Does anyone miss being a student?

[Sammy900]

I know I'm not being unreasonable because I love being a mum ;p and I love my job, family life (stop me if I'm wrong) but I do miss it...

It's that time of year again, new pens, new folders :) new learning - my little one is experiencing this now which is awesome and it's her turn....

Aaah Uni - remember the procrastinating, the cramming, the not sleeping or eating properly for 3 days, living off coffee and fags to get an assignment finished. Not being able to even nip to the shop because essay time was critical at that point. My mum used to send me food parcels up in a taxi so I didn't have to leave the house sometimes (lucky)!

The relief when you finally got to the end and just had references to do so you could open the vino and play some music (at 4am), 50 research articles and books spread all over the floor.

Hallucinating or going numb from the lack of sleep required to do so ha...walk of shame at the end finally handing it in and zombie central on the way home- main aim BED!

I had a grand finale when I realized that I had 8 days to re-write my whole independent study as I had gone off on a tangent with two of the chapters - waaaahhhhh ...I also had a last minute binding breakdown when I accidently chopped my project up once

aaah those were the days

I might do something with OU or somewhere when my girls are older and I have more spare time - I'd love to do fine art - for me and for fun not as a career choice as I'm totally happy with my job - can I justify the spends? 9000 per year ouch

I’m doing a postgrad by distance learning which is different in so many ways but I am loving studying and learning again. Fitting it round work and family isn’t easy though. If I could do it all again I’d have gone down the clinical academic route but that ship has sailed now sadly.

No I don’t. I know of miss the uni life I wished I’d had but it wasn’t for me. The first year I lived in a shared house with a girl who hated me, made my life an utter misery and turned everyone else on my course against me. I was desperately homesick. Near the start of the second year though I met my now dh, after a few months I moved in with him and life massively improved but it meant I never had the uni ‘experience’. A year later I was pg with ds1 and took a year out in between yrs 2-3 to have him and went back when he was one. Albeit very very part time! Obv I wouldn’t change that part but pretty much it was not a standard experience and for the most part I don’t have fond memories

Miss uni loads! A few of the best years of my life! I had a lovely group of friends, good social life, loved my course, loved my first taste of living from home, just the whole thing really. I learnt such a lot and grew up such a lot all while having loads of fun!

I didn’t go to university at the ‘normal’ time, I’m 28 and I’ve just finished my BA (I found out on Friday that I’ve passed everything!) via distance learning through a brick university. I start my Masters (same university, same online study methods) tomorrow

I work full time as well so it’s pretty stressful at times! I can’t imagine doing it any other way though, I would have wasted the opportunity ten years ago.

Yes, I can still picture my room in halls of residence. In my shared house we had to make tea in the living room as there weren’t enough sockets in the kitchen to plug the kettle in. It was a pretty awful house actually but I have some good memories. Just wish I had taken a different course!

I loved uni! Not for the social side though as I was a mature student with children. I loved everything else about it though, so much so that I am returning this month to start a part time MSc

The house I lived in during my second year was utterly grim. We got environmental health involved at one point as the electricals were potentially lethal, the bathroom was in a lean-to practically falling off the house, there was damp that made us all ill, and at one point there was raw sewage leaking through the walls in the basement - which was the living room, as every other room was rented as a bedroom.

The house ended up being used to house asylum seekers the following year, but whereas environmental health couldn't do a lot for us, the requirements to let the property as an HMO were much higher, so it got fixed up after we moved out!!

A friend ended up with snow coming into her bedroom as she was lying in bed due to a hole in the roof the LL refused to fix

I was very very thankful to be able to move back into college accommodation in my third year!!

I loved uni the first time round (I dropped out and went back later) and the older I get the more I miss those days. I've recently reconnected with an old friend and am really looking forward to meeting up. We won't reenact 2am puking sessions or eat super noodles in kwik save soup though 😂. By the time I went back I was living elsewhere and had DS1 so it was much more serious stuff but I still enjoyed it. I'm doing a MA part time now and really like it. The one thing I have thought about is how different it all must be now. We had no mobile phones and most people didn't have email, certainly not accessible in halls. So you were on your own much more unless you phoned home from the pay phone on the corridor. And your parents had to leave you to it too. It was a proper rite of passage and built real independence and character. I imagine some students have their parents constantly messaging to check up on them now. Not their fault but their wings are clipped compared to ours. .

