Fall 2013 Grad applicants in their 40's+ - Social Work

[MSWgradcandidate]

Hi Everyone,

 

I'm a mother of a young pre-school aged child, married and now ready to get back to school and fulfill my dream of achieving this degree. Just wondering if there is anybody else out there, mother or father, within this age-range who have applied to go back to school? Thought this would be a good forum to share the experience and information.

 

What schools have you applied to?

What questions to consider for the interview if you've already been on one?

How are you planning to handle financing for your education?

 

So I'll start:

I've applied to Hunter, NYU and Fordham. Waiting to hear..

As far as finances are concerned, will probably have to take loans out if I don't get anything from the FAFSA package that I filled out or from the schools themselves.

 

I graduated from Fordham undergrad in the mid 90's, had 3.2 GPA (wish I had prioritized better...hindsight....).

Been doing sales in the corporate world most of my career- have done some volunteer work over the years, but not on an "every day" basis.

 

Nervous and excited at the same time!

 

 

[Science!]

Hi Everyone,

 

Hi!

 

I'm a mother of a young pre-school aged child, married and now ready to get back to school and fulfill my dream of achieving this degree. Just wondering if there is anybody else out there, mother or father, within this age-range who have applied to go back to school? Thought this would be a good forum to share the experience and information.

 

I'm 36 and a father of two (4 and 2)

 

What schools have you applied to?

 

I didn't apply for Social Work (although that was my wife's major in undergrad!) but I basically applied to universities local to my job.

 

What questions to consider for the interview if you've already been on one?

 

I never thought about it, at my advanced age I doubt there is much they could ask me I have not already heard!  I figure I'll just be upfront and honest about my ambitions to take over the world.

 

How are you planning to handle financing for your education?

 

I've been fortunate enough that it's going to be a mix of savings and TAP from my employer.  I should come out of it relatively unscathed and in the black.

 

So I'll start:

I've applied to Hunter, NYU and Fordham. Waiting to hear..

As far as finances are concerned, will probably have to take loans out if I don't get anything from the FAFSA package that I filled out or from the schools themselves.

 

I graduated from Fordham undergrad in the mid 90's, had 3.2 GPA (wish I had prioritized better...hindsight....).

Been doing sales in the corporate world most of my career- have done some volunteer work over the years, but not on an "every day" basis.

 

Nervous and excited at the same time!

 

I graduated in the late 90's with an Engineering Degree and I have had the opportunity to travel and work in various countries as a result.  I was a PhD candidate in the late 90's but I had to withdraw due to finances.  Now that I'm sure finances won't get in the way of things I've decided to go back, although not for engineering.  It helps that my current line of work puts me in heart of my intended major in Bioinformatics.  I'm nervous about going back to school, but in my line of work I've been learning new material and theory for the past 15 or so years anyway.  The only difference is I'll have to pay for privilege instead of being paid for it!

 

When all is said and done I'm hoping to have a PhD before the little ones are out of Junior HS.  For now, I'm focusing on a Master's to ground my research interests and to garner some experience/connections with local researchers interested in the same topics.

 

Best of luck to you and your family!

[MSWgradcandidate]

Hey Science!!

 

Good stuff! This is a whole new and different world for us with a family and in our 30's-40's. My biggest fears are:

A) I won't get in anywhere!!

I'm going to read the text books and they will be all Greek to me... and I'm not Greek!!

 

Thanks for sharing!

[MSWgradcandidate]

Hi guys-

 

Just checking back in to see how things are going along. I just got my first acceptance letter from NYU and now it is REAL! No more wondering if my personal statement was good enough, if my grades weren't enough, if I'm too old to be accepted anywhere! :-)

 

So now I start wondering how this will change the dynamics of our family structure- not in a bad way, but just will have to start planning for baby to get picked up- dinner for the family and how to balance it all. But I'm not going to stress about it, just going to plan for it and take it from there.