Rewriting My Story

The pursuit of education at 35.

- Shivani

I was quitting my full-time job as a single mother of three to return to university regularly.

This implied that all of the money I borrowed had to pay for both my children's and my needs for several years, in addition to my educational expenses. At thirty-five, returning to school was scary. I was included in groups despite my concerns about being left out. I would make mistakes and learn from them, but would my responses in class be intellectually stimulating enough? Yes. Am I going to encounter ageism? Not in a true sense. I made friends, some of whom I am still in touch with today. My professor told me how he returned to school as an adult and completed his master's and doctoral degrees.

He shared with me that he has been in my position before, which was incredibly considerate and nice of him to do.

I took school quite seriously. I had been hoping for this second chance. I sat in front of the class. I never missed any classes. I studied the books, finished the homework, and gained knowledge about conducting research. As I worked on hours of homework, I would plan breaks. Having the professors select every book was a difficult task. That was the beauty of it—I had to read so much that I would not have chosen. I’m overjoyed that my lecturers were of such assistance to me.

At the end of my university journey, I qualified with a good percentage. Later on, I gained my graduation degree, and then I started a job. Completing my degree has been a dream of mine for a long time and...

Whatever age you are, if it is your dream, you can do it too, age is just a number.

Going Back To School At 35