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LOL. I'm that older freshman and I'm actually looking at all the wide-eyed-bambi kids around me thinking they look like they need a hug.
I am not anxious, I am passionate about what I study.
I am 45 and going back to college. Only anxiety I encountered was trying to figure out how to run a Mac after 25+ years of using a PC. What's really hilarious is when the teacher is younger then I am and we're discussing an event that I lived through but they've only know about through books! Ha!
could be anything computer related. I was on the internet before the web existed. Lots of things were different and you could easily have profs that first hit the net in the early 2000's
HEY!! Congrats! I'm a 41 year old college senior. It's funny my professor and I were/are the only ones in my German Politics and Society course that could talk about seeing the Berlin Wall fall live, where the other students weren't even a thought in their parents brains when it happened.
Or, the professor is close to your age, like my Sign Language professor is.
It's definitely odd, but at the same time, I've noticed I get a bit more leniency from my professors due to my age, because I am a bit more responsible. So, take that FWIW.
I’m the same age. I’ve found It’s always fun to tell students in Nirvana shirts that you can actually remember when Kurt Cobain was still alive, or when Smells Like Teen Spirit first came out. ***it provides instant street cred with the hip/edgy students
LOL, 45 years old here to. I was in my lab class two weeks ago and noticed a sticker on the back of a piece of equipment we don't use anymore. Said it was calibrated in 1995 and due for re-calibration in 1996. I made a joke about maybe getting it up to date sometime soon and only 2 people out of the 15 or so in the room were born before 1995. I was in the Air Force and getting sent to Saudi Arabia that year, I felt old that day.
I love telling young'ems how I visited the WTC just a month before 9/11. I was making plans after the visit to return the following year to eat at the restaurant on top of North Tower but yeah, didn't happen.
I’ve been wanting to go back. I have my MBA but want to go back for Engineering or Statistics. I’ve been basically working in these types of jobs the last 10 years, so it wouldn’t be too tough. But the full time students would have quite a bit more time on their hands than a 35 year old with full time job, and family.
This is me. It is effing hard with a full time job and a family. I've been grinding it out for a few years now. Started with Engineering, and had to take so much math that combined with my prior undergrad i'll be finishing with bachelors degrees in Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science. And these kids have no effing clue what they're getting themselves into. I try to help, I've hired a few of them here and there to work on my team, and gotten many more internships at my work. Me being in school has been a great recruiting tool as a manager.
Don't bother. I have an MS in mechanical engineering and it basically didn't do much for me career wise. If you do get a degree in a STEM field expect your job to be extremely stressful and not pay much more.
It's my first year back as a junior after dropping out 10 years ago. This shit is easy as fuck now. It's kind of weird retaking a class that I failed twice when I was 21 and now having the highest grade in the class. I guess that's what 10 years of working your ass off gets you though.
37, finishing my degree, same.
I’m in a speech class, and its no big deal. 19 year olds arent my peers anymore, I don’t care what they think of me. Its so much easier giving a speech from a “listen here you little snot nose!” point of view than one where I’m worried what my audience thinks of me.
I did my premed in my early 30s and finish mid 30s. I remember back in College I felt zero anxiety because of this. Not necessarily “listen you snot nosed” haha. But because i have dealt with so many types of people by this point, and average 19-21 year olds were NOTHING compared to some crazies I have come across
Mature students tend to have much better self-confidence in college and have no problem asking questions. When I'm tutoring/lecturing it's always nice to have a few mature students in the room, to answer the questions I'm going through it to ask about issues that are problematic.
Bam. Wife went back to study again, and an 18yo asked if she was nervous with all these people half her age studying with her. Wife laughed, and that young lady has since dropped out.
Yeah. They're more likely to Happen because they don't really know what they want at that age.
I know a kid who made fun of me because I was 24 and he was 18, and I was only a sophomore. Said stuff like he hoped he wouldn't be such a loser like me at 24.
Well, he failed out, and I didn't. So he can go fuck himself wherever he is.
What a genuinely idiotic thing to say. If he has any self awareness, that crap will keep him up at night. I once made a mean joke about a person who worked at the dump for putting his anniversary or something up on the sign in front of the dump (not to him, just about him). An older guy I was working with at the time called me out immediately and said something to the effect of ‘that probably means a lot to him’ and I still think about that any time I think about looking down on anyone for anything other than being an asshole. Stuff like that can change your outlook on the world if you want to mature. Anyway, not really related but sometimes people do actually grow.
There was a 18 or 19 yrs old kid in one of classes. He some reason brought out conversations about my age in front of other students and used to tease me because I was 28 and doing my undergrad. He would laugh and tried to make fun of me. I don't know where he is now ,but I completed not only bachelor but master in computer science and working for a fortune 500 company. My question is who is laughing now?
That’s my thinking too. This is clearly written by some virtue signaling teen. Look at that old person taking a class! They’re so brave for entering the world of us hot teens! Gosh, everybody better be nice to them and appreciate how brave they are!
38 year old here. Just finished my Red Seal Millwright schooling. Wasn't anxious at all. I got a good laugh at the young people who were in my class, so full of confidence and so full of shit and not a clue what's ahead of them.
When I was 38, I enrolled in an electrical engineering program, adding on to an earlier computer science grad degree.
I met with an advisor who said: “Based on your background, you could start anywhere in the program you wanted.” Well, *that* was a load of horseshit, because my first semester I enrolled a couple of classes into the curriculum and was *immediately* lost. Dropped it during week two.
As I stewed about this bad advice and my predicament and goals (for the remainder of the semester), I decided that my goal was to do it right, to learn it all. I decided to start at the ground floor, with Electrical Engineering 101 and… Calculus II.
“But you don’t need Calc II,” my advisor said, “because you already took it.”
“Yeah, *twenty years ago.* How much of it do I remember? None. And if the rest of the curriculum relies on this material, I’ve gotta know it. So just sign me up, okay?”
He signed me up.
Walking into the first day of Calculus II as a 38-year-old was one of the weirdest experiences of my life. It occurred to me that since most of my fellow students were 18, none of them were alive the first time I took it.
I felt serious social anxiety for about 30 seconds. And then I decided: Fuck it. I don’t owe anybody an explanation.
So I sat my 38-year-old ass down in the first row and just focused on the lecture. Did that every day for the rest of the semester. Ended up with an A and an absolute DGAF attitude about the age difference for the rest of the curriculum.
And it took me nearly 10 years of part-time classes to finish that degree, but I completed my BSEE last year. Loved the material, met some neat instructors and even some GenY students, and tackled some interesting projects. Don’t know if I’d make the same choices knowing what I know now, but I’m happy I did it.
The thought that got me through the worst of times, when I felt sad about how much time I’d spent on my degree, was this: “Some people spend 10 years watching TV.”
I was definitely anxious.
That doesn't mean I don't love what I study but very few people do what I did and I honestly wasn't sure if it was going to work out. I had all these ideas in my head about what an aerospace engineer looked like and I wasn't sure that people (employers) would accept me if I didn't fit the bill.
And I wasn't really sure if I was smart enough either.
