Why I Went Back to University at 36

Richard Weiss: Civil Engineering, Graduate

As I write this, I am proud to say my iron ring is on my right pinky finger. I have received all my final semester grades and I’m very excited to take my career in a new direction.

Curious why, after spending slightly more than a decade working in a creative field, I would go back to university to study a technical field like civil engineering? I’m happy to share some of my inspiration. I hope you find this interesting and perhaps helpful — whether you’re a current student worried that you’ve locked yourself into a career path in your early 20s (you haven’t), or if you’re also 10 years into a career and considering a change.

Three reasons I decided to return to university:

1. To close the loop on a degree I started over 20 years ago.

2. To actively contribute to preserving our water resources and helping our society become more resilient in the face of climate change.

3. And, to achieve a professional designation in a regulated profession.

You see, I began McMaster’s Engineering program in 2000. My first year went well and was packed full of learning opportunities, inside and outside of the classroom. I was successful and moved on to second year in my first choice discipline of civil engineering.

Second year didn’t go as smoothly for me and as the year progressed, I found it increasingly difficult to concentrate on projects and retain what I learned — frustrating as this is typically not a problem for me. I was unsuccessful in two of my courses, preventing me from moving on to year three.

That summer, I was diagnosed with major depression, began treatment, and was reinstated into the program. However, my curiosity about mental health and neuroscience was piqued and the following semester I began the process of transferring to Life Science which would allow me to dive into these new interests.

I still feel I made the best decision at the time for my personal growth. Life Science also presented the opportunity to take electives like Jazz (MUSIC 2U03) and Mythology (ANTHROP 2G03), which sparked personal interests that persist to this day.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 2005, I found my way into professional communication when a manager recognized I was a strong writer.

Following the completion of a post-graduate certificate program in Public Relations and Corporate Communication at Centennial College in 2008, I worked for the Government of Canada in the Toronto headquarters of Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) where I stayed for almost seven years.

While working there the technical services team was one of my internal clients and I enjoyed working with the engineers and supporting communications for engineering projects — including work on the Burlington Canal Lift Bridge, and the launch of the Randall Reef project to name some Hamilton-area programs. I began considering the idea of going back to finish my engineering degree. However, my partner and I had recently bought a house, and we were planning to get married and maybe start a family. It would be a few more years before I would seriously consider my return to Mac.

After working for PSPC until 2015 and experiencing my second serious episode of depression I spent several months focusing on therapy and learning to better manage my mood. Sadly, this depression was a contributing factor in the failure of my marriage which ended in 2016.

Between 2016 and 2018 I grew my professional experience while working on the launch of the Sonnet Insurance brand and then in the nonprofit world with the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC). All the while, I recognized that the interests and strengths that set me apart from my communication colleagues were in the technical side of communication like data management, website design, and maintenance.

In September 2018, after exactly two years working for TRIEC and what was a very difficult decision, I resigned from my position and rejoined McMaster’s Engineering program. Fortunately, because it was my second undergraduate degree, the Faculty allowed me to keep my first-year credits and return in second year where I could say things like “Back in my day, we used C++ for our 1st year programming course!”

Returning to university was challenging — the most difficult part was diving back into calculus and statistics after so many years. While I made it through the pure math courses, it was a lot of work and wasn’t pretty!

Being a mature student was also a lonely experience in some ways. While I could relate to my younger peers, having experienced being in my early-20s as a student, the reverse wasn’t true. Classmates would ask if I was ‘going home’ over holidays, to which I’d reply “I’m going to visit family for a few days, but Hamilton is my home.” I’d watch the gears turn for a moment as they began to understand our different situations. When the pandemic began in Winter 2020, it just got lonelier because I live alone.

Despite the age difference, building friendships with many of my classmates has been enjoyable and I have no doubt some of those friendships will last well into the future.

If you’ve read this far, congratulations! You’re likely wondering what I’ve learned from this experience.

Here it goes:

· If we make it our goal to serve society through our work it will help get through the times when we feel lost, and the people we share our goals with will be likely to help make the connections we need to achieve it.

· We all feel lonely sometimes and it's during these times that we learn more about ourselves. If we can become comfortable in times of loneliness, we can cherish the company of others while not seeking it in unhealthy ways.

· We’re only too old to take on a new challenge if we believe that we are. I’m not going to say this was an easy journey, and if I had decided to take my career in a direction that didn’t need a professional designation, I wouldn’t have returned to school full-time.

Despite the challenges, being at the end of this journey and ready to embark on the next one, with an iron ring on my finger, I’m happy I made this choice. After all, it’s the challenges we face that mold us.

A friend recently told me she’s considering going back to medical school and asked for my advice. My recommendation was “put in the application! If you get the offer, you’ll know the right answer when the time comes to accept it, or not.”

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