By Jessica Wilder

Justine Bateman may have played ditzy Mallory Keaton on the '80s sitcom "Family Ties," but in real life, she's is anything but. At 47, Bateman is wrapping up her first year as a freshman at UCLA, where she is studying computer programming and reportedly getting excellent grades (she posts about two A-pluses and one A-minus last quarter)

Bateman even has a Tumblr called College Life, cataloging her life as a middle-aged student and mother. Her posts range from "Pet Peeves: People talking in class. Dull pencils" to details of her late-night study sessions. However, academia has not been too easy for Bateman. She opened up in her blog about her rejected application to switch majors to Computer Science and the difficulty of juggling school and motherhood.

While her brother, "Arrested Development"'s Jason Bateman, has remained in the Hollywood limelight, she has mainly retired from acting other than the occasional guest role on TV shows like "Modern Family" and "Desperate Housewives."

"I can't audition anymore. I just completely ran out of gas," she told L.A. Currents. This leaves time for her two kids (Duke, 10 and Olivia, 9) and her new career as a student.