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Going back to School 10 years Late
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As for self-motivated, it's either this or staying in Bumfuck, MI for the rest of my life. I think that's all the motivation I need.
I can has cheezburger, yes?
1. Take general education courses that will apply to a 4 year (and decide my major then).
2. Take some random intro courses from the majors I am interested in and see if they really appeal.
I think I will do both -- Elementary Japanese will fill a humanities requirement and is something I am genuinely interested in no matter what major I do go with, and I'll take either Intro to Horticulture and/or one of the Intro to Art classes, and then when I'm taking Elementary Japanese 2 I'll take the other.
Still not sure about switching careers away from CS, getting myself certified as a programmer, or going for an MBA that will hopefully situate me towards advancement at MyJob, but that's something I can decide as I go.
Maybe I'll tour a local vineyard and talk to the people working there and try some artistic things instead of playing WOW in the evenings, see if that appeals.
At my university, we haven't developed any agricultural programs such as Botany. However, I would guess that many of these majors will require you to take quite a few science classes. If you're interested in getting a science-heavy degree you'll need to do the following:
1.) See an adviser at whatever school you want to attend. They'll be able to answer quite a few questions for you. More importantly (if you decide on a science field), these are the people that will allow you to graduate quicker. I've seen far too many people take a sequence of classes, only to find that they're two years into college and they can't start taking the upper level stuff until they've passed Organic Chemistry I and II. Oh yeah, you can't take those at the same time, and there are also other classes you have to take in the upper level to access the last tier of classes! See the advisers multiple times, and multiple different ones to make sure you're getting sound advice.
2.) If you ARE going to get a science degree, you need to really examine your determination and interest in the field. Lots of science classes are easy but the HARD ones (Org. Chemistry I and II, Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Quantitative Analytical Chemistry) will kick your ass. You have to make sure you have the time and drive to make it through the weeder classes of the science majors. My freshman year (2005), I was told that there were over 300 biology majors set to graduate in Spring 2009. Currently, there are only 66 set to graduate (IF they pass their final classes). Make sure you can make it through.
3.) As an aside, will the collage you're going to attend accept any credits at all? That one seems like a deal-breaker to me. The work you put in should count for something, and you shouldn't have to subject yourself to retake the same basic crap over again (although, that can be a good GPA boost).
You are making a good decision to go back. Good luck in trying to find your calling!
I knew a few guys who did manga translation work for Tokyopop for a living. When the manga market started to collapse last year, each one was fired. The one I've talked to recently says he's transitioning into translating technical writings and business reports now, and that it's extremely challenging because he doesn't have the background in maths, sciences, or business to really grasp all of it. I heard another person on NPR recently who has a blue-collar job, but is also finishing a master's in Chinese Philosophy. He said that he'd also be doing similar work translating reports, memos, etc between the US and China if he should lose his current job.
So, you can go into language, but keep in mind that your best bets for employment through it right now would all be very business-centric.
Point 2 is that yeah, you should definitely start with either a General Education degree or a Liberal Arts degree at a community college. Most of them are really lax about what subjects you take, only requiring a few specific classes or subject requirements, and then allowing you to go kinda crazy with other classes. You should really start looking into state-wide transfer agreements for your state. For example, in Michigan, every accredited community college and all the major universities have an agreement that allows any Associates in Gen Ed or Liberal Arts to transfer from the CC to the university, and automatically count for two full years (whether the actual classes all transfer or not). I'd imagine your state has something similar.
Lastly, I've also met a couple people with BA's in History who work as retail managers. That's a really weird coincidence.
Becoming truly bilingual would be a trip, though, heh.
I think one of the guys may have been a typesetter or rough editor. They all worked free-lance, on a title-by-title basis. At the peak of it, one of the guys (the aforementioned fellow who does technical translations now) got fulltime until the series he was working on finished, but the series was outright canceled 2 or 3 volumes from completion when the manga market just completely imploded.
So, yeah, that market is gone. Even the big anime distributors only have a handful of people working for them now; Bandai Entertainment, for example, is only around 20 people total for all of their functions at the moment.
Realistically, you'd be doing what the gentlemen I mentioned before are currently doing: acting as a go-between translator/interpreter for these global corporations.