Not one bit. Even though we had no tuition fess and had grants. I must have gone to the university with the most boring students, or at least hope no-one had worse.

I miss my university days - no fees, we got grants just enough to live on, no one got paid employment in term time so everyone could socialise over the weekend/evenings. Our halls were catered which meant we didn't have to worry about food shopping/budgeting. No mobile phones, computers, internet - any contact with family was through a payphone on a lower floor or letter. The only time I remember feeling pressured was during my finals as the 9 exams I took at the end of the third year were 90% of my degree (no modules in previous years). My eldest is about to go for the first year - although I'm envious of the opportunities as the courses offer more chances to travel and part of me would like to study again I don't think it'll be the same 'carefree' atmosphere.

Bananafish81 Our 2nd year house was a shambles too I think the backdoor was hanging off when we moved in but we just found it funny at the time...we just took it as Carte Blanche for not worrying too much about having house parties all the time and painting on the walls etc mad house

Miss uni so much, especially at this time of year seeing all the students shopping for all their homeware. Loved moving into a new house and visiting ikea to kit it all out. Would love to go back to those times.

Op - yes! It was great not to be silenced or mocked for having strong opinions.

However, I was a mature student 2nd time round which is the time I'm most referring to and I was disappointed in the lack of political interest let alone engagement from the younger students. Too many of them seemed to think equality had been achieved - not just for women but other oppressed groups too. Although as the course went on and they learned that wasn't the case that fired up a few, some of them were genuinely shocked at how far away we actually are from equality. My closest friend on the course was actually one of the younger ones, she wasn't completely disinterested in the beginning but not as engaged as myself and the other mature students. She re-discovered her passion during the course and now works in STEM recruitment with a focus on increasing applications from women.

"The discipline of having to write an essay and defend your argument in a discussion with the person who actually wrote one of the key texts on the reading list taught me so much" while I didn't go to as prestigious an institute I had a similar experience. Very exciting but also LOTS of pressure!

I honestly would love if it were possible to be a permanent student.

Also both times at uni, but more so the 1st time (nursing) meeting and becoming friends with people from hugely different backgrounds! Half the cohort were "international" one was extremely wealthy Northern European (I think royal ancestry but the royalty had been done away with in their country in a revolution/uprising) to one from an extremely poor region of the Sudan who'd been supported by a charity. So many different accents, languages, beliefs, cuisines (that was fun! Trying foods I'd never even heard of! Frankly I was amazed they were able to get them in southern England!) - and yet what caused the most arguments? What to watch on the one communal tv and this was before even channel 5!! 😂😂

It was also very handy (if not altogether PC) to have a very large very bulky New Zealander willing to pretend to be boyfriend/brother on nights out if we were getting pestered by other males - and when we were almost burgled too! One look at him and potential burglar scarpered!!

Having friends that I could call on to do the most random things are there were such a variety of people. Some were theatre companions, some drinking buddies, some quiz competitors, some political allies... There was some crossover but great to have that variety.

And erm yea (not telling dd this one) the New Year's Eve party that lasted 4 days! Where we completely took over our halls and had a retro "kids" party theme but the jelly and ice cream was rather more adult😂 everyone had a blast but one did have to be recovered from a beach about 2 miles away - located via a trail of streamers from party poppers!

MrsMcRosties - you're NEVER too old, there were folk in their 70's on my English course doing it purely for their own pleasure! I was in my 30's the 2nd time, other mature students in their 40's and 50's also came on nights out etc.

"Did all of you who loved it have money?" God no! Typical skint student first time (and as it was nursing couldn't get a pt job as when you're not studying you're on placement!), 2nd time skint single mum!

SnuggyBuggy - completely agree! The pleasure of learning is being lost, the value of the extra curricular stuff in widening horizons and I think going away to uni is HUGELY valuable in pushing the younger ones to mature. I was shocked how many of the younger ones when I did my 2nd stint, couldn't budget, cook, do a laundry! They soon learnt!

A friend of mine went to her "local" uni (a VERY good redbrick she just happens to live near) but she moved out of home in order to get the full experience and she's glad she did.

