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View Full Version : It's official...I am a college student again.



tylersmama
05-22-2009, 07:17 PM
:eek:

I registered for two classes this summer at the community college this afternoon in preparation for applying to nursing school in the fall. EEK.

I'm slightly freaking out at the thought of being in classes again since it's been 10 years since I had to be in that frame of mind. I hope my brain remembers how to function in an academic manner!

The classes are both online, so hopefully I can figure that out, as well. We didn't have much of this new-fangled internet stuff back in the day, ya know! :p

Thanks to all of you who offered advice in my other thread. After thinking about it and getting alimony details hammered out in mediation, I decided that there was really no need to rush into taking all four classes at once. So, I'll take two this summer and two in the fall, and then have the spring to get everything in order before hopefully starting nursing school next summer.

MontrealMum
05-22-2009, 07:39 PM
Good for you Gaye :bighand: I think this is a great choice for you, and I know you'll do really well. When I started my program at age 35 along with lots of 22 yr. olds who grew up with computers I was terrified - but I, and the other older students, generally did much better, with less spinning of the wheels and more motivation. When you're older you may have more to do and more to juggle, but your priorities are straight - and don't concern the next weekend's kegger ;) Considering your past academic record and all these tris and marathons you do, I think you'll definitely figure out all the new gizmos and get great marks.

gatorsmom
05-22-2009, 07:49 PM
Good for you Gaye :bighand: I think this is a great choice for you, and I know you'll do really well. When I started my program at age 35 along with lots of 22 yr. olds who grew up with computers I was terrified - but I, and the other older students, generally did much better, with less spinning of the wheels and more motivation. When you're older you may have more to do and more to juggle, but your priorities are straight - and don't concern the next weekend's kegger ;) Considering your past academic record and all these tris and marathons you do, I think you'll definitely figure out all the new gizmos and get great marks.

:yeahthat: She said it best. Congrats, Gaye! You can soooo do this. Make sure you make time to update us here. You are going to be a busy mama!

brittone2
05-22-2009, 07:51 PM
What a huge step forward. Best wishes as you begin this new journey. We know you'll do great!

trales
05-22-2009, 08:02 PM
You will do great. I teach a pre-req for nursing students at the community college here. The older students do a million times better and are a pleasure to have in class. You will do great.

elephantmeg
05-22-2009, 08:10 PM
you'll do great! I really enjoyed the older students that were in class with me. Good luck with nursing! :) I hope you like it as much as I do!

vludmilla
05-22-2009, 08:30 PM
Good for you! I bet you'll do really well.

JMS
05-22-2009, 08:45 PM
Good for you Gaye - it sounds like a great plan. You're going to do fantastic!!

anamika
05-22-2009, 11:25 PM
Sending you a ton of good wishes as you enter this new phase of your life :)
You'll do great!

ellies mom
05-23-2009, 01:54 AM
Congrat!!!!

I was 39 when I started nursing school in January. You will also find a lot of older students in nursing. So don't let it worry you. Going to school with kids can be hard but it is so worth it. My oldest loved my Netter's atlas for A&P. She used to paint very colorful "inside of your body" watercolors a la Netter's. I still have one hanging on my dining room wall. She also enjoyed playing with the flash cards. You can also pick up Micro or A&P coloring books. They didn't really help me much and they are way over my daughter's head info-wise right now but she enjoyed coloring them while I was studying so we could study together.

niccig
05-23-2009, 03:04 AM
Yay Gaye. You'll do fine. I used to work in university libraries and the mature age students, as we called older students, always did better and were a pleasure to work with. More so than the 20 yr old that would rock into the library in the last 20 mins and want help with their research.

I've studied online and I've helped teach classes online. You'll have a course homepage that everything is linked from. You'll have set readings for each week to complete - either chapters from your text book or PDF files of chapter/article. You may need to be online at a certain time for online chat, or you may need to post comments on a regular basis to get "participation" marks. You might also have a number of online assessments - multiple choice or other interactive assessment.

The trick is to stay with the coursework, get the readings done in the week you're supposed to do it etc. You do have to be more organized to get everything done, as there is no lecture where you're writing notes, you're getting that from the online subject points for that week and from your reading. If you have any confusion, contact the teaching staff to work it out as soon as you can. It can seem like you're out there on your own without support.

My suggestion would be to make sure you get your computer student account, as the online study system will be based from that. Make sure you can log into your course's home page and play around with it. If you do have difficulties accessing the system, don't panic. Very often the downloads from administration haven't happened etc. There's normally an IT help desk or a separate contact person for the online study system that you can call and get help. If it takes a little while to get it sorted out, make sure the lecturer knows this.

With all your success with Tris and Marathons, you can do this EASY PEASY..

ETA if you don't like reading online, invest in lots of paper and ink so you can print things out.

maestramommy
05-23-2009, 07:59 AM
:bighand::jammin: Congratulations Gail! Good luck with the classes!

ellies mom
05-23-2009, 01:10 PM
I've studied online and I've helped teach classes online. You'll have a course homepage that everything is linked from. You'll have set readings for each week to complete - either chapters from your text book or PDF files of chapter/article. You may need to be online at a certain time for online chat, or you may need to post comments on a regular basis to get "participation" marks. You might also have a number of online assessments - multiple choice or other interactive assessment.

