Yesterday, I did something that I have not done since 1992 – I went back to school – and it was quite an enlightening experience. For the first time in nearly a decade and a half, I packed my knapsack with schoolbooks, made sure I had a notebook and pen, and headed off to class.

Since the first day I walked into a classroom, I have never been a fan of going to school. Although I did complete my education from kindergarten to college – I simply never enjoyed the educational process. But now that I want to obtain my real estate license, there is only one way to get it – and so off to school I went.

When I arrived at the Real Estate Education Center, I sat in a classroom and was ready to begin my first class since I was twenty years old. To become a Licensed Real Estate Agent in New York State, all you have to do is complete a twelve-class, forty-five hour course, and pass two exams – one administered by the school – and the other by the New York State Department of Licensing Services. So basically, anyone can get a real estate license, as long as they pass the exams. And while I do not, as of yet, have a real estate license, I did work for a real estate company and possess a limited knowledge of the industry – which made learning the curriculum a lot easier.

Now that I have had a decade-plus long break between classes, I realize that if I waited to go to college until now, I would have done so much better than I did when I went to college from 1988-1992. When I was in college then, all I wanted to do was get it over with. But if I started college now that I am older and wiser, and had the Internet as a research tool – I would have graduated with a much higher Grade Point Average than I did when I graduated Kingsborough thirteen years ago. Even my friend Lisa, who is my age and going to college for an Accounting Degree – is averaging an almost perfect GPA – and credits her returning to college at an older age for her impressive success.

While my return to school may not be as a full time matriculated student like Lisa, I still feel that my return to the academic world is pretty amazing. The fact that I have to deal with classes, homework and tests all over again brings me right back to my days as a college student at Kingsborough. And while my course will end in only a few weeks – I give my friend Lisa a tremendous amount of credit – because after attending only one day of school again – I could never return to a full-time life of academia…

…even though I have another three weeks ahead of me.