unclaimedata

Trust me, I understand the sentiment, and I'm thankful for the candor. I felt a bit robbed of the possibility, and understand there is some romanticizing/nostalgia going on. I do think that my stated reasons are worth it, however. Of course, I'd love to teach, and I'd teach anywhere if provided that opportunity, but I don't believe I understated the value that a graduate education has on continued access to academia as well as future collaborators. There is simply more opportunity with than without. Now are these opportunities financially profitable? Doubtful, but perhaps worth it nonetheless. I've moved around my entire life, and I've grown accustomed to it. I don't have, nor plan on children. At the moment, my life will be what it is for the foreseeable future with likely opportunity for career growth in a field I am skilled in and tolerate. That's more than a lot of folks, I get that, and I'm not trying to look a gift horse in the mouth. If this risk proves an abject failure, It wouldn't take much to get back into the swing of things in my current career. If even remotely successful, I'd have my graduate education, new colleagues, hopefully some collaborators, probably some debt, and I'll probably find myself competing for comm. coll. teaching gigs, not get them, smile and thank them for the opportunity. All this to say, I understand the risks, but I feel my values, attitude, and current place in life welcome these very risks.

Hi All, Thank you for the kind responses thus far. All very much appreciated. During my first go round in undergrad, I expected to be a lifer, myself. The job situation wasn't much better, and coming from a small school, I knew there was quite the hill to climb. I was, and still am, highly aware that I may be relegated to exactly what I am doing for work at the moment. I was eager to embark, however. I never wanted a family of my own, and grew accustomed to the idea that most of my life would be spent trying to 'make it in Academia.' Teaching was a goal, and tenure would be great, but what I want is the access, networking, conferences and hopefully to write and collaborate with others to write. I'm running out of leg room on taking long shots with my life, and this happens to be one I simply have not had the opportunity to take.

Hi all, I've been perusing around here, as I have the last few rounds, watching the dread and excitement wheel turn. I finally decided to dive in with some queries of my own, and hope I'm not wasting anyone's time. My undergrad was over back in '07, but I never dipped my foot into grad school as I was fulfilling my duty to my partner at the time. When we got married we decided I would work, she would go, then we'd trade. As life would have it, soon after her grad years were up, we were filing for divorce. I then moved, had to start a new career in a new city (IT), between falling quite ill myself, and dealing with a few deaths in the family since, I have not had the opportunity nor time to entertain going back. I am 34 now, what feels like a ripe age to be returning to school. I don't have children, and will not have them in the future. I understand, and am prepared for, taking a few classes to get in the swing of things, going the master's route first, etc. I am not afraid of the time commitment, and I expect networking issues will still be there should I fail, but my fear is, is it too late to be seen as a serious candidate? My undergrad was at small liberal arts college, but I received encouragement to take extra courses elsewhere and did so. I don't think I'd get far without a master's program first. Given how long I've been away, most of what admissions will see will be fairly recent.