Am I Crazy?

[brianj]

I'll get right to it. I'm 38 years old and I'm seriously considering applying to MMA. This is something I always regretted not doing. Now I'm at the point where I'm eyeing a career change and I really want to ship out. Is this crazy?

What is life like for a non-traditional student at MMA? I have a BA in English from UVM so I hope some of those credits will transfer. I have many more questions but I'll leave it at this for now. Thanks.

-Brian

[SQRMF]

Well, I went back to MMA at 25, as a non-trad. I would visit the school and talk to them in person. You can stay on campus- and talk to all sorts of people- and get answers! I can tell you that I was able to live off campus, but they might be changing things (I graduated in Dec '07). There is a new president now, and new teachers. Your other degree should transfer fully and you should be able to get at least a year off your degree. I was able to graduate MTO in 2.5 years academically- but it was 3 years to get my license.

Good luck!

[brianj]

I was planning to go to the December open house but maybe it's better to go up on my own at a different date. Obviously I should talk to admissions. Who else should I seek out? Department heads? Other non-trads?

[john]

BrianJ,

Seeing you already have a Bachelors... another option for you is SUNY Maritime's Master program. You can elect to get a license and will not be alone in your pursuit of a career change.

Jeffery Weis is the person you'd want to talk with there.

[brianj]

John,
Thanks for the input. I'm not crazy about moving my family to NYC but I'll certainly evaluate all schools. My wife is from coastal Maine so MMA is priority for us. I want to look at TAMUG but I'm not sure what to think of their program from their website. Please keep the comments coming. This is a great site.

[danzante]

Have you thought about the Workboat Academy? Geared towards towing and research vs. deep sea. Check out the posts by Ordinary Seaman - he's enrolled right now.