by Christine L. Rice

Created on: February 01, 2009   Last Updated: December 20, 2011

Having a college degree is now a commonplace achievement for adults. Increasingly advanced degrees are becoming necessary for job seekers to obtain positions in their career fields. Therefore, many adults return to college in order to meet or exceed educational standards. In addition, competition for jobs has grown rampant with the ongoing economic struggles. This competition, and the need to prosper, is why adults are deciding to continue their educations.

It is not easy for adults to return to college, because most of them have been away for years and are already settled into their home lives and work situations. An effective way for adults to return to college and be successful, is to first consider personal strengths and weaknesses, and then decide on the best strategy to accomplish their goals. Strategies can differ depending on the person. Managing time, increasing productivity, and getting tutoring are some techniques to consider.

It is helpful to realize that there are certain personal attributes that help adults succeed at their studies: motivation, ambition, and determination. Motivation is needed to have the desire to return to school. Then, ambition helps move along the process of deciding to enroll and completing the enrollment process. Without motivation and ambition, enrollment would not happen. The positive feeling of motivation, intertwined with the act of ambition, set the scene for a successful educational future.

Motivation is clearly necessary when obtaining an education. Students need motivation nearly every day in order to participate in class discussions, review the assigned readings, accomplish assignments, and pass each class. Motivation is what will carry an adult student through their classes - one class at a time - until completion. There are ways to help maintain the feeling of motivation: 1) Review of long-term goals; 2) learning about jobs that will become an option after graduation; and 3) getting involved in extracurricular activities related to the educational goal.

Determination is needed to overcome obstacles that can interfere with program completion. While in attendance, students may experience depressing and difficult moments, times when inspiration or interest is lacking, and life issues that occur and take away their focus. Having determination will get them through those tough times. It is what will help them go over the finish line to earn their degree.

Determination is clearly necessary for a student to graduate. With determination, nothing will stop the student from obtaining their goals.

Having a strategy to tackle personal weaknesses, and maintaining motivation, ambition, and determination, are important for success in adult education. When a person discovers why they want to further their education, they will start to develop the attributes necessary for success.

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