First taste of university

Hi all.

I won't bore you with my life story, but will just say I have gone about things he 'long way round' and am now ready for uni.

I'm posting here as a mature student - and am looking for some advice.

It's been a good 8 years since I did any academic study and schooling was half a lifetime ago!

I live a fair distance from where I am studying, but a lot of students and teachers commute from where I live, to the uni.

I'm two weeks away from leaving my job, which will give me a number of weeks to plan everything from journeys to the first few months.

I've a few questions in mind...

You need to know: I am studying single honours journalism @ Portsmouth.

Questions:

1) How often will I be in lectures/seminars etc? I am thinking of keeping employment options open here.
2) What sort of date will I get student finance paid? I might struggle with travel for the first week or two, unless it is rather prompt!
3) How can I prepare for uni?

Thanks in advance.

Reply 1

askew116

17

Original post by ILookLikeAPigeon

Hi all.

I won't bore you with my life story, but will just say I have gone about things he 'long way round' and am now ready for uni.

I'm posting here as a mature student - and am looking for some advice.

It's been a good 8 years since I did any academic study and schooling was half a lifetime ago!

I live a fair distance from where I am studying, but a lot of students and teachers commute from where I live, to the uni.

I'm two weeks away from leaving my job, which will give me a number of weeks to plan everything from journeys to the first few months.

I've a few questions in mind...

You need to know: I am studying single honours journalism @ Portsmouth.

Questions:

1) How often will I be in lectures/seminars etc? I am thinking of keeping employment options open here.
2) What sort of date will I get student finance paid? I might struggle with travel for the first week or two, unless it is rather prompt!
3) How can I prepare for uni?

Thanks in advance.

I'm posting as a fellow mature student, between 2nd and 3rd year :smile:

1) It depends on your course. Contact hours vary from only 5 to 30+ hours/week, depending on the nature of your modules. On my course, we had about 15 contact hours/week, with about 20 hours of self-study required.

2) You should get your student loans 2-3 working days after the uni confirm your attendance (i.e. after you enrol). This year, my first instalment is showing as 29 September, although this is quite late - last year and the year before it was around the 20 September

3) Make sure you have plenty of stationery and a laptop of some sort (Windows or MacBook, it doesn't matter really, though for Journalism I'd have thought most of your work will be written, so you shouldn't need a high-spec one.) The uni usually send you some sort of recommended reading list during the summer, so you can get some kind of background study done beforehand. It may be worth seeing if your uni/course has a Facebook group, so you could meet some of your coursemates in advance.

Hope this helps :smile:

Reply 2

ILookLikeAPigeon

OP

Great info, thank you.

I'm already working on getting ahead with shorthand, as that is where I struggle. I look forward to seeing the books they suggest too.

On another note, SF are doing my head in...

I applied months back, I don't have a passport or drivers license and so needed to 'proof' my birth certificate. I rang them and told them I had an editor (a journalism role) who could counter-sign, they said it was fine. I sent it off and after 4 weeks they rejected it, sent another off (editor was on holiday) and it was a director of a charity - but he didn't put VAT registered, so they rejected it.

It's now been sent off a third time and it's driving me loopy. :frown:

Reply 3

Clip

19

Make sure you attitude is right. The kids are not there to be merely tolerated for their antics. This is actually their domain. You have to be fully ready to accept them for what they are regardless of how unusual you think their behaviour might be. You have to go with the flow of life (which is not to say conform to it necessarily) but there is no value in isolating yourself from whatever is happening.

If there is an event or a big do, or something that a lot of people will be attending, go out of your way to try and make the necessary arrangements to make it possible for you to attend.

Join at least two clubs or socs, even if you never attend.

Interact with the kids, and not just on an academic level, and never ever patronise them. Don't be scared to make friends with a bunch of 18 year olds. You're at university. Who cares what anyone outside thinks?

It would help if you are fully prepared to laugh at yourself for your age. After all, you are the odd one out. There are no prizes for not adapting to technology. Moaning about having to text questions to the lecturer or if certain facilities are only app based will get you nowhere.

Reply 4

ILookLikeAPigeon

OP

Original post by Clip

Make sure you attitude is right. The kids are not there to be merely tolerated for their antics. This is actually their domain. You have to be fully ready to accept them for what they are regardless of how unusual you think their behaviour might be. You have to go with the flow of life (which is not to say conform to it necessarily) but there is no value in isolating yourself from whatever is happening.

If there is an event or a big do, or something that a lot of people will be attending, go out of your way to try and make the necessary arrangements to make it possible for you to attend.

Join at least two clubs or socs, even if you never attend.

Interact with the kids, and not just on an academic level, and never ever patronise them. Don't be scared to make friends with a bunch of 18 year olds. You're at university. Who cares what anyone outside thinks?

It would help if you are fully prepared to laugh at yourself for your age. After all, you are the odd one out. There are no prizes for not adapting to technology. Moaning about having to text questions to the lecturer or if certain facilities are only app based will get you nowhere.

I work with people younger than me, and am young at heart - in my mind, everybody is an individual and I don't make decisions about a person based on a single moment.

P.S, I create apps, build websites, run blogs, edit podcasts and videos, and root/jailbreak phones, I will be fine with tech :wink:

Reply 5

Clip

19

Original post by ILookLikeAPigeon

I work with people younger than me, and am young at heart - in my mind, everybody is an individual and I don't make decisions about a person based on a single moment.

P.S, I create apps, build websites, run blogs, edit podcasts and videos, and root/jailbreak phones, I will be fine with tech :wink:

In that case - the opposite will apply. Don't let those pesky kids hit you up for work / contacts all the time!

Reply 6

ILookLikeAPigeon

OP

Original post by Clip

In that case - the opposite will apply. Don't let those pesky kids hit you up for work / contacts all the time!

I'm just hoping they allow for my pipe 'n slippers request :wink:

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 7

jelly1000

21

Original post by ILookLikeAPigeon

Hi all.

I won't bore you with my life story, but will just say I have gone about things he 'long way round' and am now ready for uni.

I'm posting here as a mature student - and am looking for some advice.

It's been a good 8 years since I did any academic study and schooling was half a lifetime ago!

I live a fair distance from where I am studying, but a lot of students and teachers commute from where I live, to the uni.

I'm two weeks away from leaving my job, which will give me a number of weeks to plan everything from journeys to the first few months.

I've a few questions in mind...

You need to know: I am studying single honours journalism @ Portsmouth.

Questions:

1) How often will I be in lectures/seminars etc? I am thinking of keeping employment options open here.
2) What sort of date will I get student finance paid? I might struggle with travel for the first week or two, unless it is rather prompt!
3) How can I prepare for uni?

Thanks in advance.

1) For Journalism as with most Arts Courses I wouldn't expect more than 13 hours a week contact time in first year, gradually reducing each year. It's certainly possible to do a part time job alongside it though I wouldn't want that to be for more than 12 hours a week
2) That's already been answered but to add you can get an interest free overdraft with a student bank account to tide you over until your student finance comes in.