MYTH #1: “I’m too old to go back to university.”
This was probably the easiest one to bust. Learning does not have an expiry date. In fact, studying later in life brings a completely different perspective to learning. You don’t walk into the classroom with just a textbook. You bring years of working experience, successes, mistakes, difficult conversations, decisions and lessons with you. When you encounter a theory, you often find yourself thinking, “I’ve actually experienced this.” You begin connecting what you learn to real situations and questioning how you might have approached things differently. 

Look at it this way: You are not starting again. You are building on what you already know.

MYTH #2: “I don’t have time.”
When you have a career, family and responsibilities, there isn’t suddenly a spare five hours waiting for you because you have enrolled in a Master’s programme. You have to make the time. 

Online learning gives me flexibility, but flexible does not mean effortless. 

A deadline is still a deadline. 

There are readings, research, assignments, presentations, dicussions, classes and sometimes several things happening all at once. And inevitably, there will be weeks when a work deadline, family commitment and assignment all decide to arrive together. 

You will learn very quickly to how to prioritise, plan ahead and manage your time better. 

Ironically, time management becomes one of the things your Master’s teaches you without appearing anywhere on the syllabus. 

MYTH #3: “I haven’t studied in years. I won’t be able to keep up.”
Returning to academic work after years in the workplace can be daunting. Research. Referencing. Academic writing. Reading journal articles. Meeting submission requirements. It takes some getting used to. And there is something quite humbling about being experienced and confident in your professional life, only to find yourself staring at an assignment wondering where to begin! But you adapt. You learn to research more effectively, identify credible information, communicate your thinking clearly. 

Most importantly, you become comfortable with being a learner again. 

MYTH #4: “At this stage of my career, what more can a Master’s teach me?”
Experience is invaluable. But experience can also make us comfortable with the way we have always done things.  Postgraduate study forces you to question that – Why do I think this way? What evidence supports it? Is there another perspective? Is what worked five or ten years ago still relevant today? 

That develops critical thinking in a very different way. You become more analytical. You learn to challenge assumptions — including your own — and support your ideas with evidence rather than relying purely on experience or instinct. 

Those skills don’t stay in the classroom. They influence how you solve problems, make decisions, communicate ideas and contribute at work.

MYTH #5: “It’s just about getting another qualification.”
Of course, earning a Master’s degree will be an achievement. But if the only thing I gain at the end is another qualification to add after my name, I think I would have missed much of the point. The real value is in what happens along the way. You develop discipline.
You become better at managing competing priorities.
You strengthen your research and writing skills.
You learn to analyse rather than simply accept information.
You become more open to different perspectives. 

And perhaps most importantly, you are reminded that there is always more to learn. 

MYTH #6: “I’ll do it when life gets less busy.”
This may be the biggest myth of them all. When exactly is that? There will always be another project. Another deadline. Another family commitment. Another reason why next year might be better. I waited because life kept happening. 

Eventually, I realised that perhaps the right time isn’t when life becomes quiet. It is when you decide that something matters enough to make room for it.  

Would I tell everyone over 40 to go and enrol in a Master’s programme tomorrow? 

No. 

Ask yourself why you want to do it. Understand the commitment. Look realistically at your finances, work, family and time. Find a mode of study that fits your life. And be prepared to work for it. 

But don’t let “I’m too old” be the reason you don’t. I started at 49. 

I have less free time than I did at 20 and considerably more responsibilities.

But I also have something my 20-year-old self didn’t have; which is experience, perspective and a much clearer understanding of why I am learning. 

Perhaps that is the biggest myth worth busting: Education is not a chapter of life that closes when we are young.  

We never really finish learning. And in a world that refuses to stop changing, perhaps neither should we.