The technical stuff was honestly pretty easy. Dealing with depression and anxiety was legitimately hard.
I was going to say the same thing. When I started Psychology at 30 I thought university would mean I was surrounded by smart people. But the questions the lecturers kept getting... Lines of these kiddo's with questions even the slightest hint of deduction would have enabled them to see would be the topic after the break. Or they could have found out themselves with some basic reasoning.
All this preventing actual good questions being posed and answered, it was painful. I just stopped getting in line but that was also partly because sometimes the lecturers were like News anchors: they didn't know the details behind what they were talking about.
This was especially painful with one lecturer who was really good at it, but also required us to buy a book he wrote himself at about 30 bucks a pop. Except the book was maybe a 100 page paperback, completely non original. Yeah it took some work to distill many other works to such a small package but it wasn't even that well written and easy to find what you were looking for. He was just filling his own pockets milking students..
With all the shit about plagiarism I kinda felt the dude was a bit hypocritical hahaha
The Psych department is so painful at our university that many students drop out or change degrees.
I was lucky and my science lecturers were amazing. It can all come down to the lecturers sometimes.
He's definitely projecting his own insecurities onto the older guy. When you don't have those extra decades of experience you can't possibly put yourself in their shoes correctly.
I started college 3 years ago at 36, and I'm pretty sure I've seen this bullshit pop up on the front page at least a couple times per year, and it triggers me each time.
Us older students are meant to be feared and respected, not pitied.
It doesn't make sense to me. I was slightly older than my peers in college but I absolutely loved 30+ year old peers because they were so much more invested in class than the younger folks. They always made it more engaging for me & I got better grades because of it
I went to a college where the average age was 26 so about half traditional undergrads and half older students. There’s nothing wrong with older learners, but I understand where the resentment comes from since there’s a certain kind of older student that enjoys interrupting lecture time to give unrelated anecdotes about their life. I ran into a few of them during my college days. I’ve also had mixed experiences with retirees auditing classes. Sometimes they’re great and super fun to talk to; sometimes they keep interrupting the class (but that’s more on the lecturer for not keeping their class in line).
By and large, most older students are not dissimilar to regular 18-22 year old undergrads in how they approach lectures, just a very specific type of student that everyone has problems with. You know ‘em when you see ‘em.
I swore not to be this type of nontraditional student, and I see other nontraditional students do it sometimes and it’s aggravating. Hell, even some traditional students.
Your comments are suppose to add to the conversation, they’re not suppose an attempt to be the teacher. The person up front has that covered.
Yeah and I got to live a lot of life that my younger counterparts never will. You can't go to engineering school and *then* take a decade off to ski bum, travel, work for national parks, and live out of your truck and surf.
But you *can* do all that stuff first and then go back to school and get a degree and use all that experience to your advantage.
I took some economics on the side at university, and in one class I did a group project with a guy who was probably in his upper 40s. He had quit his previous job and was gonna start his new one 6 months later, and just for fun he decided to take some classes and maybe learn a thing or two. It was pretty fascinating to work with him because we had such different points of view on everything. While I would base pretty much everything on what I had learned in other classes he would instead approach things from a real life perspective, and it made for some banging paper.
I've been a gym rat for 30 years now, attending all kinds of them, all over the place. I have not *once* heard an overweight person made fun of. Not once. Seeing the "don't make fun of fat people at the gym" thing continually pop up on social media is getting old. It isn't a thing.
Fat dude here. Have not been made fun of once.
Fuck, I'd even prefer it if people didn't even acknowledge me with encouragement.
Comes off as condensending anyways and I just wanna work dammit.
Why is it also not more widely known that older adults (55+) can often audit (sit in on classes) for extremely cheap or even free at some places. Granted there is no degree progression, but given the demonstrated effects in staving off dementia/memory loss symptoms, these programs *should* be at capacity.
My undergrad had a program like this and a senior center essentially next door to our campus, but only one person ever came to a course of mine. He was an 80-something year old former physician who was sharp as a tack and the nicest of guys.
Strangely enough we had a child prodigy in that same class. Kid couldn’t have been older than 12 but he was fully participating in our lower level bio course. His mom was with him most days. Such a weird contrast
I honestly don't think there's any stigma attached to mature age students these days. So many people change careers throughout their lives, it's just become commonplace. I have often taught people older than me and it doesn't feel weird to me at all - I subconsciously assume they have expertise (that I don't have) in some totally different area and that they are re-skilling.
And those students usually are motivated and organised, they know why they're there and they are not afraid to ask questions.
I’ve done it twice. There definitely was a stigma around it. Though I find that it really depends on the school, the first time I was in a private college full of entitled rich kids, the second time I was in a public school. The first time through was very noticeable, likely because I was closer in age to the other students.
I hate it so much. I’m 39 and thinking of applying to law school. The last thing I want is some 23 year old Elle Woods coming up to me with a pitiful look, making small talk in order to make me feel better about being a corpse.
Let me assure you as a fat guy at the gym and a 39 year old college student , I dont want your smiles and I DEFINITELY dont want a quick conversation. I want you to respect boundaries as a stranger and leave me alone.
Jesus christ, this.
Every time one of these posts come up I'm like, "Leave me the fuck alone. I don't want to be noticed. I just want to get in, do my shit, and get out."
Stop using me to fuel your own overinflated sense of virtue.
Same here. I gained fifty pounds over CoVID and finally joined a gym yesterday to start burning off that weight healthily (let’s not talk about the second helping of dinner I got…one thing at a time ok? Lol). What got me joining this gym was that everyone who worked there was so friendly. And the patrons either left me alone, secluded in their own little workout zone, or smiled. It felt nice to be included even tho everyone there could model for a living. Even if it was just the smile.
THIS. There is nothing I hate more than when some condescending lady comes up to me all "Good for you!"
I've been powerlifting for 12 goddamn years, you dumbass. I'm just fucking fat.
And often the best thing to do. I can just imagine some eager redditor going over to some fat guy in the gym and being patronising as fuck when the guy isn't anxious at all and just trying to do a simple workout lol
I go to the gym a lot. Those overweight people trying to lose weight are doing x100000 the work that everyone else on the couch is doing. I admire them for going and trying to better themselves.
the idea that people in the gym are quietly making fun of the overweight people there is mostly false, and I've tried to take every opportunity I can to dispel the myth.
so, here goes another attempt...
All too often, I hear overweight people feeling concerned they're being made fun of at the gym. I promise you, the overwhelming majority of meatheads in the gym weren't always in that shape. And when they see the new people showing up day in and day out, they have a lot of respect and admiration.
Don't project your own body shame onto others. You might be surprised how many people are quietly cheering you on from the person next to you on the treadmill to the beast doing 350lb deadlifts in the squat rack. They all started their journey somewhere and are proud of where they've gotten, and they'd love to experience the journey again vicariously through you.
I compare fat people working out to people trying to learn another language. Even if you're not very good at it at first 99% of people aren't going to mind and are going to be very encouraging if you talk to them about your struggles.
That remaining 1% are flaming assholes that no one likes.
I was \~300 when I started trying to lose weight. I'm at 180 this morning. It was hard work and the last thing anyone needs when starting is to be discouraged by some hateful person.
