1 – My Best Advice for Adults Returning to College for a STEM Degree

Original Transcript

Good morning, students. I’m author Jonathan David, and uh this is a uh dedicated playlist to adults returning to school or going for the first time. Everything that you need to know. I uh I was an adult that returned to school many times. I I um I left high school and got my GED and started college at 18. Uh not because I was not for the reasons most people think you would leave high school, but uh just a weird upbringing, you know, I had some family issues and things and personal issues, and I just—it wasn’t working out for me. So I left high school, and uh then I I got my GED, and I went to college, and then I uh I went to college for psychiatry at first, and then I I didn’t like it. I got a job at when I was 21 in sales, and they paid for me to do a business degree. So, I started doing some business stuff, and uh it wasn’t for me.

Then I realized I had a knack for math and physics. And so, when I was 24, I um moved to Dallas, Texas, and I started at the community colleges there and worked my way up to the university and then transferred to UT Dallas. And uh I was doing great until I ran out of money because I double majored. And so I made a lot of mistakes, and I want to share all of this stuff with you guys that are going to college or going back to college. I wrote an entire series of books, the ultimate crash course. That book is designed for somebody that is needing calculus and higher. [clears throat] It’s not—it’s not necessarily there to teach you anything, but it’s there to show you all the stuff that you’re missing.

I tutored people for about 15 years. And uh as I was tutoring people, I I started to notice that everybody, including myself, was missing the same information as they’re going through these degrees, specifically STEM degrees, calculus-based degrees, meaning calculus is kind of like the lowest math you take. You go much higher. I have a bachelor of science in mathematics with a certificate of pure mathematics, and I qualify for the certificate of applied mathematics as well. Probably a minor in physics, this, that, all kinds of stuff. I did like 220 credit hours, and um and so I I went through a lot of stuff. I I basically experienced [clears throat] everything that all of you are going to experience, and you’re all going to have a different road, but I kind of went down all these roads.

And uh if if you happen—if you happen to find this and you’re a high school student, you know, the only thing you need to know is that you you go to college, and you read the code of conduct, and you follow it. That’s all you need to know. And if you don’t want to do that, it’s not going to work out for you. And I I I talk about that too with adults. Adults returning to college. However, an adult going back to college is going to have a different experience than a high school student going straight to university. An adult is most likely going to spend two to four years at a community college, and they’re going to be working while they’re doing it. And the the workload at the community college is significantly less than the university.

When you’re a high school student and you go right to the university, they have it set up like a full-time job, and they keep you busy because kids need to be kept busy. You guys, idle hands and uh social media and all this stuff can can be detrimental to your future. And adults, we try our hardest to help you understand the mistakes you’re making. Uh but it can become—it can become impossible to try to help a young adult understand that. I know because people try to help me when I was younger, and uh I just refuse to listen to anybody, and as an adult I I want to tell younger people that too. I’m like, listen to your elders. I didn’t, and it caused me nothing but problems.

People that are older than you, they want the best for you. But there’s that yin and yang conflict between adults and uh the youth, you know, where what you believe is very different than what we believe. And it has to do with the development of your physical brain. It’s an—it’s an actual organ that takes time to grow, and it changes. And so when adults go back to college, they’re they’re in a different state of mind. Most people like in between the age of like 25 and 35 are is when you’re returning to college. Sometimes a lot older. Some sometimes, you know, you’re you you’re either going for the first time or possibly returning. And uh well, so I just want to point that out.

If you’re if you’re going straight to the university as a high school student, you need to read that code of conduct and follow it. Okay? It it’s very important that you do that. And if you’re an adult going to college, you need to do the same thing, too. Because you you when you go to college, you’re going to become educated. And educated people generally follow the rules. And you need to—you need to think about that when you’re doing math and physics. Math is the art of following rules. And if you’re unpracticed in in rule following, it’s going to be difficult to learn math. Most people are terrible at math because they lie. And math is the art of telling the truth.

