When the topic of adult education and reinventing yourself just started to appear, it was about people over 30, maximum 40 years old. Now there are whole big programs for people over 50 – 60 years old, so that they can get new skills, new diplomas and start in a new profession. That is, these are not just courses in community centers that help people over 50-60 find new friends and build a new system of life. These are full-fledged educational programs that help you get a new specialty and start a new career. Since the duration of active life of people increases in developed countries every year, this is very important. Retirement at 55-60 now seems not so reasonable, given that people used to live up to 70 years old, and now in many developed countries they live up to a hundred years. The possibility of retirement should be a free choice, because not everyone has the desire and opportunity for health reasons to work over the age of 60. But if a person wants to get a new profession and work for another 10–20 years in it, then he should have such an opportunity. And modern universities are beginning to provide this opportunity. Today we're going to talk about the top eight degrees you can get if you're over 50. We will focus not on specific diplomas, but on areas that you may find most promising.

Gerontology

The most obvious of all options is gerontology. This is the science of aging, it has a huge number of branches, both biological and more social. If you want to contribute to this science, and even more so to share some of your experience, then depending on your previous experience and your education, you can choose the appropriate direction in this science, and you will not have to completely relearn. There are many geriatric centers that accept volunteers. There are many centers that hire people over 50–60 years old, including to help make programs, and participate in various social experiments and nutrition and sports experiments.

Among eight top degrees for 50-year-olds, Gerontology may be the most difficult and the most interesting. If you have chosen this path but keep struggling with various assignments, consider addressing an expert service, such as WriteMyPaperHub, for timely paper writing help. Here, you will find experts who are ready to handle various tasks in the Gerontology field and show you how it is done by professional paper writers. Students around the world, no matter the age, choose this option to succeed in their studies. Why should you limit yourself?

Counseling and Psychology

You can take a lot of courses in psychology and even get a diploma, but if you are only 23–25 years old, then you do not have enough life experience to be tactful enough, understand and see the situation from different angles. In many countries, a psychologist cannot be younger than 30 years old, because it is believed that a certain youth maximalism does not allow him to help clients qualitatively. Therefore, we believe that one of the best careers for people over 50 will be counseling and psychology. There are many directions in which you can realize yourself. This is both family counseling and group counseling. It can be both counseling in a professional setting and practical psychology. There are many accelerated courses for older people and full diplomas. It all depends on which country you plan to study and work in.

Entrepreneurship or Small Business Management

If you want to organize your own small business or take over the business of another company, then this diploma will help you find a job as quickly as possible, or make as few mistakes as possible in managing your company. People over 50, even if they have not worked as managers, have enough experience in dealing with all sorts of difficult situations, compared to people out of college who have a brilliant diploma, but the maximum problem they solved was what kind of coffee to order at Starbucks.

Healthcare Administration

It is quite understandable that people over 50, as a rule, begin to take more care of their health, nutrition, and lifestyle. And they really want to share their life experience in this area. There are many programs, courses and educational institutions that provide accelerated education. And you can get excellent knowledge and a diploma that will help you become a qualified massage therapist, cosmetologist, junior medical staff, and all this knowledge will be useful to you personally and easy to monetize, since such specialists are always needed.

Environmental Science or Sustainability

Many people over 50 often say that the older they get, the more they care about the situation with our environment, and the more they want to give back to society everything they have received from it over the years. If these ideas are close to you, and you are also moving to green life, then a degree in environmental science or sustainability may be the perfect choice for you. We advise you to choose something that is at least somehow related to your previous specialty, so it will be easier for you to join the work process, and not only get an education, but build a second career.

Information Technology or Cybersecurity

Every year, the number of switchers is growing, that is, people who are moving into the IT field from other professions. And their age is also growing every year. Companies are happy to hire switchers. Moreover, switchers are hired much more than young junior level professionals, because people who come from other professions often bring with them a lot of the skills and knowledge that they acquired in this profession. And older people already know how to organize their work. They practically do not need to be motivated to work. Therefore, the switcher boom allows you not only to get a diploma, but also to integrate into the IT work system in a very short time.

Creative Arts or Art Therapy

A lot of people of different ages who participate in various professional surveys related to hobbies say that they are very sorry they did not devote enough time to creativity. During their life, they did not have the opportunity, time, financial opportunity, and so on to enjoy it. After 50–60 years, many people find themselves in different areas of art. You can simply get an education in this area in order to develop your hobby and get more pleasure from it, or you can make it your profession and make some art objects or jewelry or work in art galleries, where older people are hired with great pleasure, as it adds respectability to such places.

The most important thing in finding a job after 50 is proactivity and the ability to hear yourself. You already have the time and opportunity to understand yourself, know what you really want, what format of work suits you and look for what will make you happy for at least another 20-30 years.