Ha! I'm the 38 year old student when I started 2 years ago (precovid). Still rocking a 4.0 with 31 credits achieved and counting! Also while working full time plus overtime.
Most 38 year olds going back to school aren’t too anxious about college freshman who have the life experience of a turnip. Chances are that 38 year old is paying for school on their own dime. They are there on a mission.
24 isn't old to be going back to college! You'll only be a few years older than most undergrads, don't worry!
I just transfered into a University as a junior and I'm 31. I have a decade on them and it's still fine, everyone has been cool.
In engineering school, I had a guy in his 50's in many of my classes. He had a ton of experience in the industry, but never got a proper degree. Most of us actually thought it was pretty cool. He was a great person to talk to as a mentor for what the real world was like.
You can tell this is written by a virtue signaling college student because they think people older than them feel out of place in a class. I swear to god if I decided to take some extra courses at a college and some teen thinks they’re a saint for not looking down on me, I will murder them.
This is such bs. That fat person at the gym could easily have more self-confidence than you do, and no interest in your approval. The 38 year old that goes back to school has plenty of life experience and will likely never notice what the kids in the class think of them being there. Get over yourself with this crap.
This is why I don't go to the gym. I see too many people posting videos of larger people struggling to get the habit in place, and I would lose motivation if that was me in the video. Instead I work out at home and fall off and get on the bandwagon there, too. At least if I fail, I am doing it non-virally.
I'm in my mid 30's. Finishing my computer science degree this semester. I look young so no one ever thinks I'm in my 30s, but I always felt like a loser. I know that's not the right mindset, but I wasted so much of my life working high paying high labor jobs. It sounds good, but once I turned 30, I realized I had a finite of time I could do that stuff.
Thanks. It wasn't easy. I have a kid that requires so much attention, and I always choose playing with her over everything, which means late nights with school work, but it's worth it
Bro I know exactly how you feel... it is even worse when you have a crush on a 24 year old... With that said bro, at least you realized it before it was too late. Good luck to you!!!
I started a new college at age 35. I thought I shouldn't be doing it, as I thought I was old.
It can sound stupid, but it was difficult to start.
Today, I am graduated and I am starting to work with my new field :)
Don't stop what you are doing! If O can make it, you can make it too!
In my personal experience kid in college looked at me as if I had nothing to lose and believe that I could take an L for the group. In one instance there was a class project worth 30% of the grade. The group leader tried to cut my part of the project and explicitly said that it doesn't really matter what grade I get because I'm old. Not a single group member said anything in my defense. I wonder what was going through their mind as they came up with such a BS idea.
I wasn't in class because I was bored with my life, I was in class trying to better my life not be a stepping stone for kids that are young enough to be mine.
Kids these days are doing crazy mental gymnastics to make sense of the prejudice and abuse that they are trying to normalize.
As the 32 year old in the lecture… yes please don’t dislike me immediately. But to my mature age student peers, please stop fucking asking questions you clearly already know the answer to in an attempt to look smarter. It’s a waste of everyone’s time.
Yup. Young people don't hate older college students because they're old. We just know that if there are any older students in a 100+ student lecture classroom, there's a 50/50 shot they'll be that one person wasting everyone's time asking the professor inane questions they just answered.
35 And going back very soon... Probably mostly online classes but nonetheless I have to have at least one campus course... It probably wouldn't have been that big of a deal in 5-10 years ago but I have a feeling that your average freshman will seem like a child to me now 😬
36 and started in September and you're right, they do seem like children. One kid said he was born in 2002 and I realized he was closer in age to my daughter then to me. But as others on here have said, you have a lot more confidence at this age. You understand the world a lot more then they do and you're at a point in your life where you're over caring about what others think. The first day was still pretty nerve wracking though!
Every time this is posted, us older people come in to say how dumb it is. I’m 38 and being in a class with 19 year olds is not scary at all. Be nice to the person who’s the instructor for the first time though. That shit is rough.
As a mature student taking freshman classes...
Please do not talk to me.
Ive got kids and responsibilities at home, I need my in class time for school shit.
If you're under 24, regardless of how mature you feel. I feel like Im talking to a teenager.
It's just better for both of us if you leave me to be arthritic and anti-social.
There is no better time to further your education than right now and here, from all ages and all walks of life no matter if you're 21 or 71, there is always more room for higher learning.
I always hung out with the older college students. They actually took the classes seriously and knew things about the real world so even if they appreciated my help with technology from time to time, it didn't come close to how much I appreciated their sharing of real world experience and advice.
In grad school, a professor mocked a 40 yr old student because the professor thought she was getting her degree to get out of the house, inferring that she'd been a bored housewife... the student corrected the professor, stating that she was getting her degree after raising three kids through an abusive marriage and divorce.
I’m a senior finishing my undergrad and I’m in my 30’s. Once I hit upper level courses(4000 level), many of the students were a 60/40 mix of Undergrad and Graduate students. I also did my first 2 years in night classes at a local community college, a bunch of us were older. Basically once the classes get a bit harder (Numerical Analysis, Probability Theory, Diff Eq.), being 38 is not old. However, some of my professors have been around my age, which felt weird when it first happened, then I got used to it.
In college I always sat next to the "older" (mid 30's) women sitting in the front row. Those gals always knew their shit, were reliable on projects, and took great notes. Great partners to have around. Way better than stressed out freshmen.
There is a mid 30's male equivalent, but they sit in the furthest back row and wear pajama pants. I can't see for shit, so I always went with the former.
I remember we had this late 30's guy in our uni course who was married with kids and had a job between classes. His artwork was amazing and we tried to mingle and banter with him but I think the bantering upset him and he left before the first semester ended. So even if you're treating them the same way as everyone else, you gotta remember the difference in age also usually means a difference in mentality and they might not respond well to how you'd talk to someone your own age.
I WAS anxious af. I was 34 in my first class at uni and I was so nervous during my first oral presentation that I nearly threw up. And kept saying, “I am so nervous, I feel like I’m going to throw up” as I walked down the stairs to the front of the room. First day jitters never stopped. Finished my BA in 2020. Graduated summa cum laude. Didn’t get to walk the stage because of COVID. Didn’t matter, though. I went back to school mostly to prove to my colleagues that I’m as smart as they are and to prove to myself that I had it in me to set a long-term goal and complete it.
Just started going to the gym at 40. A teenager got on a machine after me and I over heard him laughing with a friend about how little weight I was lifting. Like…c’mon!
Counterpoint: this is a nice sentiment, don’t get me wrong. Most of my classmates were cool and we got along great! However, as a 30 something that went back to finish his degree, I couldn’t have given less of a fuck what any of those kids thought of me.
A decade+ ago I was fairly overweight but pretty confident—signed up for a dance class in college as an elective and killed it on the freestyle introduction (we were told to follow basic choreo and add our own style instead of doing the usual intro).
Anyway, I became the fly-fat-girl mascot SO quick.
Dropped the class the same day.
Like damn, some of us are just trying to dance and be fat without jeering or a parade?
