The Student Room Group

Mature students in the humanities?

I'm currently 19 and studying at UCL. I'm basically not enjoying my course and am looking to drop out and spending a year or two trying to figure out what I really want to do. I definitely want to go back to university and studying either English, philosophy, history or history of art. I'm not entirely sure yet though.

I'm feeling quite down about it in many ways. I'll be at least 21 by the time I re-enrol and I feel like I'll have spent the previous three years stalling (I also took a gap year after my A-levels). I know a lot of student are 21+ but most of them seem to be studying vocational subjects rather than the humanities. I've only come across one or two obviously mature student in the humanities so far (but then again, I don't talk to many other students). This makes me kind of worried that when I do return, I'll be the odd one out in seminars.

Does anyone have any personal anecdotes about mature students in the humanities? I guess just to give me some reassurance. Thanks!
Reply 1
Short and sweet: I was 44 when I started my undergrad and after my first year I fitted in just fine.

You'll be absolutely OK.
Reply 2
Firstly, what do you hope to do after university? What course are you taking now? What do you hope to get out of education?

As far as anecdotes, I took my BA in history when I was 20-24 and MA at 25. I don't think age featured at all in the experience. It might, perhaps, if you were looking for a social experience. Yet I went to learn only, and got what I wanted from it.

Education is a lifelong pursuit, so you shouldn't be apprehensive about being a few years older. Some university experiences, however, like youth itself, are only for the young.
Like the poster above, I am primarily attending university later this year to learn and retrain. I'm 27 and will be studying Journalism. I don't think studying humanities is an issue if you're mature. If anything, you'll be coming at essays and things of that nature with a lot more to say than someone who hasn't done anything except school > A-levels > uni.

Where did you want to study? Perhaps you could go somewhere like Birkbeck, where the students skew older.
I know lots of people applying for humanities and social science subjects in their 20s-40s. You have nothing to worry about!

I'm sure some of the people you've seen and assumed were 18-19 are mature students who appear younger. People constantly think I'm 5+ years younger than I actually am.
37 and currently studying HNC Social Sciences and hold a couple of offers for Politics which I will probably do with History (not sure yet). I am probably the oldest on my HNC but I am certainly not the only mature student. This is the highest level of education I have ever studied at.
Reply 6
My degree was a humanities and I started it at 26; most of my class were also 25+ when we started. There's also a few people on my PGCE who did humanities degrees who did them as mature students.

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