to mature students, what are your reasons for being mature students?
I wanted to improve my grades because during my 17 to 18 years at sixth form I had things in my private life that made it difficult to get good grades. I want to go to a decent uni, so I'm retaking some of them independently, thus I'll be 21 when I start uni in the end, what are your reasons?
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I thought I was too thick to go to uni so I didn't bother. Great attitude, right? 
Worked for a bit and got my experience under my belt, then decided I was sick of retail so I took an Access Course and now I'm reading law at uni.
Worked for a bit and got my experience under my belt, then decided I was sick of retail so I took an Access Course and now I'm reading law at uni.
Original post by Plufouree
how old are you?
25.
Was 23 when I started uni.
I thought you mean actual mature students, like 25+ 
I messed all my schooling up as a teen but thankfully it was the 90's so it didn't really matter, tried and failed colleges a few times but wasn't really interested, just doing what I was told really.
It wasn't till my early 30s I started to feel the lack of qualifications was holding me back and I was in a better position to know what I wanted from College/Uni and care enough to apply myself. Piece of pi** as an adult
I messed all my schooling up as a teen but thankfully it was the 90's so it didn't really matter, tried and failed colleges a few times but wasn't really interested, just doing what I was told really.
It wasn't till my early 30s I started to feel the lack of qualifications was holding me back and I was in a better position to know what I wanted from College/Uni and care enough to apply myself. Piece of pi** as an adult
Original post by StriderHort
I thought you mean actual mature students, like 25+
I messed all my schooling up as a teen but thankfully it was the 90's so it didn't really matter, tried and failed colleges a few times but wasn't really interested, just doing what I was told really.
It wasn't till my early 30s I started to feel the lack of qualifications was holding me back and I was in a better position to know what I wanted from College/Uni and care enough to apply myself. Piece of pi** as an adult
I messed all my schooling up as a teen but thankfully it was the 90's so it didn't really matter, tried and failed colleges a few times but wasn't really interested, just doing what I was told really.
It wasn't till my early 30s I started to feel the lack of qualifications was holding me back and I was in a better position to know what I wanted from College/Uni and care enough to apply myself. Piece of pi** as an adult
in the uk 21+ is mature
Original post by Plufouree
in the uk 21+ is mature
Yeah....but nooooooooo
Depends who you ask and why, I get students of any age coming back after a break have to be called something , but for a lot 25+ is considered more accurate. a 21 year old applying for student finance will need to jump through many hoops to prove they are independent of parents, 25+ its taken a a given without question. Full minimum wage is only available at 25+ and until it changed a while ago the DWP didn't financially consider you an adult with adult financial needs till 25 either (I think they've raised it to 35 :P ).
Like when I think 'applying as a mature student' what i'm really aiming for is the relaxed entry requirements due to career experience and training. Applying again via resits while under 25 to meet the original entry requirements feels like something significantly different.
EDIT, I don't see it often now right enough, but pubs, clubs ect that didn't admit under 25s used to be common, and I don't mean Challenge 25, I mean just literally not letting them in.
(edited 4 years ago)
Changed my mind about what I wanted to do
When I was in school (around GCSE time and AS levels) I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't really fancy any of the degree-level jobs (eg Nurse/Doctor, Vet, Lawyer, etc) and I didn't see the point in going to Uni for 3 or 4 years and getting into loads of student loan debt just for a degree that's worthless (honestly, loads of my friends from school did things like Geography or Media Studies degrees and then left Uni after graduating and got a job in a call centre or a bank 
)
All I really wanted to do when I left school was earn money and have a family (kids)
Which I did, and I stopped work to be home with them. And then I split from their dad and became a single parent surviving off benefits and working s***ty minimum wage jobs
So about a year ago I started thinking about getting some specialist qualifications to do something I would actually enjoy, and that pays well (or at least better!) I also want to emigrate in the next 5 to 10 years so I wanted a "skill" that would enable me to get a job abroad.
