Returning to college after a long hiatus from the classroom can be very intimidating, scary, and frustrating. But as an older college student you actually have an advantage. There are many success tips that will help you to use your advantage to gain you the respect of your instructors and classmates, as well as keep an above standard grade point average and pad your resume.
One of the greatest success tips for older college students is to use your age to your advantage. Draw on your life experiences, work experiences, and relationships to come up with unique, creative answers to questions. Promote further discussion about a topic in the classroom or a study group by giving your input based on years of experience. This will not only earn you respect, but high grades for participation and creativity.
You can also apply these success tips outside of the classroom. There are many opportunities for college students to take advantage of such as internships, student teacher assignments, and positions on the school newspaper. Use your skills, talents, and experience to edge in on these opportunities. It will look good on your resume, and give you another way to connect with the other students.
One of the best success tips for getting great grades on group projects is to use your leadership ability. Those returning to college after exhausting or leaving another career path have already developed amazing leadership skills. Use those skills to drive your study group to success and earn you, and them, an A.
Other success tips for older college students include getting involved in competitions and mentoring. Most colleges compete in many competitions, and your experience through life and work will put you in a unique position to win these contests at a land slide. Colleges also have mentoring or student counseling volunteers, which you could also get your foot in on based on your previous career path. This will give you a wonderful opportunity to pass on your own success tips to younger students. Better yet, these activities will pad your resume with a show of leadership and practical skills.
There are many other success tips for older college students. You can find more information online or through self help books. Also, many colleges require an academics for business professionals course for returning college students that will arm you with more success tips than you would have thought possible. If you are at all nervous about attending college for the first or the second time, you should discuss possible success tips with the college admissions or academics counselors.