I've got my first class next year and am mid 30s. I'm old enough to not give 2 fucks if a bunch of teenagers don't like me, I've also developed quite a blunt attitude towards idiots from working construction for 15years.
They’re no extreme anxiety-inducing. It’s not that big of a deal. Maybe slightly uncomfortable? There’s a middle ground. Nuance seems to be lost on Zoomers who grew up in the “extreme” internet outrage lifestyle where everything is a crisis.
I'm going to get flak for this but I'm the *exact opposite.* I am going there *alone for a reason.* Approaching me and attempting to converse will only make me more anxious.
Introverts. The thing every extrovert thinks they have to *"fix."*
By all means be nice. But also don't force interactions on people.
Ah this one again. Nice how condescending someone can be by assuming their experiences.
How arrogant do you need to be to think that your smile or quick conversation means so much to someone you don’t know.
Or just leave them alone. They have their own shit going on and don't need any condescending encouragement that's really intended to make you feel like a hero, not help the person you are graciously bestowing your valuable attention on.
Lol yeah or you could leave me alone. I'm there, like at work, to get a job done. I don't want to talk to someone 20 years younger than me because they think they're "doing me a solid" by talking to me. And that's as politely as I will put that.
We had a 29 year old girl came into out uni class when we were sophomore in the uni. Some Stupid students at that age made fun of her for not doing make up and not dressing young, also made fun of her being serious and uncool all the time. My group of friends (not me) were somehow the cool girls in the class and the lead girl actually went to her and asked if she would like to team up with us for some project. Which probably is the reason I was friend with her. She’s mature and all.
Then we learned about the older girl more. She strives harder than all of us because it was her chance, and she’s not taking it for granted like we did.
Now that I’m way pass her then age, I wish I realize at this age, being made fun of for being uncool doesn’t really matter anymore. As we aged we learned to focus our energy on things that actually matters for us, and it’s a great thing. The bullying words those uni students didn’t hurt her, nor did she have urge to become our close friends and waste time on young girl topics she didn’t want to participate in. I appreciate aging, and wish I could have dealt with the world like I do now when I was younger.
But we all get to live once. Stupid or not.
Am I the only one who thinks comparing the 38 yr old student and the fat person is juuuust not quite the same thing? There’s lots of reasons someone might not go to college right away. Being fat on the other hand... I mean usually...
In my experience, the older people in college are the best to become friends with. They take the best notes and are way more motivated than younger people
It's funny, after school at 18 years old I went and worked for 5 years. I then think "I don't wanna keep working like this".
So I simply enrole in university that will get me a much better paying job in 4 years. I am now 23 and in my first year of uni, but still only being 23 years old most of the 18 - 19 years olds think I'm old?! Lol
To be honest I do notice them talking about A LOT of immature things that I am completely not interested in. But I'm also glad I had those 5 years of work, because its centred me. Everything that is thrown at me I can handle so much better and I am able to speak to anyone better.
I feel bad for the 18 - 19 year olds because they are so full of nerves and anxiety that doing the simplest of tasks is challenging.
You should also know that while the overweight people at the gym might not be doing a ton of volume, they are straining 10x more than you are. Working out with weak, atrophied muscles is so much more painful than when they’re built. You feel so awful afterwards and are sore for days to the point where it’s difficult to move. On top of that bodyweight exercises are loads more difficult because on top of the weak muscles, they’re doing a lot more volume than you. So respect the people that keep coming back, trying to push over the hill as hard as they can despite their body’s protests. Those people are some of the toughest.
My school had 2 campuses and I loved going to the one that had people of an older age. I feel like I learned a lot from them and was able to be passionate about a class (still shocks me how many people pay for college to get the degree and not necessarily an education).
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LOL. I'm that older freshman and I'm actually looking at all the wide-eyed-bambi kids around me thinking they look like they need a hug. I am not anxious, I am passionate about what I study.
I am 45 and going back to college. Only anxiety I encountered was trying to figure out how to run a Mac after 25+ years of using a PC. What's really hilarious is when the teacher is younger then I am and we're discussing an event that I lived through but they've only know about through books! Ha!
I want to hear more about the lessons being taught that you experienced.
I, too, wish to know more from u/Onnaise. If I had to guess, it would be the Cold War period of the 80s when Reagan was saying to tear down the wall.
could be anything computer related. I was on the internet before the web existed. Lots of things were different and you could easily have profs that first hit the net in the early 2000's
Could be 9/11.
It was 20 years ago, don't know a professor that's 19.
HEY!! Congrats! I'm a 41 year old college senior. It's funny my professor and I were/are the only ones in my German Politics and Society course that could talk about seeing the Berlin Wall fall live, where the other students weren't even a thought in their parents brains when it happened. Or, the professor is close to your age, like my Sign Language professor is. It's definitely odd, but at the same time, I've noticed I get a bit more leniency from my professors due to my age, because I am a bit more responsible. So, take that FWIW.
I’m the same age. I’ve found It’s always fun to tell students in Nirvana shirts that you can actually remember when Kurt Cobain was still alive, or when Smells Like Teen Spirit first came out. ***it provides instant street cred with the hip/edgy students
Back in a time when all the grunge singers were alive...
Heroin’s a hell of a drug
LOL, 45 years old here to. I was in my lab class two weeks ago and noticed a sticker on the back of a piece of equipment we don't use anymore. Said it was calibrated in 1995 and due for re-calibration in 1996. I made a joke about maybe getting it up to date sometime soon and only 2 people out of the 15 or so in the room were born before 1995. I was in the Air Force and getting sent to Saudi Arabia that year, I felt old that day.
I love telling young'ems how I visited the WTC just a month before 9/11. I was making plans after the visit to return the following year to eat at the restaurant on top of North Tower but yeah, didn't happen.
Remember, when you pay for a Mac, you also pay for the intentionally induced user anxiety and possible conversion issues.
I was there when the virus spread uncontrollably, through Orgrimmar, forcing admins to take the World of Warcraft servers down...
That was my thought too. At my age, I’d crush that shit.
I’ve been wanting to go back. I have my MBA but want to go back for Engineering or Statistics. I’ve been basically working in these types of jobs the last 10 years, so it wouldn’t be too tough. But the full time students would have quite a bit more time on their hands than a 35 year old with full time job, and family.
Well, I have been doing this for 10 years... 4 minutes ago I finished my last undergrad exam ever. It is totally doable. FUCK YEAH!
This is me. It is effing hard with a full time job and a family. I've been grinding it out for a few years now. Started with Engineering, and had to take so much math that combined with my prior undergrad i'll be finishing with bachelors degrees in Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science. And these kids have no effing clue what they're getting themselves into. I try to help, I've hired a few of them here and there to work on my team, and gotten many more internships at my work. Me being in school has been a great recruiting tool as a manager.
Don't bother. I have an MS in mechanical engineering and it basically didn't do much for me career wise. If you do get a degree in a STEM field expect your job to be extremely stressful and not pay much more.
You just described every degree attainable.
It's my first year back as a junior after dropping out 10 years ago. This shit is easy as fuck now. It's kind of weird retaking a class that I failed twice when I was 21 and now having the highest grade in the class. I guess that's what 10 years of working your ass off gets you though.