Last September I started an Access to HE Science course and I have an offer from Uni for this September to study Bsc in Ecology and Conservation Biology
)All I really wanted to do when I left school was earn money and have a family (kids)
Which I did, and I stopped work to be home with them. And then I split from their dad and became a single parent surviving off benefits and working s***ty minimum wage jobs
So about a year ago I started thinking about getting some specialist qualifications to do something I would actually enjoy, and that pays well (or at least better!) I also want to emigrate in the next 5 to 10 years so I wanted a "skill" that would enable me to get a job abroad.
Last September I started an Access to HE Science course and I have an offer from Uni for this September to study Bsc in Ecology and Conservation Biology
(edited 4 years ago)
I had no interest in studying anything when I finished school. Now I want to do engieering and science. I did not have the qualifications for regular university until the OU
(edited 4 years ago)
i tried sixth form and dropped out little under two months into it. my mental health was impacting my learning a lot and eventually i just stopped attending and dropped out. tried twice more, failed again. ive worked full time since i was 17, moved out a few times, lived 200 miles away, had weird jobs, matured, learned to control my mental health to a degree. i now feel like im capable of succeeding academically whereas seven years ago i had the ability but just didnt believe i could do it. also my interests and world view has changed so i feel like ive chosen a better subject more suited to who i am now
Original post by Plufouree
I wanted to improve my grades because during my 17 to 18 years at sixth form I had things in my private life that made it difficult to get good grades. I want to go to a decent uni, so I'm retaking some of them independently, thus I'll be 21 when I start uni in the end, what are your reasons?
Well I’m only doing my GCSE’s and I’m revising hard because I want to get straight 9s
wow i find it hilarious that people aged 21 consider themselves mature students!
i turn 35 later this year and have applied to go for another undergraduate degree completely different to anything i have studied before. I am currently a mental health nurse and in my twenties when i was (even more) lost in life i dropped out of uni doing biomed and then pharmacology.
so this time around studying economics will be my 4th time at a bricks n mortars uni and 5th if including the honours year at OU i did last year.
I am totally bricking it being around young people fresh out of school who have actually studied economics already....
in response to OP i am going back cos I am burnt out with healthcare and the work is so demanding for such a pittance of remuneration. I feel this is my final shot to be a mature (ie well rounded and able to make sensible decisions) adult and have more financial freedom to enjoy life. 🙂
i turn 35 later this year and have applied to go for another undergraduate degree completely different to anything i have studied before. I am currently a mental health nurse and in my twenties when i was (even more) lost in life i dropped out of uni doing biomed and then pharmacology.
so this time around studying economics will be my 4th time at a bricks n mortars uni and 5th if including the honours year at OU i did last year.
I am totally bricking it being around young people fresh out of school who have actually studied economics already....
in response to OP i am going back cos I am burnt out with healthcare and the work is so demanding for such a pittance of remuneration. I feel this is my final shot to be a mature (ie well rounded and able to make sensible decisions) adult and have more financial freedom to enjoy life. 🙂
I didn't even really consider uni when I was 18. No one in my close family went, and I was struggling at sixth form, eventually dropped out of that. Fast forward many wasted years jumping from one disaster to another, I started Open Uni and begin to get some idea of what I may want to do. This feels like a natural progression but I'm constantly niggled by thoughts of "you'll be 41 when you graduate, this is crazy". One step at a time I suppose.
Original post by MatchesMalone
I didn't even really consider uni when I was 18. No one in my close family went, and I was struggling at sixth form, eventually dropped out of that. Fast forward many wasted years jumping from one disaster to another, I started Open Uni and begin to get some idea of what I may want to do. This feels like a natural progression but I'm constantly niggled by thoughts of "you'll be 41 when you graduate, this is crazy". One step at a time I suppose.
on the other hand I had sort of always known i would go to uni cos it was just the natural progression from high school (I was a god student at school before losing my innocence). but i had ZERO consideration of my future direction or any thoughts of a career. I could barely plan tomorrow's breakfast let alone career prospects and entry level positions in any sort of industry.
i do appreciate that uni tuition was generally wholly funded by the UK government back in the early 2000s. So many students just went to uni without real consideration of why or with low motivation.
A better way to think of it than the age you may be upon graduation is the decades ahead of you still to work, in a more fulfilling and rewarding occupation before retirement. And we know how those goal-posts are shifting!
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