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Older students

What is your experiences in studying in later life? Managing studies/ work / family life. I'm nearly 45 and feel I could do with a degree, but not even sure what I should study. Always wanted to be a nurse, but thinking more of a social care at the moment. Thank you you kind people!;

Reply 1

Muttly

Are you working full time just now? Could you maintain part time work to keep a roof over your head and study? Do you have the requisite qualifications to do a degree or do you need to go back to college and get A Levels? If you have family how will you living away or commenting to Uni or college affect you? How much time will it take for you to travel and to study? Can you forgo the social life at Uni as a sacrifice to keep your kids and family life on hold? Are you good at juggling plates, because that is what it will be like? You cannot afford to be ill, ever (or not at least until the kids have left school) How many holidays will you have to sacrifice because the NHS expects student nurses to gain work experience in the Summer holidays? What salary will you get when you qualify? You will probably be given all the weekend and night shifts to work on wards (the expensive ones which Trusts don't like paying agency staff for) How will this affect family life? Do you have a strong relationship bond which is very very patient and tolerant of your selfish desire to have a mid life crisis? Can you survive on 3 to 5 hours sleep a night and still maintain your sense of humour! 45 years is still young and you hopefully are fit and well? You need to be physically fit and have very good core muscle strength to save your back. You need a good sense of humour and the patience of a saint to be a nurse. You will soon find the bad ones (nurses) on your shift (who perhaps should have left the profession a long time ago when they ran out of compassion) and the team is made by the team leader. Morale is everything. If you still insist on selling your soul to the devil go for it. It will not be easy. You may fail, and if you are struggling with the academic work the pressures on you (& those who love you) will be off the scale. Can you cope with that and are you mentally strong enough to cope with the pressures of work and the personalities of all of those who need care? Do you cope with exhaustion well? But if you never try you will never know. Better to have lived your life and failed, at least you know then. It takes courage to do that, but take care when children depend on you that you do not destroy their lives in the process of prioritising your own. You will finish with a qualification which can enable you to move out of the UK and gain work in Canada, Australia or any other country if things get really bad in the UK. Sit down and methodically create a pro's and con's list. See if there is any way of undertaking work experience on a ward as a volunteer, or shadowing someone is a surgery (it may be limited exposure to patients) but it would give you an idea and remove the rose tinted glasses before you take the plunge. You really do need to see if you envisage the work before you commence on this journey of variable rewards. Good luck what ever you decide to do.

Reply 2

normaw

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post by McdJJ

There are lots of mature students on TSR and many have been older than you so you are in good company. I've moved your thread to the mature students forum, where there are lots of other thread you can have a look through. :smile:

If you don't have any recent study, you need to check with unis if they will need additional qualifications. Many mature students choose to do a one-year Access to HE course, which are readily accepted for healthcare degrees:

https://www.accesstohe.ac.uk/about-access

You could also consider some of the Allied Health Professions such as Speech and Language Therapy, Radiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, etc. Many of these professions offer daytime shift patterns that can fit into family life better:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/ahp/role/

If you study a healthcare degree at a uni in England, you can also benefit from the additional financial support available from the NHS Learning Support Fund. Depending on subject, it pays a £5/6k training grant per year plus other benefits.

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 3

thetam

Hi,

I'm also a mature student my 40s, although I also went to uni when I was younger. I've found that now, I'm much more committed to and excited by my course because I was so genuinely interested in my course and what I was studying - and that made a huge difference. I also really, really, wanted to study for my degree, and I was clear why I was doing it and that it was the right thing for me and the right course for me. For me, this was also important, especially as studying at this age is more challenging, it's expensive, and required more sacrifices than when I was younger. Time and money - the big ones. Does your life allow for the time and money needed to study a degree? Are there other courses that might satisfy you? How much real-life research have you done into the nursing sector, before you invest so much of yourself in it?

Managing things... I'm organised, and that's been helpful, it's still been challenging at times - e.g. sitting down to study after a day at work is hard. It just is. I used to do an hour or two of study after work, at my workplace in a quiet space or in the library; I know others on my course who did the same, because we found it really hard to start again when we sat down at home. I had (many, many) days when I ate breakfast, lunch, dinner, all at my workplace. Not possible for everyone, e.g. if you have to be home for kids etc.

I made sure I did as much work as I could as I went along, trying to keep up with reading each week. That made it much easier come exam time. I was surprised by how much difference studying even one hour in the evening made. Also, I often used to use my commute to do a bit of reading - again, really added up.

I'm lucky to have a very supportive partner, and we try to coordinate a bit so we get time together, do life things (cook etc), study, have a bit of fun, and still keep up with our jobs. Again, I can't pretend it's easy - we both make a lot of sacrifices, I have to be really organised about cooking/meal planning (because studying is already expensive enough, not only with the fees but the additional travel cost to lectures, books, etc etc), life admin. Lots of coordinating with family about holidays, not doing social things I wanted to/leaving early etc. I did still have a life and I did still enjoy myself! And, I also felt really good that I was doing something I really wanted to do (my Masters!). And I was also often very tired. Very tired. How supportive is your family? How good are you at juggling things?

I found that the various kids in my family have seen my studying in a positive light, as it shows them you can change careers later in life, and they've also seen the hard work and sacrifices that goes into it. A friend of mine used to study while her kids studied, did their homework/revised for exams. It became a shared thing, and helped both my friend and her kids.

I'm happy with my decision. But, as I say, I was very clear on why I was doing it, finding the right course, had a supportive partner. And even then - it was intense, required real discipline, planning, money, time, energy, sacrifice.

Reply 4

McdJJ

Thank you for your honest reply. I get so nervous thinking about it, I feel I'm ready to put hard work in to it , I have very supportive husband and my son is in secondary school now , but I'm having doubts in the course I've chosen and that is my biggest worry.
Thank you for taking time to answer this .

Reply 5

normaw

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post by McdJJ

Book onto some uni open days and attend the course talks for nursing and some of the Allied Health Professions. Also, try to get shadowing experience at local hospitals or a cancer centre that provides radiotherapy treatment. This is the best way to work out if a job is for you and it might open up opportunities in areas that you hadn't considered. My DD was keen on paramedic and diagnostic radiography, but she also attended the radiotherapy talk at a uni open day. It changed her plans and now she's very happy with the choice she made and is looking forward to working in the field.