The trick is to stay with the coursework, get the readings done in the week you're supposed to do it etc. You do have to be more organized to get everything done, as there is no lecture where you're writing notes, you're getting that from the online subject points for that week and from your reading. If you have any confusion, contact the teaching staff to work it out as soon as you can. It can seem like you're out there on your own without support.

My suggestion would be to make sure you get your computer student account, as the online study system will be based from that. Make sure you can log into your course's home page and play around with it. If you do have difficulties accessing the system, don't panic. Very often the downloads from administration haven't happened etc. There's normally an IT help desk or a separate contact person for the online study system that you can call and get help. If it takes a little while to get it sorted out, make sure the lecturer knows this.

With all your success with Tris and Marathons, you can do this EASY PEASY..

ETA if you don't like reading online, invest in lots of paper and ink so you can print things out.

:yeahthat: I forgot about that part of it. I took a couple of my pre-reqs on-line. Now that I'm in the nursing program, our classes kind of a combo. We are in the classroom but all of our modules, assignments, and announcements are made through blackboard (on-line course software).

Because I'm doing a combo thing, I probably print things up a lot more than you will but I like to have some stuff printed up so I can access it anywhere. Also, if I'm going to be studying someplace where I have my laptop but no internet access, I'll save files to my hard drive so I can still get to it. For example, right now I'm procrastinating on a huge paper. The grading rubric and a sample presentation are posted on line. I like to refer to them while writing so I saved them. Now, when I go to the coffee shop later to study, I can just pull it up as needed. Check out your computer labs printing policy. We can print up to 25 pages a day (nursing students get to print more). You may want to go once a week and print up a bunch of stuff.

elektra
05-23-2009, 01:18 PM
Congrats!
How exciting. Life is not a dress rehearsal! Way to go out and take the plunge and live your life and make the change!

egoldber
05-23-2009, 01:53 PM
Congrats!!!

I've taught Intro to Stats type classes at night and my very best students were ALWAYS the older students. They were focused, serious, and there to learn and get done what they needed to do with no goofing off. They were always a pleasure.

Corie
05-23-2009, 04:13 PM
Good Luck, Gaye!!

I think you'll do a great job! :)

tylersmama
05-23-2009, 05:55 PM
OMG. I was doing the online tutorial for Blackboard (the course software) and then checked out the required materials. I'm going to spend almost as much on textbooks and lab materials as I did for tuition!!! :eek: The lab alone (and I have two this summer) costs $250 and then I have to buy a microscope and special lens on top of that! Holy crap!

The good news is that at least while we're still married and sharing a bank account, STBX will be paying for half of it. And I will only need one new book and another lab pack for the fall. And the even better good news is that fall registration opens on June 15, so I can get registered and paid before the divorce goes through. :icon_twisted:

I'm starting to get a little overwhelmed at the thought of how much work this could be. I'm sure I'll feel better once I can actually see the syllabus and stuff, though. It's going to be tough to really work on getting organized and planning study times and such. Yikes. No more sitting on the couch every night watching tv and surfing the internet aimlessly! :bag:

trales
05-23-2009, 07:00 PM
You should be able to find the books and stuff a lot cheaper on line. Barnes and Nobles has very good deals on used textbooks, these are clean and without much writing in them. The market for used scopes and stuff is also good.

If you want some help, you can PM me the ISBN numbers and I will do some searching.

tylersmama
05-23-2009, 07:17 PM
Thanks, Tracey, I may take you up on that!

I also sent my sister an email...she's a med student so she knows all the good sources for used books. And may possibly even have what I need, if she didn't resell it!

vludmilla
05-23-2009, 08:08 PM
www.allbookstores.com is a good search engine for the best price on used and new textbooks. When I was buying textbooks for grad school I would try to get the titles a few weeks before class started so that I had plenty of time to order online and save money. If I waited until a week before classes began, I was stuck buying textbooks in the bookstore which was way overpriced.
GL!

MontrealMum
05-23-2009, 09:44 PM
The good news is that at least while we're still married and sharing a bank account, STBX will be paying for half of it. And I will only need one new book and another lab pack for the fall. And the even better good news is that fall registration opens on June 15, so I can get registered and paid before the divorce goes through. :icon_twisted:

Love this part :)

Science and Math texts are notoriously expensive and it's difficult as they issue new editions more frequently than other disciplines. But you should be able to get some good deals on used ones as pp have said. And keep in mind that you don't *always* need the same edition as the prof recommends, but sometimes you should check first. If your prof has put some/all of the texts on reserve you are allowed under copyright law to make ONE photocopy for your own personal studying purposes (this is a big new change since you were last in school). This can sometimes be a cheaper option too, and then you can get it bound at Kinko's for easier reading.

We used Blackboard too. It can be a PITA sometimes as it has a number of bugs, but if you play around with it a bit you should get the hang of it OK.