Quitting my job, going back into education

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Thanks for all the comments guys, like I say I needed opinions because I wasn't sure how (un)realistic my goals were - it's been a while since I was at school.

I've pretty much settled on what to do now - I'm pretty much forgetting about a September 2012 university entry and just plan to start Access full-time from September.

Between now and then I have to have moved back to Newcastle from Bristol, sold my car, helped my replacement at work settle in and take over, and paid off the last of some car finance - so hoping to start anything in January is probably out of the question having given everything some thought.

I've convinced myself that a year will fly past and there's no need to stress myself unnecessarily by trying to get everything lined up in such a short amount of time, so I'll just do it this way. I guess I could still do a UCAS form in case I get very lucky, but I'm just expecting to start college in September.

I'm able to live at home without any trouble so I should be sorted next year.

I've had a chat with my boss about the plans and he wants to help me out as I have a pretty good working relationship with him, he offered to help if I need any references writing etc. which is nice. I explained that I'd be committed to help find a suitable replacement as I wouldn't want to leave a disaster behind (the way IT works at this company is very convoluted and it's taken me nearly 2 years to get a grip on it) and the new person would need to work alongside me for about a month to get a full understanding of how stuff works. So he said he appreciated that and likewise he didn't want me to feel any guilt over leaving, so I'm quite glad I talked to him.

Not sure there's much I can do in the meantime, but I reckon May/June-ish I'll be returning to Newcastle. :smile:

Reply 21

kka25

Original post by d0pefish

It's people like you I want to be friends with.

Best of luck with your education mate :jumphug:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 22

d0pefish

Wow, thanks! :jumphug:

You can be friends with me if you like, hehe :smile:

Obviously I'm new to TSR so I don't have any yet!

Reply 23

kka25

Original post by d0pefish

Wow, thanks! :jumphug:

You can be friends with me if you like, hehe :smile:

Obviously I'm new to TSR so I don't have any yet!

I think your decision to not rush things is a good plan. Two days before I started back Uni, I was still working and it was a mess when my education commenced. My mind was still attached with the working mentality and I had to shake it off quickly in order to adapt back to the academia. It was very hard to shake it off because I was so used to the other worldview.

If I could prepare myself better, then the transition would be softer rather then an abrupt crash. So you could take your time to gently go back to the academia by reading the material you require and check the courses you like and read up all the necessary details that you need at you own time. Take your time to understand the material and give yourself sometime to consume it. Initially, don't push yourself too hard, take it slowly. After all, you have been out of the academic game for so long. Your brain needs to have gentle way of adapting to it back :smile:

Once you're prepared, then you won't be intimidated to go back to the academia because your mind and body are ready and now you just need to face the war with the weapon you have. Cheesy but you get the picture hehe.

I've seen some of my friends who left their jobs and were so consumed with the Uni application process, loans and sponsorship, house rent, etc that they have not prepared themselves for the real thing; their actual education. Once they started, they got this immense shocked which subsequently made them struggled lots with their modules. A friend of mine complained that he's struggling lots because he's been out of the academia for a year and he needed to catch up the past year subjects. I could relate with him because he's repeated my mistakes which is not preparing with the actual education.

So hopefully, you won't be like us and you could prepare yourself better.

Well all the best again! :hugs:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 24

lionelmessi2

you could do an 1 year HND instead and apply as a mature student. you could also do professional qualifications in programming part-time (e.g javascript programming, web development ) and hope that will be done in a years time.

Reply 25

d0pefish

It's been about 8 months, so time for an update! :smile:

I've now moved back home to Newcastle, and parted ways with my employer very amicably at the end of May. As previously mentioned I got on very well with my boss and we will be keeping in touch in case he has any one-off jobs for me to come and help him with, so I'm well chuffed. My ex-colleagues even chipped in and treated me to an Amazon voucher to buy stuff for college which is awesome!

I visited Newcastle College's open day on the 4th, and found some people to talk to about HEFCs.

Before my visit I was a bit worried about the subjects, because according to their website, there are only certain combinations of Diploma "pathways" to take with the HEFC subjects, eg. Business & Legal consisted of Business, IT & Quantitative Methods. I'd been advised that Computer Science BSc would ideally want IT, Maths & Physics, but none of the Science & Engineering combinations on the website offered IT - just biology subjects or Chemistry.

When I asked about this, they showed me a new combination that hadn't been listed on the site - and apparently the site is years out of date in some areas(!) - so I was delighted when they told me I could take Maths, Physics, IT and Toolbox for the HEFC Science and Engineering Diploma. :biggrin:

The next very happy surprise was when they casually told me my course fees would be be waived completely as I am under 25 and not in possession of a full Level 3 qualification yet! Before, I was told that having some AS levels meant I would have to pay, so for the last 8 months I've been raising the funds to afford it - even sold my car and everything. Oh well! :smile:

Just means I have some decent savings to keep me going through the course!

So now I'm enrolled - officially a student again! Got my card and everything; first thing I did was go and claim my first free McFlurry to celebrate. Rude not to.

Until September I'm just waiting to receive my timetable and am going to make a start on my UCAS forms for University entry next year.
Happy days! Very excited. :biggrin:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 26

edjunkie

Well not having to pay fees is a definate bonus. It should mean that you have sufficient funds to complete your Access course comfortably. If you are able to get to college without a car, you will be saving a fortune on tax, insurance and petrol. The insurance may have gone up with status changing to student.

Anyway good luck with your studies. Time to get out the books and start reading ahead if you can. Don't forget, if you have an NUS extra card you get 5% off amazon books and few other things. Plus 25% off coach travel, http://www.nus.org.uk/cy/nus-extra/discounts/2011/national-express-student-discount/ they will probably update it after August.