Maybe you’re in a slump, your life is complete chaos right now, or you’re even just a little bored. No matter what it is that’s keeping you down, there is an easy way to make the most of your time. Instead of falling farther behind the career curve, take the situation into your own hands.
The best way to do this is by returning to school for additional education and training. When first contemplating it, it might not seem like a great idea — it can add chaos and subtract available cash. But, with effectively education upgrades your position in life, there’s no reason not to enroll in courses. It’s affordable and convenient. What else could you want?
Students between the ages of 25 and 34 are shattering record enrollment levels with no end in sight. In the first 12 years of the new millennium, the student demographic grew by over 50 percent. By the year 2023, it will grow 23 percent from where it was in the late 1990s. That’s a whole lot of post-college moms, dads, blue-collar and busy people heading back to education to make their future brighter.
The questions aren’t so much whether you should go back to school but rather where and for what. There is a new generation of students graduating, and they are older and more experienced. That could be you. If you find the right field at the right institution, the sky is your career’s ceiling. We have a few tips to get you started in the right direction.
Make It Easy on Yourself
Education isn’t the same as it used to be. Forget the commuting and the three-ring binders — the world runs online now, and it’s more efficient than ever. The same goes for colleges and universities around America. If you want to set yourself up well for the future, there’s no better way to do it than at your personal computer.
Over six million students are taking online courses at their schools. Not everyone is cut out for the campus life — and that’s especially true if you’re looking to improve your education in your downtime from work, kids or other obligations. Online education is more flexible, more accessible and more affordable than ever, so you should consider signing up.
Finding the Right Major
There is so much more information available now than even a decade ago, when students first began relying on the web. Statistics about what fields are growing, what fields are flooded and what degrees will look like for the next four years are all over the internet. All it takes is a little research to determine what degree is right for your career.
Of course, you’re also going to have to decide what field interests you the most. What good is having a job you hate? If you go back to school, make a lot of money and get a job doing something you can’t wait to quit, was it worth it? Find something that fits you first; then choose from the list of growing fields. Maybe it’s something that’s always in demand, or perhaps it’s something more creative like geographic information science. Then, get to work!
Don’t forget to consider what happens after you graduate from college. If your major was overcrowded, chances are that the corresponding job market is going to look similar. You could be the outlier that gains employment when all your classmates are still looking for jobs, but why take that chance? In something relatively obscure, like geographic information science, you know there will almost always be openings. Outside the long list of other pros, there’s really nothing more important than this benefit. After all, you’re going to school to try to jumpstart a career for yourself, so you should make it easy.
Getting Started
It’s never too late to do the right thing for yourself or your career. Whether you are 18 years old or 58, you have a future, and now is the time to start planning for it. Take classes on nights and weekends, or pour everything you have into a full course load right away. Either way, you’re striving for a better life, and in this field, that’s exactly what you’ll get.