes do you usually do a semester? I really don't understand the system at all as its pretty different to the uk way of doing a degree. Also how do you pay for the credit hours as you get them or on the presumption you'll do say 30 hours a semester so you pay upfront for thirty?

Thanks
 
lancer said:
I did college in england so i think i have to start again from scratch in the usa. I am planning on going to my local community college first. How many classes do you usually do a semester? I really don't understand the system at all as its pretty different to the uk way of doing a degree. Also how do you pay for the credit hours as you get them or on the presumption you'll do say 30 hours a semester so you pay upfront for thirty?

Thanks
Most courses are "3 credit hours" which is suppose to equal 3 hours a week I think, labs and such may make a class 4 credit hours. Each degree usally has a list of courses you must take along with the total credit hours. :)

As for paying, if you go part time you usally pay per credit hour. If you go full time (usally 12+ credit hours a semester) you usally pay a set few whether you take 12, 15 or more credit hours. :)
 
Go for it. Would do something else besides computer science though, the courses are not that good anymore, and most of the people don't get a job unless they have another major to back it up so to say.

I am looking at colleges at the moment, as i am off to college next year after my senior year in school. Let me know if you find a school that you would recommend to me.
 
I say go for it.I'm 36 and going back to college part time in September to study childcare and education and I can't wait :D
 
X-Istence said:
Would do something else besides computer science though, the courses are not that good anymore, and most of the people don't get a job unless they have another major to back it up so to say.
Not sure what he minored in but I know someone I belive was a CS major and just got a job w/ Big Blue. ;)
 
Xie said:
Not sure what he minored in but I know someone I belive was a CS major and just got a job w/ Big Blue. ;)

Some get lucky. I have tons of friends of mine who graduated CS, and no one wanted them.
 
X-Istence said:
Some get lucky. I have tons of friends of mine who graduated CS, and no one wanted them.
Yeah I'm sure there are tons, though I saw a story on /. a bit ago about the shortage of CS majors so perhaps by graduation people might want them again?
 
Well a little history, i have a lot of experience with IT, mostly with Start-ups and UK government agencies, But i never got a degree or and accreditation to back any of it up.

So i figured if i have a degree in computer science that would go a long way to helping me out.

But then again i am so interested in geography and the world, i know its night and day, but thats just me. Not really sure what i could do with a geography degree though.
 
lancer said:
Well a little history, i have a lot of experience with IT, mostly with Start-ups and UK government agencies, But i never got a degree or and accreditation to back any of it up.

So i figured if i have a degree in computer science that would go a long way to helping me out.

But then again i am so interested in geography and the world, i know its night and day, but thats just me. Not really sure what i could do with a geography degree though.

You could go into some forsaken career field. Most of the rich people I know do jobs you'd never think of, like owning a small bread company, or air balancing buildings. You don't have much competition for jobs when you're an air balancer. Heck, I set up and tune antennas for a living.
 
Lancer

College systems vary a little school to school here. Some run by semesters (3 per year but summer is kinda weak) some run by quarters (4 per year). You also have the option of choosing a co-op school where you class 2 quarters then work in industry 2 quarters.

Forget geography! That is a hobby, not a career for a man with a family. If you want, take a few classes in that just to have some fun.

Get a degree in engineering, not IT. With an EE degree you can do anything. Salaries are higher too. With IT you've over specialized and may need to relocate to India...

Course load is typically 4-5 per semester (or quarter). Most 4 year degrees actually take more than 4 years to complete unless you run full load each semester and drop NOTHING! First 3-4 years are 95% mandatory courses and the last year are electives in your specialty.

You could opt for a 2 year associates progam but people with those degrees are pretty much dead ended career wise and treated like corporate step children.

As for transfering credits from England, as long as they are from an "accredited school" and if the credits are not too old, they should transfer fine. "Too old" will vary with the kind of credits (tech vs humanities). Find a school in the US that will accept your old credits. It could shave a year off your effort.

Good luck. I've always wanted to go back and finish my Masters, but never had the discipline.
 
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Lee's post about the credits transfering is something that you should really look in to because if they do then that would help a lot.

Evening classes could keep you from having to stop your full time job right away but would leave you with a heavy load.

A lot of university systems also offer what they call a "May mester." So, if you wanted to go during the day and work part time you could take a full load during the regular semesters and take maymesters when that time rolls around and cut down a lot of time on how long it would take to graduate. Most maymesters are the work of a full semester cut down in to a few weeks. In this case you could go Fall semester, spring semester, may mester, and summer semester and have a almost 2 yrs worth of work done in one yr. Which would mean you could techincally knock it out in 2 yrs or a tiny bit more.
 
Good point dere. Get any junk credits (literature, language, economics, etc.) out of the way with those compressed courses. They also offer them for 8 hours on Saturday. The US schools have a very agressive support system for people working while pursuing their degress.
 

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