If you’re 25 years old and you are thinking of going to college then you might be wondering whether 25 is too late to start college.
This post will show you a number of reasons that 25 is not too late to start college and some things that you might want to consider.
So, is 25 too old to start college? Getting a degree will open up a number of new opportunities for you, many people start college when they are older than 25 and you’ll likely be able to go to college with a stronger sense of purpose. All of these factors mean that going to college at 25 is not too old.
There are actually a number of reasons that 25 is not too old to start college and there are a number of things that you might want to consider.
It will give you more opportunities
The main reason that going to college at 25 is not too late is that it will open you up to a number of new opportunities.
At the moment there are likely a number of jobs that are currently not open to you, in your field, due to not having a college degree. By getting a college degree you will be able to qualify for these jobs.
Over a 40-year working life bachelors degree holders are expected to make 66% more than those without a bachelors degree. Since you have about another 40 years ahead of you where you can work you can reasonably expect that it will improve your quality of life in the long run.
Having said that, something that is important to be aware of is that some degrees will provide more opportunities than others in the job market. Currently, STEM degrees are often degrees with the best job prospects. However, there are many other degrees that can give good job prospects. You can look at this website to see how well the degree you are thinking of getting pays.
You won’t be that much older than the other students
Another reason that going to college at 25 is not too old is that you will not be that much older than the other students at the college.
In 2018, a projected 12.3 million college and university students will be under age 25 and 7.6 million students will be 25 years old and over.
https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372
Even compared to the youngest students at the age of 18 you will only be 7 years older than them. So, it is unlikely that you will look out of place even in your freshman year classes.
The other students won’t be able to tell your age
Another thing to consider is that people can be quite bad at judging how old people are. This means that it is unlikely that the other students will be able to tell just how much older you are than them.
In addition to that, college is a place where students are supposed to go to learn. With that being the case, it is unlikely that the other students will be judging you much.
Many people start college at the age of 25
It is not uncommon for students not to go straight to college after high school and then to go to college after having worked for a few years. 25 Is also the age that many military personnel start going to college.
So, many other people have been able to benefit from going to college at a similar age as you. This would make it more likely that you would be able to benefit from going to college as well.
There will be students that are older than you
It is also likely that there will be other students, at the college, that are older than you. This is because it is not uncommon for people to start college even in their 40’s and 50’s. If it is possible for them to benefit from going to college then it should be possible for you at the age of 25.
You will likely have a stronger sense of purpose
Many students will change their majors multiple times throughout college. This is because they often do not really know what they want or what the major involves. Seeing as you have some real-world experience now it is likely that you will be able to choose your major a lot more easily and stick with it.
This should help you to get through college more easily since it will be easier for you to decide on a class sequence right from the start and avoid taking classes that don’t count towards your major. This should help you to get through college more quickly that others and to do better academically.
You’ll be able to appreciate the classes more
Another advantage that you might have over the other students is that it will likely be easier for you to appreciate the value of the classes.
Students will often struggle to motivate themselves to study for a class when they do not understand why it is important. Seeing as you will have some more experience than them it will likely be easier for you to see why it matters and to motivate yourself to study. This should help you to do better academically.
Things to consider
While going to college at 25 is not too late there are some things that you might want to consider before deciding on going back to college.
The college
The first thing to consider is that the culture of a college can vary a lot depending on a number of different factors.
The age, size, location, acceptance rate, type and size of the student body of a college can all have an impact on the culture of the college. Before deciding on a college to go to it would be worthwhile for you to consider what it is exactly you want to get out of college and which one would be the best fit for you.
The major
As mentioned earlier not all majors are equal in terms of the opportunities that they will provide. While it is important to study something that interests you it is also important to consider the job prospects provided by the major.
As mentioned earlier, STEM majors typically have strong job prospects especially those that deal with a lot of data such as statistics. Computer science is also one that typically gives good job opportunities upon graduating.
With that being said, there are many degrees outside of STEM that also give good job prospects. You can look at this website to get stats on the major that you are considering.
The time that you will have
Another thing to think about is how much spare time you’re going to have to study and to go to classes.
While people have been able to work full-time while also going to college, it is not an easy thing to do. If you do think that you will be working while going to college then it will be important for you to take as many measures that you can to ensure that everything goes smoothly.
Things that you can do could include:
- Taking slightly fewer classes per semester than usual.
- Planning your entire degree out early on so that you are able to identify any potential problem areas and to spread out the more difficult classes.
- Use ratemyprofessors.com to get the most highly rated professors. Make sure to schedule classes early since the classes taught by the better professors will fill up fast.
- Ensure that you study throughout the semester so that you don’t need to cram the information in at the last minute.
What you want to get out of college
It’s also important to consider what getting a college degree will do for you. While it is true that many jobs require a college degree, many of them will look at candidates that have a lot of relevant experience.
If you have been working for a number of years in your desired field then it could be the case that you would actually be able to land these jobs already. It might be worthwhile for you to try interviewing at certain positions that you want to see if you can already get a job that you want.
Community college
It is common for older students to go to community college and then to transfer to a 4-year university when they are done. They do this because community colleges are a lot cheaper than 4-year universities and this is something that you might want to think about doing.
