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University choices for mature students?

I'm currently studying an Access course and sorting my UCAS application.
Probably the most difficult thing I'm finding is University choices, I recently visited aUni in Birmingham and was not comfortable at all due to the sheer amount of much younger students, I only spotted one other mature student! and was mistaken for a teacher a few times too.

I understand that as a 33-year-old, there will be younger students wherever I go but I wondered if anyone has university recommendations where the percentage of mature students is a little higher? Another reason I 'm keen on a bigger population of mature students is because I recently heard from an old friend who is having an awful time at uni due to all the younger students making her life a misery.

It's already scary being a mature student, the last thing I want is to end up miserable in a place far from home. Other universities I'm looking at are Wolverhampton, Cardiff, Chester, and Aberystwyth, can anyone recommend these?
Reply 1
Go to ucas website: http://search.ucas.com/search/providers?Vac=1&AvailableIn=2017&Query=
Click on Uni you fancy (or search using provider filter)
Check out the ratios of mature students.

For example it states that Birmingham only has 9.1% of students >21
kings college london has almost 30% mature students
Reply 2
Take the stats with a pinch of salt though. A "mature" student is 21 and over, so the percentage of mature students won't reflect how many people of your own age you'll encounter. The bottom line is that any uni will be populated for the most part by 21 and unders.

Having said that, I went to uni aged 44 and had a whale of a time. I found other students my age to be a bit of a pain - they were quite sneery about the youngsters and seemed to think that they were automatically going to be better at the courses due to their age (they weren't!). None of this was pleasant to be around. The youngsters were largely friendly to me. It took them a year to get used to me, but by the second year I was part of the furniture and we got along without any trouble. I wasn't about to go clubbing with them, but we did pub quizzes, rSunday dinner and movie nights.

Starting uni with an assumption that younger students are horrible, is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophesy. Just be kind and don't judge - it goes a long way.
(edited 7 years ago)
There tends to be a higher number of older students at universities that offer health-related degrees like nursing. Also, if you look at the universities' student union websites, you may be able to see whether there is a mature student society. Wherever you go (apart from Birkbeck) you are likely to be in a small minority though.

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