And uh it it it’s—it’s a frustrating—it’s frustrating to become very educated because you actually learn the definitions of the words you’re using. And when you try to communicate with people that are not necessarily educated, they they don’t know what you don’t know what you don’t know what they’re saying, and they don’t know what you’re saying, and they often get very offended when you talk because you’re using words that they—it it’s really funny. And I remember when I started school and I was talking to a professor, and the professor was like that with me. He was like, “I don’t know what the heck you are trying to say, kid.” And I’m like, I had to stop, think about it. I’m like, “I don’t either. I just—I’ve got this idea in my head, and it’s it’s making me all excited, and I needed to tell you about it.” And and the professor’s like, “Oh my god.”

So I I uh I’m like, I understood that the level of uh the level of education is so far beyond me that trying to communicate with somebody at that level is essentially impossible. And I have that problem now. I’m 42, and when I try to communicate with somebody half my age in college, it is like, “Oh, now I know why the professor was looking at me like that.” It’s like because the there’s a there’s a lot of arrogance that comes with education, too. I’m I’m better than other people. I’m learning. I’m in college. I’m smarter and this and that. And that uh that that can be problematic. You know, I’m I’m like that. I’m very arrogant person. I’m a know-it-all.

And and uh you know I went into mathematics because now I can prove everything. [laughter] Before I knew it all. Now I can prove it all, or I can say I don’t know the answer to that. And and that is something you guys should get used to saying because somebody who guesses is not trustworthy in the workforce. If you guys are guessing, if I ask you a question and you just blurt out an answer and guess, that’s a very dangerous thing to do. And you’re in college to learn how to say, “I don’t know the answer to that.” You’re not in college to become a know-it-all. You’re there to be able to acknowledge what you do know and what you’re capable of.

So, you know, if you’re an adult going back to college for a STEM related degree, that’s—this playlist is going to be just a playlist dedicated to me assisting adults going back to college. I have a series of books I wrote specifically for—it’s essentially for adults or for people in their junior year. The book it it—the book series, the crash course, it’s about how to study properly, and it’s a collection of of uh thousands of formulas and equations that I extracted from hundreds of books over the years and all kinds of little tricks that I learned and how to set up—how to write solutions properly, and it’s all typed in in Microsoft Word, and um I show you guys how to use Microsoft Word and all that too in the videos because when you guys—the the most important thing I’d like to tell an adult returning to college for a STEM degree is that you actually need about five—3 to five years of daily practice using Microsoft Office tools.

It’s a monopoly. Every company uses it. When you go to apply for a job, pretty much every single job application is going to say you need to be fluent in Microsoft Office tools. Not just—I’m not just talking about typing mathematics in Microsoft Word. I’m talking about you need to know how to use the whole suite and how it integrates with other software so that you can communicate with your fellow employees and employers and business partners and customers. They all use that.

There’s a there’s a software called tech shop where you type latte code. You you can you [clears throat] can type latte code in Microsoft Word as well. It’s essentially the same thing. They just operate slightly differently. [snorts] And uh using using text shop is um the professional software that you would use to write like a textbook or a really really long elaborate uh thesis or something or dissertation if it has a ton of of of references that you’re clicking to source from the um from the citation at the end of the book and throughout the book. And uh I just I I would like to—these are just pointers. Okay.

So, if you’re starting, if you’re going going back to college as an adult, it’s very important that you understand you should be doing your homework in Microsoft Word with other Microsoft Office tools and as many other softwares as you can. The time to write with a pencil and a paper is when you’re taking a practice exam. The time to use the software is when you’re doing your homework. And uh you should—if your if your if your exam is handwritten and proctored, then you should be practicing it that way too. You should be doing practice exams every week. And um that that’s very important that you guys understand this.

Now, as an adult returning to school, you’re going to be—you’re going to be challenged differently with this material. Kids that are like 18, 19, they have a memory that is like superior. Like they can retain information easier, but you have a processor that’s superior. You can understand it better. And when you’re in class, these young kids that seem to know everything, don’t don’t compare yourself to them. Their um their ability to retain information and them just coming out of high school, they they might just have more experience with it. Don’t compare yourself to them.

