- #1
lordofpi
- 17
- 0
Greetings all. I apologize for the lengthy intro; I shall try to be brief. For those who don't think any background is necessary, you can skip to the last paragraph if you would like to save some time.
For all of my younger life, I was always a math freak. Gifted with a knack for the sciences, I nevertheless was unfortunately one of the types who did not get along well with school. As years went forward, I rarely did homework and just got mediocre-to-bad grades most of the time, even in classes I liked. How I wasn't expelled (I went to private school) was beyond me.
It is no surprise that I of course procrastinated applying for colleges, having had enough of formal education, and wound up at NJIT out of sheer lack of options (how I even got there is still somewhat foggy, though a 1390 SAT probably helped). Still attempting to fulfill my parent's expectations for myself to go to college, I did well first semester in comp-sci. Second semester, I was going to switch to EE to get more math to fulfill myself when I got involved in my father's business due to his falling ill.
That was the spring semester of 2002, and I simply stopped going. While the business has done well, I always feel that compulsion and that drive to have pursued my passion in mathematics. While working day-in and day-out with people who, by their own admission, have never read a book, I am then coming home to reread _The_Elements_ or to study Godel or the proof of FLT in my spare time (just throwing out examples).
I am at a much different place in my life, and I have solved most of my problems with dealing with school and how I view it. I feel like if I do not go back, I will always regret it.
Now to my question: how difficult is it, does it even make sense, for someone at my point in life (I am almost 29) to go back to school and pursue a math major to the graduate level? I am extremely passionate about the field, and would love to go to a great school. I have had people tell me that it actually is easier for adults than high-school grads to get into top-notch schools, but I am very skeptical. My business is fairly near to Princeton, and that would of course be a dream, but probably unrealistic. What the options for someone like me? Do I go to community college and try to transfer? Do I need to retake SAT (gasp)? Am I simply wasting my time and should just be thankful that I have a good career already? I humbly and patiently await your responses. Thanks!
For all of my younger life, I was always a math freak. Gifted with a knack for the sciences, I nevertheless was unfortunately one of the types who did not get along well with school. As years went forward, I rarely did homework and just got mediocre-to-bad grades most of the time, even in classes I liked. How I wasn't expelled (I went to private school) was beyond me.
It is no surprise that I of course procrastinated applying for colleges, having had enough of formal education, and wound up at NJIT out of sheer lack of options (how I even got there is still somewhat foggy, though a 1390 SAT probably helped). Still attempting to fulfill my parent's expectations for myself to go to college, I did well first semester in comp-sci. Second semester, I was going to switch to EE to get more math to fulfill myself when I got involved in my father's business due to his falling ill.
That was the spring semester of 2002, and I simply stopped going. While the business has done well, I always feel that compulsion and that drive to have pursued my passion in mathematics. While working day-in and day-out with people who, by their own admission, have never read a book, I am then coming home to reread _The_Elements_ or to study Godel or the proof of FLT in my spare time (just throwing out examples).
I am at a much different place in my life, and I have solved most of my problems with dealing with school and how I view it. I feel like if I do not go back, I will always regret it.
Now to my question: how difficult is it, does it even make sense, for someone at my point in life (I am almost 29) to go back to school and pursue a math major to the graduate level? I am extremely passionate about the field, and would love to go to a great school. I have had people tell me that it actually is easier for adults than high-school grads to get into top-notch schools, but I am very skeptical. My business is fairly near to Princeton, and that would of course be a dream, but probably unrealistic. What the options for someone like me? Do I go to community college and try to transfer? Do I need to retake SAT (gasp)? Am I simply wasting my time and should just be thankful that I have a good career already? I humbly and patiently await your responses. Thanks!