{"id":745,"date":"2020-06-17T12:20:23","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T17:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/graduate\/?p=745"},"modified":"2020-01-15T11:30:18","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T17:30:18","slug":"from-adulting-back-to-studenting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/graduate\/2020\/06\/17\/from-adulting-back-to-studenting\/","title":{"rendered":"From Adulting Back to Studenting"},"content":{"rendered":"

I started \u201cadulting\u201d at age 21. I had taken a fairly standard route: graduate high school, attend a 4-year university, earn a bachelor\u2019s degree, get a teaching position. I settled into a life with my own apartment, a full-time job, and a monthly paycheck. I taught in the public school system for six years before returning to graduate school full-time at the ripe old age of 27.<\/p>\n

Now, you might be laughing, but I quickly realized just how many of my fellow graduate students had transitioned to Master\u2019s or even PhD programs directly after completing a Bachelor\u2019s degree. Of course, this varies quite a bit by program. Education is much more likely to attract students with previous teaching experience. In fact, the\u00a0NSF reports<\/a>\u00a0that only 12% of education doctorates are earned by students age 30 or less, compared to more than half in the hard science fields. Inside the walls of the School of Education, I\u2019m much more likely to encounter others with at least a few years of work experience. But when I attend social and networking events across the whole university, I am often one of the oldest people there.<\/p>\n

Regardless of your field, it\u2019s a big decision to transition back to the world of \u201cstudenting\u201d after being a working professional. You have to highlight different things when\u00a0applying to graduate programs<\/a>\u00a0and consider the\u00a0financial implications<\/a>\u00a0of leaving a career to pursue an additional degree. But once you\u2019re here, in the\u00a0weird little world<\/a>\u00a0we call graduate school, there are simultaneously some adjustments to be made and some unique ways that having experienced the \u201creal world\u201d can really give you a leg up.<\/p>\n

The Hard Parts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get the tough news out of the way first\u2026<\/p>\n