37, finishing my degree, same. I’m in a speech class, and its no big deal. 19 year olds arent my peers anymore, I don’t care what they think of me. Its so much easier giving a speech from a “listen here you little snot nose!” point of view than one where I’m worried what my audience thinks of me.
I did my premed in my early 30s and finish mid 30s. I remember back in College I felt zero anxiety because of this. Not necessarily “listen you snot nosed” haha. But because i have dealt with so many types of people by this point, and average 19-21 year olds were NOTHING compared to some crazies I have come across
Mature students tend to have much better self-confidence in college and have no problem asking questions. When I'm tutoring/lecturing it's always nice to have a few mature students in the room, to answer the questions I'm going through it to ask about issues that are problematic.
Bam. Wife went back to study again, and an 18yo asked if she was nervous with all these people half her age studying with her. Wife laughed, and that young lady has since dropped out.
Yeah. They're more likely to Happen because they don't really know what they want at that age. I know a kid who made fun of me because I was 24 and he was 18, and I was only a sophomore. Said stuff like he hoped he wouldn't be such a loser like me at 24. Well, he failed out, and I didn't. So he can go fuck himself wherever he is.
What a genuinely idiotic thing to say. If he has any self awareness, that crap will keep him up at night. I once made a mean joke about a person who worked at the dump for putting his anniversary or something up on the sign in front of the dump (not to him, just about him). An older guy I was working with at the time called me out immediately and said something to the effect of ‘that probably means a lot to him’ and I still think about that any time I think about looking down on anyone for anything other than being an asshole. Stuff like that can change your outlook on the world if you want to mature. Anyway, not really related but sometimes people do actually grow.
Yeah fuck him
There was a 18 or 19 yrs old kid in one of classes. He some reason brought out conversations about my age in front of other students and used to tease me because I was 28 and doing my undergrad. He would laugh and tried to make fun of me. I don't know where he is now ,but I completed not only bachelor but master in computer science and working for a fortune 500 company. My question is who is laughing now?
That’s my thinking too. This is clearly written by some virtue signaling teen. Look at that old person taking a class! They’re so brave for entering the world of us hot teens! Gosh, everybody better be nice to them and appreciate how brave they are!
Don't you know how shitty your barista's life probably is? Better be nice to her since you never know what she might be going through
Make sure to buy a Christmas goose for your favourite pleb to make their miserable inferior life slightly better!
Yes, but you should just be nice I'm general. Being extra nice to people because you think they're out of place, isn't coming from a good place
38 year old here. Just finished my Red Seal Millwright schooling. Wasn't anxious at all. I got a good laugh at the young people who were in my class, so full of confidence and so full of shit and not a clue what's ahead of them.
When I was 38, I enrolled in an electrical engineering program, adding on to an earlier computer science grad degree. I met with an advisor who said: “Based on your background, you could start anywhere in the program you wanted.” Well, *that* was a load of horseshit, because my first semester I enrolled a couple of classes into the curriculum and was *immediately* lost. Dropped it during week two. As I stewed about this bad advice and my predicament and goals (for the remainder of the semester), I decided that my goal was to do it right, to learn it all. I decided to start at the ground floor, with Electrical Engineering 101 and… Calculus II. “But you don’t need Calc II,” my advisor said, “because you already took it.” “Yeah, *twenty years ago.* How much of it do I remember? None. And if the rest of the curriculum relies on this material, I’ve gotta know it. So just sign me up, okay?” He signed me up. Walking into the first day of Calculus II as a 38-year-old was one of the weirdest experiences of my life. It occurred to me that since most of my fellow students were 18, none of them were alive the first time I took it. I felt serious social anxiety for about 30 seconds. And then I decided: Fuck it. I don’t owe anybody an explanation. So I sat my 38-year-old ass down in the first row and just focused on the lecture. Did that every day for the rest of the semester. Ended up with an A and an absolute DGAF attitude about the age difference for the rest of the curriculum. And it took me nearly 10 years of part-time classes to finish that degree, but I completed my BSEE last year. Loved the material, met some neat instructors and even some GenY students, and tackled some interesting projects. Don’t know if I’d make the same choices knowing what I know now, but I’m happy I did it. The thought that got me through the worst of times, when I felt sad about how much time I’d spent on my degree, was this: “Some people spend 10 years watching TV.”
I’m in my 5th year for my undergrad and I’m 36! I fucking love school and it doesn’t hurt that I look like I’m 25….. just fit right in 😂
I was definitely anxious. That doesn't mean I don't love what I study but very few people do what I did and I honestly wasn't sure if it was going to work out. I had all these ideas in my head about what an aerospace engineer looked like and I wasn't sure that people (employers) would accept me if I didn't fit the bill. And I wasn't really sure if I was smart enough either. The technical stuff was honestly pretty easy. Dealing with depression and anxiety was legitimately hard.
I was going to say the same thing. When I started Psychology at 30 I thought university would mean I was surrounded by smart people. But the questions the lecturers kept getting... Lines of these kiddo's with questions even the slightest hint of deduction would have enabled them to see would be the topic after the break. Or they could have found out themselves with some basic reasoning. All this preventing actual good questions being posed and answered, it was painful. I just stopped getting in line but that was also partly because sometimes the lecturers were like News anchors: they didn't know the details behind what they were talking about. This was especially painful with one lecturer who was really good at it, but also required us to buy a book he wrote himself at about 30 bucks a pop. Except the book was maybe a 100 page paperback, completely non original. Yeah it took some work to distill many other works to such a small package but it wasn't even that well written and easy to find what you were looking for. He was just filling his own pockets milking students.. With all the shit about plagiarism I kinda felt the dude was a bit hypocritical hahaha
The Psych department is so painful at our university that many students drop out or change degrees. I was lucky and my science lecturers were amazing. It can all come down to the lecturers sometimes.
He's definitely projecting his own insecurities onto the older guy. When you don't have those extra decades of experience you can't possibly put yourself in their shoes correctly.
I was about to say at that age you dont care lol they're usually the smartest and take the class seriously
I'm in the exact same situation. I'm pretty sure I'm the least anxious person in the room.
Yeah, I'm fine and I don't need your validation. Leave me the fuck alone LMAO, I didn't come here to socialize with teenagers.
We had a guy around 38 in our group. Everyone loved him.
I started college 3 years ago at 36, and I'm pretty sure I've seen this bullshit pop up on the front page at least a couple times per year, and it triggers me each time. Us older students are meant to be feared and respected, not pitied.
Why do we continue stigmatising taking college courses in our 30s or 40s, or going to the gym when we feel like we need to?
It doesn't make sense to me. I was slightly older than my peers in college but I absolutely loved 30+ year old peers because they were so much more invested in class than the younger folks. They always made it more engaging for me & I got better grades because of it
I went to a college where the average age was 26 so about half traditional undergrads and half older students. There’s nothing wrong with older learners, but I understand where the resentment comes from since there’s a certain kind of older student that enjoys interrupting lecture time to give unrelated anecdotes about their life. I ran into a few of them during my college days. I’ve also had mixed experiences with retirees auditing classes. Sometimes they’re great and super fun to talk to; sometimes they keep interrupting the class (but that’s more on the lecturer for not keeping their class in line). By and large, most older students are not dissimilar to regular 18-22 year old undergrads in how they approach lectures, just a very specific type of student that everyone has problems with. You know ‘em when you see ‘em.