And also, the person at the front of the class that seems to know everything, that person is always the one retaking the course. They know it because they’re retaking it. So you you’ll find that to be very true as you go through uh your your degree is that the kid at the front of the class that seems to know everything is retaking the course. I know because I was that person, and I’ve met those people, and it’s a it’s a it’s an insecurity thing. We all want people to look at us, you know, a certain way, and uh [laughter] it it’s just—it’s just funny.

So, I I I’ve been on both ends of the table, you know. I’ve been the arrogant, cocky, know-it-all, and I’ve been the humble, apologetic, caring person. You know, I’ve been—I’ve been around the circle with this, and uh it’s I I just, you know, be careful with that stuff when you get to college. You know, every everybody is struggling, and only half of the people make it through. And it’s not—it’s not even that good. It’s like—it’s like when when you start at junior year, like only like 50% of the people finish junior and senior year, and only like 50% of the people that attempt these degrees even get to junior year.

So like when I was in class, one of the professors was like, “Look to your left, look to your right. Only one of you will be here at the end of the semester.” Basically, they were saying only a third of the class passes. Most people change their majors. And and this this usually happens right around linear algebra. However, with um with the advancements of technology such as AI technology, people are now able to get through these courses that they never would have—they never would have been able to get through before.

And I just I just want to warn you that um I’ve I’ve met a lot of people that have bachelors in math, physics, engineering, computer science, actuary. Probably not actuary so much, but the math, physics, engineering, and computer science degrees. I’ve met so many people that they used things like AI, private tutors, video lessons on YouTube to get through their junior senior year, and they cannot get a job anywhere because they they don’t know how to do anything. They go to get a job, and they are tested. The job will give you an exam to see if you know what you’re doing, and they don’t know what they’re doing. So, they can’t get a job anywhere.

Now, here’s the real problem with that is that if you use those tools to get through your junior, senior year, even the freshman, sophomore year, [snorts] and you get a degree and you can’t get a job with the degree, guess what happens? You can’t get a job elsewhere either because they see your degree, and they’re like, “You’re not qualified for this retail position or waiting tables.” [clears throat] I I tried to get a job waiting tables once, right when I was at the end of my bachelor’s degree. I needed money. And uh the guy just flat out told me, he’s like, “Dude, I’m not going to give you a job.” And I’m like, “Why?” And he goes, “Because you’re going to graduate in a few months and leave. I need people that are going to be here for a long time.” And I was like, “I respect that.” He’s like, “I don’t want somebody with a bachelor’s of physics or math working here waiting tables. I want somebody without an education that isn’t going to leave.”

And uh so that’s—that’s a real situation that you guys can find yourself in is is a—it’s like the rock between a rock and a hard place situation where you can’t get a job because you don’t know how to do anything, and you can’t get a job because you’re overqualified. And and I I just want to warn you guys about that. As an as an adult going to college, it’ll be easier for you to understand that than it will be for a uh a young adult like an 18-year-old. You’re an adult. You’ve already seen it. You’ve seen what happens when when kids cheat through their degrees with video lessons on YouTube. Now, AI, you’ve seen the results as an adult because you’re older. You’re going back. You don’t want to—you do not want to experience that.

So, I make these videos to encourage you to do it correctly. Read the code of conduct. Read the syllabus. When you read the code of conduct and syllabus, you’ll learn that it’s a violation to use anything other than other than the textbook. And if you use the textbook correctly, then the course becomes significantly easier. There’s a learning curve to reading textbooks and using them. I will I will dulge and share some of this with you guys. But I encourage you to learn it on your own.

I used to have like 10,000 math and physics lessons on YouTube. I still have about a thousand of me writing that book on my on my one of my websites. But the uh I took I took the majority of them down because I was like—I was having this moral dilemma. I’m like, this is not helping people. It’s not helping people at all. It’s just—it’s just more of the same. I’m just repeating the same—the same stuff that everybody else did. I’m just doing it at a higher quality. I still share some stuff with you guys.

