The Student Room Group

Advice- considering switching uni at the end of second year?

Hi, I'm a 31 year old student and i've just finished the first year of a BSc. The course itself has been really interesting, i've enjoyed doing the work, and i've got A's and B's all year on my coursework, but I am the only mature student on my course and i'm really struggling with that. There are also very few mature students at the university as a whole- so few that the mature students society was disbanded! I also had to move a long way to come here so all of my existing friends are hundreds of miles away.

I've been out with the other students on my course and I get along with them but we don't have very much in common and I study in Scotland, so many weren't yet 18 at the start of the course. The only social activity on offer all year has been drinking and clubbing. There are societies for faith groups and sports, but I don't believe in God and I have a disability. The union tried to run pool tournaments for a while which I did participate in but they struggled to get players so now there are no more tournaments.

My course is the only one of it's kind at undergrad level in the UK. I could apply to another uni to do something in a related discipline and then go into this field at post-grad but ideally I want to stay here and complete this degree. I find the younger students fun to work with but I'm really struggling to relax outside of class. The town is much smaller than my home town, and there are no MeetUp groups in the area. I was on eharmony prior to coming here, and when I updated my location there were exactly 0 matches here. When the students go home, it becomes a ghost town. There's not much here, except for the uni.

Advice?
Reply 1
Join any other societies, either something you are interested in, or one where you get the chance to try something new :smile: OR, they do give you a chance to start a new society, so maybe you can do that, on something you like doing that isnt currently offered? It`s good for interaction and also your job prospects!
Also, get a job near or in the uni, you can meet students and/or people from the town regularly and make friends like that maybe?

Hope that helped:smile:
Reply 2
Original post by TalithaRaine
Hi, I'm a 31 year old student and i've just finished the first year of a BSc. The course itself has been really interesting, i've enjoyed doing the work, and i've got A's and B's all year on my coursework

This is the main reason you're at uni. As this is the only course of its kind in the country, in your place, I'd make it the priority - especially as you're enjoying it and are obviously good at it. OK you're lonely, but that clearly isn't affecting your grades and it won't last forever. You only have two more years left - as a 31 year old, you know how fast those will go.

Can you really be guaranteed that any other uni would be different? The Mature Student society at my undergrad uni was populated by 25 year olds, stressing about how old they were. I was 44 at the time and I have to say that I only attended one of their meet-ups!

It would be a shame to abandon a course you enjoy and a potentially a good final result, purely on the (possibly erroneous) assumption that your social life would be better elsewhere for the next two years.
Reply 3
Original post by Klix88
This is the main reason you're at uni. As this is the only course of its kind in the country, in your place, I'd make it the priority - especially as you're enjoying it and are obviously good at it. OK you're lonely, but that clearly isn't affecting your grades and it won't last forever. You only have two more years left - as a 31 year old, you know how fast those will go.


I know, I was very lucky to get in, they only accept around 15 students a year! It isn't two more years though, it's three- it's a four year degree (many Scottish degrees are like this with the final two years both being honours level which determine final classification). This year has gone very slowly for me, and i'm concerned in the long run my grades will be affected. One more year I could do, and will do, I would switch next summer if that was needed, but I really feel that something needs to change. I also don't want to be single through the entire duration of my studies, especially as some day i'd like to get married and have kids as well, but obviously knowing no one even close to my age up here i'm quite likely to remain single for the next three years at least.

Sometimes I also just need adult conversation. As a child and a teenager I was always more interested in talking to adults than people my age so to be conversing almost exclusively with teenagers now is quite frustrating. They are a nice bunch, but mostly interested in getting drunk at the moment. The course I'm on also doesn't have any optional modules until the third year, so I won't meet students on other programmes until then.

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