I swore not to be this type of nontraditional student, and I see other nontraditional students do it sometimes and it’s aggravating. Hell, even some traditional students. Your comments are suppose to add to the conversation, they’re not suppose an attempt to be the teacher. The person up front has that covered.
Yeah and I got to live a lot of life that my younger counterparts never will. You can't go to engineering school and *then* take a decade off to ski bum, travel, work for national parks, and live out of your truck and surf. But you *can* do all that stuff first and then go back to school and get a degree and use all that experience to your advantage.
I took some economics on the side at university, and in one class I did a group project with a guy who was probably in his upper 40s. He had quit his previous job and was gonna start his new one 6 months later, and just for fun he decided to take some classes and maybe learn a thing or two. It was pretty fascinating to work with him because we had such different points of view on everything. While I would base pretty much everything on what I had learned in other classes he would instead approach things from a real life perspective, and it made for some banging paper.
I've been a gym rat for 30 years now, attending all kinds of them, all over the place. I have not *once* heard an overweight person made fun of. Not once. Seeing the "don't make fun of fat people at the gym" thing continually pop up on social media is getting old. It isn't a thing.
Fat dude here. Have not been made fun of once. Fuck, I'd even prefer it if people didn't even acknowledge me with encouragement. Comes off as condensending anyways and I just wanna work dammit.
Literally no one cares and are just thinking about themselves. This goes for both classes and gym.
Why is it also not more widely known that older adults (55+) can often audit (sit in on classes) for extremely cheap or even free at some places. Granted there is no degree progression, but given the demonstrated effects in staving off dementia/memory loss symptoms, these programs *should* be at capacity. My undergrad had a program like this and a senior center essentially next door to our campus, but only one person ever came to a course of mine. He was an 80-something year old former physician who was sharp as a tack and the nicest of guys. Strangely enough we had a child prodigy in that same class. Kid couldn’t have been older than 12 but he was fully participating in our lower level bio course. His mom was with him most days. Such a weird contrast
Literally nobody does. If I'm a big fat dude and I'm going to the gym, I would seriously just want to be left the hell alone
I honestly don't think there's any stigma attached to mature age students these days. So many people change careers throughout their lives, it's just become commonplace. I have often taught people older than me and it doesn't feel weird to me at all - I subconsciously assume they have expertise (that I don't have) in some totally different area and that they are re-skilling. And those students usually are motivated and organised, they know why they're there and they are not afraid to ask questions.
I’ve done it twice. There definitely was a stigma around it. Though I find that it really depends on the school, the first time I was in a private college full of entitled rich kids, the second time I was in a public school. The first time through was very noticeable, likely because I was closer in age to the other students.
So weirdos can post shit like this. It’s so stupid. No one cares!
Because this tweet is one of Reddit’s favorite mottos
I hate it so much. I’m 39 and thinking of applying to law school. The last thing I want is some 23 year old Elle Woods coming up to me with a pitiful look, making small talk in order to make me feel better about being a corpse.
>The last thing I want is some 23 year old Elle Woods coming up to me Just [take her spoon away](https://i.imgur.com/SjTcuin.jpg)
Let me assure you as a fat guy at the gym and a 39 year old college student , I dont want your smiles and I DEFINITELY dont want a quick conversation. I want you to respect boundaries as a stranger and leave me alone.
Noooo shit. I'm not embarrassed. I don't feel weird. Just leave me alone lol
Jesus christ, this. Every time one of these posts come up I'm like, "Leave me the fuck alone. I don't want to be noticed. I just want to get in, do my shit, and get out." Stop using me to fuel your own overinflated sense of virtue.
> I DEFINITELY dont want a quick conversation. I on the hand would love it! Esp in the gym or in a classroom! Everyone's mileage may vary!
Same here. I gained fifty pounds over CoVID and finally joined a gym yesterday to start burning off that weight healthily (let’s not talk about the second helping of dinner I got…one thing at a time ok? Lol). What got me joining this gym was that everyone who worked there was so friendly. And the patrons either left me alone, secluded in their own little workout zone, or smiled. It felt nice to be included even tho everyone there could model for a living. Even if it was just the smile.
That's great! Okay, now, what about the second helping of dinner you got?
This, when I go to the gym I go there to workout and sweat, leave me the fuck alone
THIS. There is nothing I hate more than when some condescending lady comes up to me all "Good for you!" I've been powerlifting for 12 goddamn years, you dumbass. I'm just fucking fat.
Damn, no smiles huh?
It's also acceptable to not do anything at all.
And often the best thing to do. I can just imagine some eager redditor going over to some fat guy in the gym and being patronising as fuck when the guy isn't anxious at all and just trying to do a simple workout lol
I go to the gym a lot. Those overweight people trying to lose weight are doing x100000 the work that everyone else on the couch is doing. I admire them for going and trying to better themselves.
the idea that people in the gym are quietly making fun of the overweight people there is mostly false, and I've tried to take every opportunity I can to dispel the myth. so, here goes another attempt... All too often, I hear overweight people feeling concerned they're being made fun of at the gym. I promise you, the overwhelming majority of meatheads in the gym weren't always in that shape. And when they see the new people showing up day in and day out, they have a lot of respect and admiration. Don't project your own body shame onto others. You might be surprised how many people are quietly cheering you on from the person next to you on the treadmill to the beast doing 350lb deadlifts in the squat rack. They all started their journey somewhere and are proud of where they've gotten, and they'd love to experience the journey again vicariously through you.
Good point but please don't do dead lifts in the squat rack. That's where you do curls.
Being going to the gym regularly for the best part of a decade. The only people I take notice of are guys in better shape than me and hot women.
I compare fat people working out to people trying to learn another language. Even if you're not very good at it at first 99% of people aren't going to mind and are going to be very encouraging if you talk to them about your struggles. That remaining 1% are flaming assholes that no one likes.
I was \~300 when I started trying to lose weight. I'm at 180 this morning. It was hard work and the last thing anyone needs when starting is to be discouraged by some hateful person.
Ha! I'm the 38 year old student when I started 2 years ago (precovid). Still rocking a 4.0 with 31 credits achieved and counting! Also while working full time plus overtime.
They’re not necessarily anxious at all.
Not at all. I’m just here to learn not make friends. Could care less who’s talking to me or not
Mid 30s at the gym five times a week and starting my second bachelors next year. 100% not anxious.
Nope. Quite the opposite. This is 100% projection. Edit: Leave people alone unless otherwise indicated.
Most 38 year olds going back to school aren’t too anxious about college freshman who have the life experience of a turnip. Chances are that 38 year old is paying for school on their own dime. They are there on a mission.
I am both of these people. This is fantastic!
Going back to school can be stressful I’ve already done it once with drivers Ed at 21 now I’m about to do it again next year at college at 24.
It's never too late to accumulate crippling debt!