I too work better under pressure, get flashes of brilliance. The assignments I got my best marks on were the "rushed" ones! I got the best marks of all on the ones I wrote intoxicated

DrCoconut Yeah my first experience was a right of passage, in halls we had to band together as once your parents had dropped you off that was it - no nipping home when it's a 4 hour car journey away. We didn't have mobile phones then....we had a communal computer room between halls but the queues were so big no one could be arsed to use them. We did have land line phones in our rooms to leave each other stupid voice messages on :D

I was completely skint! I used to do the £10 challenge - how much grocery shopping could I get for that, hmm 10 packets of 10p noodles, a stew pack and a bottle of cider was a regular feature

I loved university. My parents split up and I had nowhere to live so started at 17 for the accommodation.

I remember the music, One Dove playing freshers' week, seeing the Manics, Kristen Hersh, EMF, Portishead, Teenage Fanclub, Nirvana, etc. etc.

Discovering techno in third year, dancing for hours and hours until the sun came up, come downs with endless rounds of super mario kart.

Sneaking into lectures I was interested in but hadn't signed up for, going through past papers for the purposes of strategic revision, 10 packs of cigarettes, Mad Dog 20/20. Joining the university parachute club and falling out of a plane.

The friends I made over two decades ago are still my closest friends.

I'm now in the second year of distance learning MSc. I popped into the university to see somebody last week and freshers' week was in full swing.

I felt jealous.

I didn't come from a well off household and was given a grant to go to university (means tested - I think it was £700 per term), fees were paid and student loans were capped at something like £600 per year. I worked in restaurants, as an extra in films, as a DJ in the student union and met a wider circle of people and life education than I would have done otherwise.

I miss it a lot.

3rd year was my worst year though. Dunno why, I think I'd gotten a bit depressed and angry. But every other year was great.

Yes I do! I loved university, and 20 years after graduating I'm about to start an MSc. I know it won't be quite the same this time round (I have 3 DC for a start), but I'm looking forward to using my brain again. I'm also hoping to find some time to get involved with societies, can't wait for induction week.

God yes. It was the best three years ever (even though most of the rest of my life has also been fun and hugely exciting, nothing quite compares).

I don't recognise the description in the OP though. I did virtually no work at all. I partied, and partied, and socialised, and partied some more. It was magical, and exciting and unforgettable. But then I was there in the early 80s, when there were very generous grants and everything felt stress-free.

I still have a recurring dream that I managed to buy a room in university residences and I keep going back pretending to still be a student

It was the best of times as far as I’m concerned. The only time when I had no responsibilities, other than to get the work done somehow and finish the course. Holiday jobs were fine because they were so temporary. I had such a great time and I loved it.

I felt sorry for those eternal students who seemed unable to move on from that life though. They seemed a bit pathetic to us. I moved 250 miles away afterwards, so I wasn’t tempted to do the same.

Don't miss being chronically short of cash, but did have a lovely time, with people sharing my interests

After school, it was absolutely terrific. First year, i only had one lecture on Fridays and missed most of them. I was called to a viva after firs5 year exams., where they warned me that they were not going to throw me out because I had passed the exams. in spite of missing so many lectures but not to do it again.

@Graphista university was amazing for me in terms of becoming politically aware. I decided to stand for college women's officer in my first year as no one else had put themselves forward - which was such a great experience. That meant practical support within my college (had a budget to buy pregnancy tests and rape alarms to provide for free, information about sexual health clinics and access to MAP etc), but also campaigning for university wide initiatives with women's officers from other colleges. NUS women's conference with women from across the UK.

Then there were the tuition fees protests / demos - I found it really exciting to experience politics as something that I felt like I was able to be a part of

I don't think I'd have been exposed to those kind of experiences if I'd not been to university, although I'd doubtless have had many different experiences instead!

thecatneuterer

I partied mainly too that's why I had to have a last minute meltdown to get my assignments done 3 days before the due date :D

Foxyloxy1plus1

I agree that the freedom, fun and debauchery that goes with living the student lifestyle at 20 something has to come to an end then and life changes again when you enter the world of work and then family life brings new commitments.

I think the excitement and nerdy buzz of starting a new course or learning a new academic topic won't leave me - it's just different now - I'd have to fit study around family and work life which would only give me limited time to dedicate to it too when I'm not feeling exhausted and can actively engage with it ....