What are some difficulties mature students face when going back to university?

username5207378

If anyone has some experiences they'd like to share or some advice to give, that'd be great. I'm going back myself and I'm a little worried about not fitting in even though I get mistaken for a high school aged person a lot.

How old are you?

Original post by Fruity Girl

How old are you?

I've just turned 30 but frequently get mistaken for 18 and its been that way for years. I have a baby face but I'm more concerned about people finding out my age and then it becoming awkward.

Reply 3

HellomynameisNev

All mature students worry about their age and not fitting in, then when you get there you find it doesn't matter so much. The mature students tend to hang around with the other mature students anyway - and mature is a wide range. I've found the 25 year olds are more likely to hang around with the 50 year olds than the 20 year olds.

One potential difficulty can be how much support you are getting at home. I'm lucky that my wife is very supportive and as long as she can see that I'm working hard on uni stuff, she accepts that I'm not able to do as much at home at weekends and in the evening, as well as accepting that I'm not earning for 3 years. Other people don't get that support at home and partners can be bitter, jealous, angry, worried about money, or just plain selfish and lazy.

Reply 4

blackthorne

I'm in a similar boat. I'm 38, on an access course and often get mistaken for someone in their early 20's. Honestly most people don't care about age. As long as you're not actively hiding it and are honest it's fine.

My biggest concern was about my living situation, as I'm moving into halls. But my uni offers accommodation specifically for mature students so they've been really helpful. There was also group chats for mature students so we planned meals out and got to hang out with people are own age instead of a bunch of teenagers constantly.