# For Curiosity Sake: Finishing a Philosophy Degree in Middle Age

*Enjoying school without pressure*

By [The Curious Hermit](https://paragraph.com/@thecurioushermit) · 2024-07-23

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The first time I attempted college, it was a state tech university. I picked chemistry for my major. Then totally fucked off the first year, got pregnant, and dropped out to become a single mom.

The second time I attempted college, it was a community college with a transfer agreement with the state university that has a branch in my city, so I could do the first half of the degree at the CC and transfer to finish the four-year degree at the University.

But before I managed to even get my associate's degree, life got crazy. I took a semester off, and that turned into two semesters, then two years, then two decades.

For a long time, I was okay with not finishing my degree. I had managed to claw my way out of abject poverty and the sort of homelessness where I technically had a place to live, but it was in a basement "room" made up of plywood walls with no bed so I had to sleep on carpet on concrete floor. I'd built up an audience on Facebook, I'd managed to buy a house, I'd gotten out of a horribly toxic marriage, and I was finally at a point where I could just let my curiosity reign supreme - my ADHD rabbit holes are a BIG part of why my audience sticks around.

Then things arranged themselves so I _could_ return. My state started tuition guarantees, as did the University, so that anyone whose family made less than $75,000 gets guaranteed free tuition through a university grant that covers anything other grants and scholarships don't cover. And I learned about the student loan Fresh Start program for defaulted loans, which I applied for as soon as I learned of it.

Once I got the clear on my loans, I filled out my FAFSA and applied to go to the University of Michigan-Flint. My credits from the community college transferred even after all this time, and I've got just two years to do before I get my bachelor's degree.

For fun.

Because I have no desire to have a job. I work for myself doing whatever I feel like to make me money. As long as it keeps working, I'll keep doing it.

It's a Philosophy degree. I could go onto grad school and _hope_ to get one of those rare professor jobs, but honestly? It sounds awful being a professor. I don't wanna grade papers. I just like philosophy and I want to improve and refine my thinking and writing, and philosophy programs are _really_ good for that.

Being middle-aged in college, going for the sake of curiosity and personal goals rather than the hope of some new career is a special experience. It's so different from the pressure I felt when I tried college before. I maintained a 3.8 GPA, but I was _stressed_ and fuck that noise. I got mostly Bs Winter semester, and I'm fine with that. I'll still get the degree. And it was my first semester back in school after 20 years, so it took a bit to get back in a groove. Also... I'd have gotten an A in the Early Modern Philosophy class if the professor wasn't such a stickler... he gave me a 0 on the first paper because I forgot to double-space and didn't take resubmissions. 20-something me would have dropped that class in a heartbeat, but I just kept chugging along and brought that grade up to that acceptable B.

I've very much enjoyed that there are _far_ more online options for taking classes as well. I'm attending a local university, but I am _not_ a people person. I like asynchronous online classes. Just tell me when the assignment is due and I'll get it done.

What will I do with my degree?

IDK Maybe nothing. Maybe I'll go to grad school - though my options on that are likely to be more limited due to my preference for remote schooling and work. That whole Hermit thing and all. There is a Master's in teaching foreign languages at one of the other state universities that is intriguing - last year, I started learning Chinese and discovered I have a knack for languages, but there's not a lot of content online geared for _solo_ language learners, so I've pondered starting a solo language learning channel for people like me who don't necessarily have speaking as a goal, but instead want to be able to consume content in those languages - I fell in love with Xianxia and Cdramas.

Or maybe I'll develop some mind-blowing philosophical theory that changes the world and every university in existence will want me to lecture.

Which is improbably, but not necessarily impossible.

![](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/emoji-datasource-apple/img/apple/64/2764-fe0f.png) Gwynne

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*Originally published on [The Curious Hermit](https://paragraph.com/@thecurioushermit/for-curiosity-sake-finishing-a-philosophy-degree-in-middle-age)*
