I am in the process of finishing up another semester of university work. This is my sixth semester, aside from intercession and summer half-semesters, and I am very close to earning my second Bachelor’s degree – all at my current age of 67!
I was a new widow, when I found out about an amazing gift which is available to all citizens of Massachusetts who have passed the age of 60. The Commonwealth will pay full tuition for any of us to attend any State college or university in Mass. I called my local university – Worcester State University – to make sure this was true; it is not only true, but Worcester State will also include fees. For the price of text books, I was free to attend as many classes as I wished.
At first, I simply chose three classes that intrigued me, and began to go to class. I had such a wonderful experience, that I chose another class, and went to the Registrar on add/drop day and tried to sign up. I found out that on my current “Elder” registration, I could not take more than 11 credit hours at a time. However, if I wanted, I could register to be a fully matriculated student, and then sign up for as many classes as I wanted! Okay, this I could do.
This involved going to my old high school and requesting a transcript, to prove that I was a high school graduate. I had then to fill out an application and write an essay explaining why I should be considered as a student as Worcester State University. Oh yes, and I needed a variety of medical tests to prove that my childhood immunities to chicken pox, mumps, measles and a variety of other childhood diseases were intact. Easy-peasy.
Going back to high school was kind of fun. I knew most of the people working in the office, because my children and some of my grandchildren had also attended, and they were charmed at my reason for needing the transcript. And there it was, 44 years after I had graduated! I brought it home, pointing out to my grandchildren that this proved for once and for all that there really was a permanent record – be aware!
After my first semester, I had a GPA of 3.8, and my advisor suggested that I apply for the Commonwealth Honors Program, which I did. This program has been a great help to me, and a source of great satisfaction. My Commonwealth Honors Project, for example; when presented to the Celebration of Creativity and Scholarship; was awarded First Prize. This was great satisfaction to me, and also to my Honors Advisor, since I was the first English major ever to win that prize! It had heretofore gone to Science majors only.
I graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in English, with a Concentration in Writing. This was one of the proudest moments of my life, made even more so by the faces of children and grandchildren sitting in the gallery watching me graduate.
Once this had been achieved, the question arose, what’s next? I thought of applying for the Master’s program in English, but in the State colleges, this is mainly aimed at a Teaching Degree, and I did not want to teach. The Fine Arts programs, although providing some financing, were very small and admission extremely competitive. The chances of one of a few spaces being given to a woman my age instead of a 22 year old seemed infinitesimal, so I decided to give it a pass. On the advice of the Veterans’ advisor in the Registrar’s Office, I decided to apply for an opening to work toward a second Bachelor’s degree.
To my delight, not only was I accepted, but the school passed on 90 credits, which I had already earned, to give me a head start. At first, I began to pursue a degree in Liberal Studies, which was a new program. I hoped to build a program based on Women’s Studies, with allied courses in History and Global Studies. However, in my initial semester, I realized that my interest was held almost completely by the History classes I took, and at the end of the semester, I changed my major to History. This is now my focus, and I am enjoying it more with each class I take. If everything continues to go well, I will have completed my required study to receive a Bachelor’s Degree in History by the end of December.
amyangell 