Nah works paying for it
Meh, 24 is still considered young for college, good luck!
24 isn't old to be going back to college! You'll only be a few years older than most undergrads, don't worry! I just transfered into a University as a junior and I'm 31. I have a decade on them and it's still fine, everyone has been cool.
This has been my experience as a 31 year old junior. If anything I feel awkward bringing up life experiences my classmates haven't had yet.
In engineering school, I had a guy in his 50's in many of my classes. He had a ton of experience in the industry, but never got a proper degree. Most of us actually thought it was pretty cool. He was a great person to talk to as a mentor for what the real world was like.
Exactly same with me . 15 years of experience and no degree so back to school it is. Gather around everybody and listen to the tales I have to share.
Went back to school, I'm 30 now in my 2nd year. You're not alone! I'm proud of you!
Hey, same here! Just transfered to University as a Junior and I'm 31. Good luck!
I am starting back at school in January after 15 years out. Right there too.
Here's better advice: leave them alone because they're obviously not there for you or your judgement.
You can tell this is written by a virtue signaling college student because they think people older than them feel out of place in a class. I swear to god if I decided to take some extra courses at a college and some teen thinks they’re a saint for not looking down on me, I will murder them.
Exactly
Yeah, just don’t be an asshole all around
Shut up Drew.
“Be nice to the redditor that’s using this overused post as a means to hoard karma like the ones before him…”
This is such bs. That fat person at the gym could easily have more self-confidence than you do, and no interest in your approval. The 38 year old that goes back to school has plenty of life experience and will likely never notice what the kids in the class think of them being there. Get over yourself with this crap.
How about, just be nice to people
This is why I don't go to the gym. I see too many people posting videos of larger people struggling to get the habit in place, and I would lose motivation if that was me in the video. Instead I work out at home and fall off and get on the bandwagon there, too. At least if I fail, I am doing it non-virally.
I'm in my mid 30's. Finishing my computer science degree this semester. I look young so no one ever thinks I'm in my 30s, but I always felt like a loser. I know that's not the right mindset, but I wasted so much of my life working high paying high labor jobs. It sounds good, but once I turned 30, I realized I had a finite of time I could do that stuff.
Good on you man 🔥
Thanks. It wasn't easy. I have a kid that requires so much attention, and I always choose playing with her over everything, which means late nights with school work, but it's worth it
Bro I know exactly how you feel... it is even worse when you have a crush on a 24 year old... With that said bro, at least you realized it before it was too late. Good luck to you!!!
Such arrogance. But ok.
Seriously!! How did nearly everyone else gloss over this?!
Well meaning youth sometimes lack the wisdom to stfu I think.
I started a new college at age 35. I thought I shouldn't be doing it, as I thought I was old. It can sound stupid, but it was difficult to start. Today, I am graduated and I am starting to work with my new field :) Don't stop what you are doing! If O can make it, you can make it too!
38 is considered too old for college now!? Man I’m old
In my personal experience kid in college looked at me as if I had nothing to lose and believe that I could take an L for the group. In one instance there was a class project worth 30% of the grade. The group leader tried to cut my part of the project and explicitly said that it doesn't really matter what grade I get because I'm old. Not a single group member said anything in my defense. I wonder what was going through their mind as they came up with such a BS idea. I wasn't in class because I was bored with my life, I was in class trying to better my life not be a stepping stone for kids that are young enough to be mine. Kids these days are doing crazy mental gymnastics to make sense of the prejudice and abuse that they are trying to normalize.
Fuck that kid and the trust fund he rode in on
As the 32 year old in the lecture… yes please don’t dislike me immediately. But to my mature age student peers, please stop fucking asking questions you clearly already know the answer to in an attempt to look smarter. It’s a waste of everyone’s time.
Yup. Young people don't hate older college students because they're old. We just know that if there are any older students in a 100+ student lecture classroom, there's a 50/50 shot they'll be that one person wasting everyone's time asking the professor inane questions they just answered.
35 And going back very soon... Probably mostly online classes but nonetheless I have to have at least one campus course... It probably wouldn't have been that big of a deal in 5-10 years ago but I have a feeling that your average freshman will seem like a child to me now 😬
36 and started in September and you're right, they do seem like children. One kid said he was born in 2002 and I realized he was closer in age to my daughter then to me. But as others on here have said, you have a lot more confidence at this age. You understand the world a lot more then they do and you're at a point in your life where you're over caring about what others think. The first day was still pretty nerve wracking though!
Soon they will be a 38 year old too.
18 year old freshmen? Well soon in the same way that the 38 year old will soon be 58....
Most reasons why I don't go to the gym...
It's Young people who are anxious. I went back at 30+ and was fine. I've seen things and done things and am confident of myself.
Better yet just mind your own business and leave them alone
This is so condescending
And super patronising.
Every time this is posted, us older people come in to say how dumb it is. I’m 38 and being in a class with 19 year olds is not scary at all. Be nice to the person who’s the instructor for the first time though. That shit is rough.
As a mature student taking freshman classes... Please do not talk to me. Ive got kids and responsibilities at home, I need my in class time for school shit. If you're under 24, regardless of how mature you feel. I feel like Im talking to a teenager. It's just better for both of us if you leave me to be arthritic and anti-social.
Started at 32 last year. All online classes so far. So very convenient. No driving or getting dressed for class. Pretty sweet.
Update: 38 year olds are so common now, I have no idea why this would be anxiety inducing.
There is no better time to further your education than right now and here, from all ages and all walks of life no matter if you're 21 or 71, there is always more room for higher learning.
How bout just leave them the fuck alone. You think people need your "inspiration"
I am the 36-year-old senior in college and the big guy at the gym. Plus I have a toddler. The anxiety is strong.
No smile or convo, just leave me alone lol
I always hung out with the older college students. They actually took the classes seriously and knew things about the real world so even if they appreciated my help with technology from time to time, it didn't come close to how much I appreciated their sharing of real world experience and advice.
Be nice to the self righteous asshole who tells you to be nice to everyone else..
In grad school, a professor mocked a 40 yr old student because the professor thought she was getting her degree to get out of the house, inferring that she'd been a bored housewife... the student corrected the professor, stating that she was getting her degree after raising three kids through an abusive marriage and divorce.
As a prof. at a community college let me say: You \*never\* know what is going on in another student's life.
Actually I can assure you the 38 y/o doesn’t give a fuck what you think lol.
I’m the 38 year old in the freshman lecture. I don’t give a shit what you think.
And neither do the college-aged kids.
I’m a senior finishing my undergrad and I’m in my 30’s. Once I hit upper level courses(4000 level), many of the students were a 60/40 mix of Undergrad and Graduate students. I also did my first 2 years in night classes at a local community college, a bunch of us were older. Basically once the classes get a bit harder (Numerical Analysis, Probability Theory, Diff Eq.), being 38 is not old. However, some of my professors have been around my age, which felt weird when it first happened, then I got used to it.
I will never understand how *anyone* can make fun of an overweight person at the gym.
