by Christine Conte

Created on: January 12, 2008

Possibly the most wonderful thing about going back to college as an adult? Motivation: You are there because you WANT to be!

In college, the majority of your classmates will be in the 18-21 age range. You may feel very out of place as an adult among all those young people. However, you have a huge advantage over them: many of them will be there not because they really want to, but because they feel they HAVE TO. Their parents may have pressured them to enroll; they may be in school to avoid getting a job; some of them may not quite understand that failing a class equals money wasted.

You, however, have decided to take on a major life challenge. In life, when you make a choice, you have to let other choices go. Going back to college may very well require a lot of sacrifices on your part (and most likely that of your family). But you have carefully weighed your options, and have decided that your education is a worthy goal.

Your conscious decision and your strong desire to go to school give you a great advantage in achieving your learning goals. Remind yourself often just how badly you want that degree.

When looking towards the future towards graduation, it can be be very overwhelming at times. Two or four years may seem like an awfully long time, especially when you only have the time and money to take one or two classes at a time.

Any big goal is made up of many, many smaller goals. Time management is crucial. When you're feeling overwhelmed by the big picture, immerse yourself in the immediate details: focus on what needs to be done RIGHT NOW. What can you do right now to lay the ground-work for that term paper or project? If you have a topic in mind, it's never too early to start researching or outlining. If the long-term goal is sketched out, all the little details will "color in" the big picture.

Use a big planner calendar and schedule your test dates. Plug in due-dates for projects and papers. Keep up with your reading assignments; it's much easier to read twenty pages a week for fifteen weeks than it is to cram 300 pages the week before finals!

If you do what needs to be done right now today... tomorrow... next week... next month... eventually, the semester is over, and you're that much closer to graduation!

Also, tell yourself often, "I can do this!"

And you know what? You CAN.

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