Graduated with BA English + BA Philosophy in 2015, did Fulbright, got a job in media, but now considering going back to school to pursue a degree in STEM, most likely ME or aerospace. Is this a waste of time? Any advice from people who've done something similar? Right now I'm working through MOOCs to refresh my math + will probably enroll in some community college classes in the fall to get intro credits out of the way before applying to universities.
If it's what you want to do it's not a waste of time. I've known people who took similar paths (though not into ME/AE).
You do have an advantage in being older and hopefully more mature, you'll likely find most of the coursework fairly easy compared to your younger classmates if you approach it properly (like a job: with planning, scheduling, and deliberate action).
Pay attention to what credits will carryover. Not everything will to every school. Some will be very picky.
Start contacting faculty at universities you're interested in. Find ones that have a specific interest for you. Different schools have faculty focused in different specializations, and there's often a degree of synergy in the department. Using CS, since I know it, a school strong in AI will have a number of faculty focused on it. A school strong in distributed computing will be similarly staffed.
So find the fields of ME/AE that interest you and start researching which schools have that, don't just get the degree. Take advantage of the time you have and the experience you have to make a better decision than most of us did at 16 or 17 when we applied to our first colleges.
Look further, into graduate programs or what you'll do after you graduate. If you want to work for a SpaceX or Blue Origin, you'll want to study different things than if you want to go to Gulfstream. That will help guide your decision on which undergrad program you pursue (assuming you can't get directly into an ME program).
wrt 'waste of time,' i've just heard from plenty of people that employers look unfavorably at candidates who get late starts in careers and have switched from radically different lines of work since it demonstrates 'lack of commitment' &c., not to mention the downsides of doing entry level positions in your early 30s, which is probably where I'd be by the time I finished any programs
If you're concerned about that, then you should start talking to potential employers/professors early before switching. For instance, in my office, we have a guy (about 35) going back for his CS degree to get out of a support role and into a developer role (he has an associates degree, and was hired to do limited IT work and paperwork). Yeah, he'll be older when he finishes the degree, but he's already started getting development work in the office. And the office, staff, bosses all know him and his interest and work ethic.
If you can do something similar with your current employers, that'd be a good way to transition. Alternatively, network and reach out to people. And don't be afraid to use the services of your university when you complete the degree. Your professors there and the staff of the university will be well-connected with industry if you don't go to a bottom-tier university (and even there they'll have something, even if it's only regional connections).
I did a BFA in Filmmaking, some years in the industry, then went back and got a BS in Computer Science at a pretty highly ranked engineering school. My email's in my profile.
You're definitely doing the right thing by starting with MOOCs and community college. Even though I was good at math in high school, that knowledge had really atrophied without consistent use so I had to re-learn a lot of trigonometry and pre-calc material.
Also in my case the engineering school required students with prior undergrad degrees to apply as transfers, which meant I needed a bunch of math and science pre-reqs from community college before I could even apply.
CS for me is a fantastic day job. I miss the arts, but I don't miss the film industry, and I don't regret the choice to give up my "dream career" in favor of a more balanced life.
Oh, and when I was interviewing, my age and previous work experience were attractive to employers, not repellent. That probably varies quite a bit depending on field and geography, but in my experience is false that employers only want candidates in their early 20s.
Why do you want to do that? Why are you dis-satisfied with your liberal arts degree, or with the doors it has opened for you? What are you hoping that STEM will do for you?
A few reasons--for the last few years, I've mostly worked as a science writer and have learned a lot about the fields I cover at a high level. Although I can write competently about these subjects now, I feel that because I don't have a background in the actual fields I'm covering I am doing a disservice to my readers and am limiting myself as a science communicator. At the same time, it's made me realize how much of the world my brain effectively treats as magic for lack of the basic knowledge that comes with just an undergrad degree in almost all STEM fields. Finally, when I look at career trajectories in media, i've realized that financial incentives are not great unless you make it to the top 5% of those employed in this field and many of these positions aren't something I'd want to do anyway, much less work my ass off for decades to get there.
So I guess from STEM, I'm looking for:
-financial stability/mobility in career
-understanding of the world at a deeper level
-the chance to actually be work at something that can change the world, rather than just writing about the people doing this work (arguably, media does change the world, but from the inside I'd say I'm being generous by saying that 2/3 of media is entertainment 1/3 actually results in change).
Well, in my view, we need science writers who really get the science (and who can really write) worse than we need more STEM workers. I say this because such science writers are far more rare than STEM workers are.
But you don't necessarily want to be that writer. You're somewhat unlikely to get the financial stability that you're looking for out of it (much more likely to get it in a STEM career). But if you were interested in being that writer, the world could seriously use you...
You do have an advantage in being older and hopefully more mature, you'll likely find most of the coursework fairly easy compared to your younger classmates if you approach it properly (like a job: with planning, scheduling, and deliberate action).
Pay attention to what credits will carryover. Not everything will to every school. Some will be very picky.
Start contacting faculty at universities you're interested in. Find ones that have a specific interest for you. Different schools have faculty focused in different specializations, and there's often a degree of synergy in the department. Using CS, since I know it, a school strong in AI will have a number of faculty focused on it. A school strong in distributed computing will be similarly staffed.
So find the fields of ME/AE that interest you and start researching which schools have that, don't just get the degree. Take advantage of the time you have and the experience you have to make a better decision than most of us did at 16 or 17 when we applied to our first colleges.
Look further, into graduate programs or what you'll do after you graduate. If you want to work for a SpaceX or Blue Origin, you'll want to study different things than if you want to go to Gulfstream. That will help guide your decision on which undergrad program you pursue (assuming you can't get directly into an ME program).