Raise your hand if you didn’t automatically go to college right after high school. 👋🏽 No judgment if you did or didn’t, but directly after high school ended up joining the military and the idea of college was pushed way to the back of my mind. After I got out of the Marine Corps I did dabble in a few classes, but not enough credits to complete any sort of degree, but that all changed in 2024. Here are 5 things I learned about myself going to college in my 30s:

Starting College in Your 30s:

Failing before means nothing, but starting again means everything.

I briefly mentioned accumulating only a few credits, but didn’t share much of the story of how. Directly getting out of the military I thought I’d be prepared for college, but it was difficult for me to balance the real world and college courses at the same time. It didn’t help that I was having financial issues and the stress of that made me quickly think of some thing to give up on – I ended up giving up at school.

Before I started school again in my 30s, the only history that I had to reflect on was me performing poorly the first go around; I truly believe that history repeats itself, but after completing my bachelor’s degree I know that you can change your future no matter what your past is. If I would’ve based my future educational career on only the things I’ve completed in the past, I would have never completed my bachelor’s degree and I wouldn’t be almost complete with my master’s degree either. If you’re considering starting school, but uneasy because of your prior history I think you should give it a shot again because you can definitely change the outcome of your future.

Being older didn’t matter as much as I thought it would.

I went to school online so I wasn’t face-to-face with all of my peers, but I was very active in clubs and online social groups that my school made; this allowed connections with people both younger and older than me. If you’re worried about being older than everyone else, online school is a possibility or participating in their schools social groups/clubs so that you can make connections with people no matter how old they are. At no point in my educational career did my age coming to question, but the knowledge that I obtained through growing up extremely helpful when understanding assignments for my degree.

For my bachelor’s degree I majored in Business Administration and IT Management, having years under my belt at different logistic companies as well as having a personal passion for hardware allowed me to have insight on some of the topics that my younger peers have yet to experience. Instead of not having an understanding of how a business works, I had direct experience (thanks to my age) with various companies that allow me to reflect on the processes that I was learning while completing my business degree.

My life experiences helped me.

Similar to my last point, my life experience helped me get through college because I wasn’t as focused on the theatrics that my younger peers may have focused on. My younger years were filled with people pleasing tendencies and I had a history of burning myself out, but being older and more confident with the person I am I was capable to push my capabilities without reaching burnout. I didn’t feel the need to impress people for no reason, but I did have an understanding of what trying my best meant and that was super helpful for this go around.

If you’re worried about starting school in your 30s, reflect on the person that you were in your early 20s and seriously think about whether or not you would’ve been capable to make it this far. There’s something about age and experience that allows you to understand who you are and when you are a younger age, you’re trying everything you can because you haven’t figured that out yet. Nothing wrong with being in your early 20s or your 30s, but everything about your attention and values change.

I avoided the broke college student phase, kinda.

When I attended college in my early 20s, financial issues were something that I was very familiar with, but now that I’m in my 30s I’m a lot more comfortable financially and able to have college experiences without worrying about what my budget is. I am in no way rich, but the ramen noodle diet is no longer something that I have to deal with every day. There’s nothing more difficult than balancing school, social experiences and hunger pains from not having enough money for sustenance; this go around has healthier food and my output is tremendously better because of it.

This is not a financial brag at all, I am the furthest thing away from wealthy; I am just more capable to budgets and save for the experiences that I think are worthwhile which is tremendously different from my early years. Believe it or not, I’m currently a master’s student and I find that my courses are more expensive than my bachelor’s courses so my budget is still slim, but I am able to make it work; I wouldn’t be able to meet my needs with the earlier version of Jazmin.

This educational win, gave me more confidence for my future.

As a woman in my 30s hearing the term “prime years” is something that I hear way too frequently on social media. It was a big fear of mine that I had missed the window of opportunity and was incapable of learning new things or starting new chapters, but completing my bachelors and almost wrapping up my master’s degree has shown me that I was wrong. This win has shown me that I am capable, I can learn new things and I’m not stuck in any specific path that I may have started in my early 20s; in your 30s you can do new things and you could do it well. This boost of confidence was an unexpected win, but I’m totally grateful for it.

Are you ready to go back to school and complete that degree?

Sometimes life happens in your 20s, but if you are a woman in your 30s figuring out if you want to go back to school or not – I highly recommend it! This is your sign to just go for it, because only good things can happen from here on out. There are only positive things that I’ve experienced after going back to school, I’m even thankful for all those late study days they had me rethinking my life decisions; completing my bachelor’s degree and just being one short month away from finishing my master’s degree has really shown me how capable I am and that’s something you can experience to once you start this educational journey.

If you too are a woman considering going back to school or someone who has just finished a milestone in your education, I’d love to hear more in the comments below. There’s nothing I appreciate more than hearing about people totally kicking butt and completing hard things.