And I I the book that I wrote there, it’s not there to teach you calculus. It will. I mean, I I sol I I basically just went through and solved all the all the most important problems, and then I showed you how to solve problems in linear algebra, differential equations, physics, and uh just a bunch of data and tips and tricks that I’ve learned over the years. And and it’s about, you know, a couple thousand pages of information depending on if you get the ebooks or the physical books. And um I—it’s not there to teach you, okay? Some people misunderstand when I say don’t use these sources. I’m not—calculus is like a toolbox. What I wrote there is not—it’s not meant to teach you. It’s meant to show you what you’re supposed to know by junior year and how to use it.

And that that that should be addressed because some some people buy it, and they think that they’re getting a textbook or they’re getting some step-by-step guide to learning things. And it’s—it’ll make—the book will make a lot of sense when you get to junior year as like an engineer or a mathematician or a physicist or a computer scientist. When you get to like junior year, that book will make a lot of sense because it covers basically everything from math and physics you’re supposed to learn from freshman sophomore year.

So, you can use it to help you through these courses, but it’s not really there. It’s not supposed to be something that teaches you. It’s supposed to be something for you to compare your work through to be like, am I doing this correctly the way I should be? Because I wrote it—I wrote it from the point of view of a student at your level, the way you guys would see it. The uh the new edition has a couple hundred extra pages of mathematical lesson solutions I made that are written very differently than than the bulk of the book. And uh that way you you can see the comparison of a professional writing versus the way you’re writing it. I—it’s all about comparison so you guys can see the evolution of where you’re where you’re heading with your education and what you’re doing.

And uh so anyways, I um I’m going to start these off and keep them about 20 minutes, I think, these podcast. And I just I want to—if you’re an adult returning to college for a STEM degree, I just want to first advise you that you should read the code of conduct in the syllabus and learn how to use the textbook and be prepared to take your time and do it slowly. Okay? You need to do your homework in Microsoft Office to with Microsoft Office tools and other software. If you want to know what other software to use, search the internet today for some job applications related to jobs that you might apply for and look at the software that they want you to have on your resume.

And mostly almost every time it says they want like three to five years of experience using Microsoft Office tools. It does not say anything about using tech shop ever. It does not say anything about third-party software like Type ST. It says Microsoft Office tools, Adobe, CAD, SAS, all these professional tools that you guys as as young adults, you may think that Microsoft Office is is a is not a quality tool. That just means you don’t know how to use it. And um it really doesn’t matter though because if [clears throat] you don’t have those years of experience with Microsoft Office, you’re not going to get an interview anywhere.

And and that’s my first message for you guys. If you’re not using Microsoft Office for your homework throughout your whole entire degree, you’re not going to have the necessary experience with it to get an interview anywhere. That’s pretty much what what it boils down to. The reason why people can’t get jobs right now is that they literally are not qualified for an interview because they have no idea how to use Microsoft Office tools. They also have terrible written and oral communication skills. And you guys, you also all violate the code of conduct constantly. And that’s—for most companies, they do not want that. They want somebody that’s going to follow corporate policy, that’s going to show up to work, that knows how to use all these tools.

When you guys go to college, that’s the code of conduct, that’s going to lecture, and that’s be becoming savvy on how you do your homework to multitask and learn more skills. So my so my best advice for any adult going to school for the first time or returning or starting is that make sure that you do that starting at the beginning. Then when you go to apply for jobs, you’ll have all the necessary experience you need to get an interview.

And if you’re if you’re looking to understand calculus, like part of the reason I wrote that book too is for people people who went through calculus using video lessons on YouTube and and uh AI and stuff. They don’t—and they don’t understand it because they they just flew through the course. You need to know all that stuff for for junior senior year. So I put it all together in there. So if you’re a junior, you can um refresh yourself quickly with that information, just so you know. And I will I will be sharing that book with you guys a little bit in audiobook form. Video audio book, basically. I’ll share it with you guys.

So don’t forget to subscribe to my channel. This is a channel for my books. My do my audio books and my authorship and stuff, and I I just spent a lot of time in college tutoring students and taking courses, and I just wanted to share my experience with you guys before I forget it so that you can take advantage of it. Okay. All right. Have yourselves a lovely day unless you have other plans. I got to go do a book signing today. Bye-bye.