A Biocord Network Interview Featuring Koala: Non-Traditional Students
It is about that time of the year for many young adults — the beginning of a college career! While many of those starting their journey are fresh out of high school, star-eyed, and ready to make their mark on the world, not all incoming students will fit this bill. There is a unique group of incoming students comprised of people who, after spending some time in the workforce, have decided it is time to go back to school and get the degree that they have wanted for a very long time.
According to LNESC, about 40% of undergraduates are non-traditional (College Information & Resources for Non-Traditional Students (lnesc.org)). This is a large number when you think that a standard university can have tens of thousands of students, and that is only one university in the United States, let alone the entire world!
At Biocord, we are no strangers to non-traditional students. Many members of our community come from different walks of life, different fields, and have found their love for biology through unique paths. One of our members, Koala, is a non-traditional student herself. Her journey as an undergraduate started late into her 20s and she later continued onto her PhD in Neuroscience! In this interview we are going to delve into her experience as a non-traditional student, the challenges and benefits she faced, and her advice for others wishing to go back to school.
Q: Can you give a little background about yourself?
“I started with a BSc in biology in undergrad at a 4-year institution following some classes at a community college. From there I moved onto my PhD in Neuroscience where my current and most likely future project will be on traumatic brain injuries!”
Q: What made you want to study biology in general?
“Biology has always interested me, but it was never my strong subject in high school. I was more of an English/writing person, but Biology has always peaked my interest. On my third go around with undergrad, my stepdad mentioned to me to study chemistry and go to med school, but my mom and I eventually came to the conclusion that biology would be a path I would enjoy more.”
Q: What made you pursue Neuroscience in graduate work?
“Halfway through my undergraduate career, my dad died. He had some mental health problems like depression and addiction issues during his time. During my grieving, I was thinking about pathways in the brain and how depression and addiction can come to be. I became really interested in those topics and what can cause them, and it guided me towards neuroscience.”
Q: What was your experience as a non-traditional student like in your undergraduate career?
“I found it hard sometimes. The first part of it being that some of the people were a decade younger than me since I started at 28. My experience was fine through, and it forced me out of my bubble and to interact with people I normally wouldn’t interact with it outside of a university setting. I didn’t have a family aside from my parents. I don’t have kids or a husband so not having my own family made it a bit easier. My parents were also super supportive of me, and they helped me push my way through my undergraduate career.”
Q: What was the hardest part of being a non-traditional student for you?
“Sometimes I would be in study groups with some of the younger kids and I could tell they weren’t as serious as I was when it came to classroom work. I noticed a lot of cheating in the pre-med classes from the younger students when I was a pre-med student. On a complete side note though, I did a research internship and a girl I was working with would ask me about someone in pop culture/Instagram famous person and I would say ‘I don’t know who that is’ so sometimes the age gap/generational differences can be hard to adapt to.”
Q: Were you able to find other non-traditional students during your time?
“I didn’t talk to a lot of people in community college but when I went to my 4-year university, I knew there would be more non-traditional students due to the environment of the university. In my last year of undergrad, I was working with a lab and there was a member who was in her mid-40s and we still talk a lot and we applied to PhD programs together.”
Q: Are there any scholarships/grants for non-traditional students?
“I went to undergrad in NOLA, I got the Louisianna Go Grant that was need based and it was specifically for students over the age of 25 and it helped A LOT. Because of the grant, I was able to get a lot of school paid for and it made it easier on my parents since they were helping support me and my time through undergrad. I also had other grants too that assisted me in paying for school.”
Q: Do you see a lot of opportunities showing up more for non-traditional students financially?
“I looked a lot during my application time, and I even looked specifically for ones that are for non-traditional students but some required kids or another qualifier that I didn’t have. I didn’t look too hard though because of how supportive my parents were and the grants and scholarships I got like the go grant.”
Q: What are the admission rates currently for non-traditional students?
“Some of the upper-level Ivy League schools like Columbia for example, I read somewhere where they don’t take transfer/non-traditional students but instead they have an adjacent school for non-traditional students. The school I went to for my BSc didn’t care as much as other schools and accepted non-traditional students. I also applied to a private school that accepted me as a transfer student. It definitely depends on school to school if they take transfer/non-traditional students or not.”
Q: Do you think being a non-traditional student helped prepare you for graduate level work?
“Yes, both in academic and maturity levels. Personally, I felt like if I was the age that some of my cohort was, I would be less prepared for graduate school as I do now, so I feel more prepared in my PhD. Plus, I got a lot of the kid behavior out of my system prior to starting my BSc so that helped me calm down more as I got farther into school. But I am thankful for the experiences that I had the previous ten years I had prior to my bachelors.
At first the start of graduate school was rough, and the classes were hard. I just took it head on and dealt with it though and I felt more prepared at this point in my life to deal with the stresses of graduate school than I would have when I was younger.”
Q: In your journey, what has been the hardest part?
“To keep working and to adjust to my friends back home doing things without me. It is hard leaving the life you know behind and to go through school. After a while I realized I am carving my own path which was different from before. My friends are supportive, but I had to let go of a few things after a strong realization.”
Q: Do you see yourself making friends with the kids in your cohort?
“I get along with everyone in my year. I think the age gap is roughly 11 years between me and the youngest student in the group. We study together a lot too, so I have a good friendship with a lot of the younger people in my cohort.”
Q: What advice would you tell someone who came to you in their mid to late 20s saying ‘I want to go back to school?’
‘First and foremost, don’t go into debt. Start at community college and go to a 4-year that is cheap. It isn’t worth going into debt for this. If you do have to take out loans, take out as little as possible (my advice for anyone going to school). And go to school if you feel ready and you want to. A lot of people will try to dissuade you but if you want to, then do it. It changed my life and made me think differently about things. It has morphed me into thinking like a scientist and it has changed my world view on a lot of things.”
I want to thank Koala for taking time out of her schedule to sit down and talk to me about her time as a non-traditional student and some advice for future non-traditional students. If you have any questions, please join our discord server, https://discord.gg/biology, where we have a channel specifically for career discussion and asking questions for not only this topic, but many others!
