College is an excellent time for a young adult. For many people, it’s the first time they are out of their parent’s house. It’s a transitional period of being taken care of from a distance. Enjoying the dorm life, being introduced to new experiences and people, and that occasional late night fire drill at 2 a.m., in the middle winter, always in the middle of winter, from another student burning either popcorn or soup in their microwave. As an adult student, the nightmare of dorm life is behind you, but new challenges are given to those students, as well some advantages.
#1 School is top priority but not the only priority
Adult students, more than likely picked up some new responsibilities along the way; essential items like rent, bill, spouses, and kids. All of which are reasons that take time from studying, either from physical time with kids and spouse or the obligation of employment to support such priorities. My younger self-held a part-time job I worked every other weekend. My paychecks barely hit three digits. But it was enough to pay for gas and extra spending. I lived off the campus. I had a dorm room, a food plan, and no reason to leave the school unless I went home. As an adult, I had rent and a full-time job. When I get the chance, any spare time was filled more smartly and studying.
#2 More effort to be involved in extracurricular activities
Dorm life gives you 24-hours a day access to the campus, allows for some significant pluses including availability to professors, events, and other investments regarding school. Being part of a school club or organization is more convenient when living on the campus most meetings when living on campus was either in the cafeteria or a classroom after dinner. No matter the distance unless you have another obligation before or after the meeting it would seem like a waste of time. Other commitments outside school may take higher priority. Extracurricular activities even those that are very interesting to the student could fail to the back burner, especially if one or two meeting have already missed.
#3 A better sense of urgency
My first time through the college door my time management and a sense of urgency did not exist. I thought I studied hard and I put some effort into my classes but not at all compared to the lectures taken as an adult. My initial college experience in preparing for an exam included skimming the material one or two days before the exam, and making flashcards from the reading and notes. Fast forward to present time my tactics are similar except I now read the material the week the subject is lectured or discussed in class, notecards made alongside the reading. Then a secret to my new found success, each week review the note-cards. Working during school, I don’t have time to have an all-night-cramming-session before the exam. Taking the materials in weekly to live an adult life while retaining the information to long-term making the tests easier to pass. Not only is time essential but the class is paid out of pocket. Myself at eighteen very much wanted to pass but didn’t have the proper know-how, life can be both an obstacle and the right motivation.
#4 More life experience
An adult student has the advantage of life experience. A better understanding of how real like works. The experience of failure has more lessons to be taught then success. The knowledge that life’s teaching can bring into many aspects of academia and the professional world after academia. Before nursing school, I had gone and had a four-year college experience. I was a department manager working in retail. A number of my skills quickly transferred into the new degree program as well as my new career. Leadership, management, customer service, the ability to read a person, and put yourself aside to deal with a problematic person, all things that I picked up on the way. They helped in classes, in clinical, and at work.
#5 Older than some
My nursing program started when I was 29 years old. I was not the oldest student by far, and much older than the youngest. I had some experience and a full understanding of electronics, and computers. The class on informatics was a breeze. Some younger students did not understand pop-culture references and news occurrences. I worked a table at the school ice-cream-socially to display the organization in the school. A D.J. played a mixture of older songs and some recent. One particular song, the theme song to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air played. This was a sitcom starring Will Smith that ran from 1990 to 1996. The girl at the table with me looked at me stunned, “how does everyone know that song?” She was only 17 years old. The show had been over for three years before she was even born. I felt old. I am a new nurse, I am not treated like a child from co-workers, classmates, professors or patients, based on young looks. Other nurses who are my age have been nurses for almost a decade.