To ask if it’s a mature student would definitely be unhappy in halls

[Worriedmother666]

Person in question is 26.

Just remembered pre Covid I went abroad to a summer course at a well known institution and stayed in the student halls with some other adults in their 20s/30s/40s. In parallel the institution was running pre-undergrad settling in/taster experiences for mainly 18 and 19 year olds and half of us in our “flat” were on each “stream”. Myself and the other older participants were absolutely miserable due to the loudness and partying/inconsideration and silliness of the other students and it ruined the course which required a lot of concentration across long days and which cost thousands of pounds.

I actually checked into a hotel midway for a break and a good night’s sleep!

I lived in Halls as a mature student at 21 (First Year) and it was borderline unbearable living with 18 year olds. I wouldn’t want to do it as a 26 year old.

I was in halls as a postgrad, in a hall for other postgrads and mature students. At least 50% of the students were from overseas. One student was 64! Most universities have halls for older people and non-undergrads.

We had a couple of mature students on our corridor in first year - they were very tolerant and came out with us once a week or so .. but they had different priorities ... a less tolerant person might hate it

It depends so much on the individual. My 18 yo DD shared a flat in halls with a 26 yo man who had just left the army. The two of them and another girl DD's age went on to share a house together and are still good mates today. And before anyone suggests it - no they weren't sexually involved. He is now happily married to another male ex-soldier.

I knew shagged a 30 year old PHD student when I was in halls. He seemed perfectly happy hanging out with a bunch of 19-20 year olds, but he was a big kid himself to be fair. As an actual adult in my 40s I don't think I could deal with it, but at 26 they're only a bit older than the regular students so as long as they find some friends with a similar mindset they'll be fine.

It depends on the halls and the person. I’m a similar age, and when I was at Uni, there was an area of our building where mature students were allocated rooms. This seemed to work quite well, but the mature students tended to keep more to themselves. Although the gap was quite small in age, the maturity gap is quite a lot for some people. Depending on the university you will have people that have never lived away from home before and have just turned 18, plus year abroad students there (at my university this was seen as a let’s travel around Europe/party year). That would be quite difficult for me to live amongst now, and my university wasn’t renowned for partying. I would look into accommodation options for mature students - some of the private halls encourage this.