MAUREEN LILLA, 53
Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology

CAREER PLANS: To practice existential therapy with corporate leaders and others who struggle with issues of meaning in their lives and to do psychology-based writing.

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Maureen Lilla realizes she is far from the typical graduate student. When the 53-year-old is not attending classes in her PsyD clinical psychology program at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, she works as an international pilot for United Airlines, flying to cities all across the globe.

Her career path to this point might appear complex, but, she says, it's been a progression of combining her many interests. She attained her undergraduate degree in graphic design in the early 1970s, and a master's in theater arts and set design at 40. She has served as a corporate writer and training developer, an air traffic controller, a set designer for stage productions, including "The Sweet Bye 'n Bye" starring Gwyneth Paltrow; and in 1978, she became one of the first female airline pilots to fly for a major U.S. air carrier.

So, as she is often asked, why start a clinical psychology program in her fifties? "I have come to a point where I feel that I have something to give back," Lilla says. "And I want to acquire additional tools that will help me to do that, as both a therapist and a writer."

Since pilots are federally mandated to retire at age 60, Lilla says she's simply planning ahead. By the time she retires as a pilot, she hopes to have earned her PsyD and begun a career in psychology. She also hopes to write novels in a genre known as the "psychological teaching novel" and draw from her experiences in corporate America and as one of the first women pilots.

Lilla became interested in a career in psychology as a pilot working with psychologists on management and technical training development projects, including "Crew Resource Management," or CRM, a type of human-performance training for individuals in high-stress, high-risk occupations.

Lilla says being an older student has been well worth the struggles in juggling schedules and paying tuition bills. "As an older student, I have a very different perspective and different priorities," she explains. "As a young student, I think I was somewhat mesmerized by academia's 'magic, mystery and authority.'" But, she says, she is more relaxed compared with when she was an undergraduate in the late 1960s at Rhode Island School of Design. Plus, she brings to her education more advanced critical-thinking abilities, she adds.

"I am doing this for myself, not for the professor or even the grade," Lilla says. "I appreciate the knowledge per se and the opportunities in different ways than earlier in my life. And I value the journey, in itself."