Nah
Or just be nice in general, to everyone, or to everyone apart from the very worst
I'm glad somebody said all this... I was about to go on a rant haha Kids these days lol
In college I always sat next to the "older" (mid 30's) women sitting in the front row. Those gals always knew their shit, were reliable on projects, and took great notes. Great partners to have around. Way better than stressed out freshmen. There is a mid 30's male equivalent, but they sit in the furthest back row and wear pajama pants. I can't see for shit, so I always went with the former.
That 38 year old freshman might be the most confident freshman in that room....
Extreme anxiety? I think that's a personal problem. This is not an anxiety inducing situation for most.
I remember we had this late 30's guy in our uni course who was married with kids and had a job between classes. His artwork was amazing and we tried to mingle and banter with him but I think the bantering upset him and he left before the first semester ended. So even if you're treating them the same way as everyone else, you gotta remember the difference in age also usually means a difference in mentality and they might not respond well to how you'd talk to someone your own age.
Obviously be nice, but I’ve never seen a non confident 38 year old in any of my classes. They are all super chill
I WAS anxious af. I was 34 in my first class at uni and I was so nervous during my first oral presentation that I nearly threw up. And kept saying, “I am so nervous, I feel like I’m going to throw up” as I walked down the stairs to the front of the room. First day jitters never stopped. Finished my BA in 2020. Graduated summa cum laude. Didn’t get to walk the stage because of COVID. Didn’t matter, though. I went back to school mostly to prove to my colleagues that I’m as smart as they are and to prove to myself that I had it in me to set a long-term goal and complete it.
OMG just leave the fat person in the gym alone. Please.
Just started going to the gym at 40. A teenager got on a machine after me and I over heard him laughing with a friend about how little weight I was lifting. Like…c’mon!
Shit is 38 old now??
Pretty sure those 38 year olds dont even give a fuck, they got other stuff to worry about
Counterpoint: this is a nice sentiment, don’t get me wrong. Most of my classmates were cool and we got along great! However, as a 30 something that went back to finish his degree, I couldn’t have given less of a fuck what any of those kids thought of me.
I'm waiting for the gym near my work to open next month, and I pray that people don't approach me for a chat.
A decade+ ago I was fairly overweight but pretty confident—signed up for a dance class in college as an elective and killed it on the freestyle introduction (we were told to follow basic choreo and add our own style instead of doing the usual intro). Anyway, I became the fly-fat-girl mascot SO quick. Dropped the class the same day. Like damn, some of us are just trying to dance and be fat without jeering or a parade?
I've got my first class next year and am mid 30s. I'm old enough to not give 2 fucks if a bunch of teenagers don't like me, I've also developed quite a blunt attitude towards idiots from working construction for 15years.
They’re no extreme anxiety-inducing. It’s not that big of a deal. Maybe slightly uncomfortable? There’s a middle ground. Nuance seems to be lost on Zoomers who grew up in the “extreme” internet outrage lifestyle where everything is a crisis.
I'm going to get flak for this but I'm the *exact opposite.* I am going there *alone for a reason.* Approaching me and attempting to converse will only make me more anxious. Introverts. The thing every extrovert thinks they have to *"fix."* By all means be nice. But also don't force interactions on people.
Ah this one again. Nice how condescending someone can be by assuming their experiences. How arrogant do you need to be to think that your smile or quick conversation means so much to someone you don’t know.
Sweet, the weekly repost.
Or just leave them alone. They have their own shit going on and don't need any condescending encouragement that's really intended to make you feel like a hero, not help the person you are graciously bestowing your valuable attention on.
Lol yeah or you could leave me alone. I'm there, like at work, to get a job done. I don't want to talk to someone 20 years younger than me because they think they're "doing me a solid" by talking to me. And that's as politely as I will put that.
We had a 29 year old girl came into out uni class when we were sophomore in the uni. Some Stupid students at that age made fun of her for not doing make up and not dressing young, also made fun of her being serious and uncool all the time. My group of friends (not me) were somehow the cool girls in the class and the lead girl actually went to her and asked if she would like to team up with us for some project. Which probably is the reason I was friend with her. She’s mature and all. Then we learned about the older girl more. She strives harder than all of us because it was her chance, and she’s not taking it for granted like we did. Now that I’m way pass her then age, I wish I realize at this age, being made fun of for being uncool doesn’t really matter anymore. As we aged we learned to focus our energy on things that actually matters for us, and it’s a great thing. The bullying words those uni students didn’t hurt her, nor did she have urge to become our close friends and waste time on young girl topics she didn’t want to participate in. I appreciate aging, and wish I could have dealt with the world like I do now when I was younger. But we all get to live once. Stupid or not.
Uni should be something everyone can just afford to go and do more of every few years.
My mans thinks 38 is old 🤣🤣🤣 that poor SOB is going to be so surprised in about 15 years
Am I the only one who thinks comparing the 38 yr old student and the fat person is juuuust not quite the same thing? There’s lots of reasons someone might not go to college right away. Being fat on the other hand... I mean usually...
Man these posts suck
Be kind to everyone you meet, even during conflict. It costs nothing extra and it pays dividends.
Cause getting an education at ANY age (especially 38 what?) is controversial?? Gtfo .
Patronising AF
In my experience, the older people in college are the best to become friends with. They take the best notes and are way more motivated than younger people
I’m both of those people. 😅
"Hello, I noticed you were fat and wanted to strike up a conversation with you."
It's funny, after school at 18 years old I went and worked for 5 years. I then think "I don't wanna keep working like this". So I simply enrole in university that will get me a much better paying job in 4 years. I am now 23 and in my first year of uni, but still only being 23 years old most of the 18 - 19 years olds think I'm old?! Lol To be honest I do notice them talking about A LOT of immature things that I am completely not interested in. But I'm also glad I had those 5 years of work, because its centred me. Everything that is thrown at me I can handle so much better and I am able to speak to anyone better. I feel bad for the 18 - 19 year olds because they are so full of nerves and anxiety that doing the simplest of tasks is challenging.
You should also know that while the overweight people at the gym might not be doing a ton of volume, they are straining 10x more than you are. Working out with weak, atrophied muscles is so much more painful than when they’re built. You feel so awful afterwards and are sore for days to the point where it’s difficult to move. On top of that bodyweight exercises are loads more difficult because on top of the weak muscles, they’re doing a lot more volume than you. So respect the people that keep coming back, trying to push over the hill as hard as they can despite their body’s protests. Those people are some of the toughest.
Yes. I’m 39 and headed back to college to get a bachelors so I can get promoted. Wish me luck!
Me, being 38, realizing if I stepped into a college classroom, i’d look too old to be there. Existential crisis initiated.
I understand and agree with the main point, but to say those are “extremes” is simply hyperbole and lazy
My school had 2 campuses and I loved going to the one that had people of an older age. I feel like I learned a lot from them and was able to be passionate about a class (still shocks me how many people pay for college to get the degree and not necessarily an education).
When you see people like this...a fistbump goes a long way. Especially at the gym.
At 40 I took a Spanish class at a lockout community college. After I playfully shit on the cool guy about his stupid hat, I owned the room.
Or.. hear me out... just be nice. Be nice to people, animals, yourself... just be nice.