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Congratulations! You've taken a big step in going back to school. As an adult student you will be bringing with you some good life and work habits that will make the next couple of years easier. Your day will probably run like this:

5:30 am up and awake. Time for a three mile run. Keeping healthy habits will be important since the stress of working full time and keeping up with class work will have their effects. You can't do it on caffeine alone.

6:30 am quick but nutritious breakfast, good fuel makes good thinking.

7 am on the way to the "day job" chance to organize prioritize, re-prioritize.

8-4 Day job: use breaks and lunch to study. Generations before had to plan their days around the library in order to accomplish their assignments. Today the internet, access to databases never before, library contents and scholarly articles allow no excuse for not applying yourself whenever time is there. Just remember, your employer is not subsidizing your education, use your free time for studying and don't abuse the online time you have access to at work.

4-5 on the way to class, eating in the car before going in. Thank heavens for weekends and sit-down hot meals!

6-9 class, study time and discussions with study groups.

9 home again, snack and a little relaxation before starting over again.

Sounds like a hitch in the Army, doesn't it? Well, there's a lot in common. You will have to apply discipline and time management, prioritize, handle sudden emergencies and changes and still get the job done. Multiple pressures stress and conflicts. But, at the end there will be a tangible achievement that is well worth the cost.

The qualities learned by holding a job responsibly, prioritizing, organizing, being responsible for your time, resources, scheduling of errands and necessities will come into play when you take on an education. Making use of resources online, backing up your files, virus scans (nothing like losing all that research due to some malevolent hacker), spell-check etc. Use the tools you have and search for other quality online ones.

You will probably attend some day classes with traditional students (re: high school age kids). This will test your patience and real maturity since they still don't know what they want to be when they "grow up". Learn to tolerate some questions that you would be embarrassed to ask, be a mentor (this is a new experience to them).

Your younger, much younger most likely, fellow students will have as many social activities as they seem to have classes. You won't have these options. This is like a second job for the next several years and quality counts. You won't waste time, and use what time you have effectively, that's the benefit your maturity brings. After all you are paying for this and should expect to get the best value.

You are an adult and will be able to expect more from faculty and administration. You can respectfully ask for assistance and advice, understanding how they work and they will understand how you work. The adult student population is expanding and will grow much more with the economic situation and the need to re-train and re-educate many workers; colleges understand this and are making serious efforts to produce programs and classes to fill this need. You can contribute to this ongoing situation in a constructive and productive way. You have the experience and know the technology.

Adult students bring their maturity, experience, skills and life knowledge to college. They can help teach others how life is a learning experience and how to grow effectively within it.

Learn more about this author, Tom Brennan.
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