Uni as a mature (40) student. What to expect?

[RoryGillmoresEvilTwin]

I'm starting uni next month as a 40 year old LP and I'm nervous!
I've had the UCAS 'congratulations!' Email for a while but as of today I've started getting emails from the uni and it's now feeling a lot more real!
Stupid things are preoccupying my thoughts such as what should I wear 😂 and what if I don't make any friends because I'm so old 😭.

I'm doing Environmental science and I can't wait but I'm now equally scared and excited.

Are there any mature students out there that can give me some perspective and/or stories of oldies done good?!

@blackspaniel are you in the East Mids?

I also attended a 2 day Mature Student event last week. I’m the only one on my degree So that’ll be fun.

Student Finance have fucked me over. I sent all my stuff in early August (moved house in July and had to send a bunch of stuff with new address, which meant waiting for council tax bill etc) and they “lost it” and it didn’t get into their system till the 19th September so TLDR; I’m not getting a penny next week and won’t get anything until mid to late October Apparently I don’t meet the hardship criteria to have it sped up despite being a single parent to 3 on benefits (which I have signed off of!) with ZERO income. Wonderful.

Freshers tomorrow... I’m mostly looking forward to grabbing a load of freebies

@PipeTheFuckDown no I am further north than you! That is a nightmare about your finance, anyone with dependants should be a priority!!

So I have finished freshers/induction week, but was barely in, as our course concentrates on postgrad students first apparently. There was just a short introduction talk, met my cohort, and just things like uniform fitting and vaccinations on other days. Went to freshers fair, and did feel old, but my course is very diverse, all ages and backgrounds, so felt quite comfortable there.

Got my personal timetable now, and it is very full on, as I had been warned, 10 til 5pm every day apart from Weds, when we finish at 1pm ish. Got access to my modules, and lots of info to digest from module handbooks, etc. Got reading lists, so went to the library and stood there in awe of how many books there were relating to my subject. I've bought some core books too.

One of my first modules covers some content we did in depth on Access so I am re-reading my work from last year to refresh myself! Full day tomorrow, I will be knackered by the end of this week, guaranteed!

Good luck to everyone else starting this week, I love reading all the updates of how you are getting on.

That is rubbish Pipe - is it worth going to speak to student welfare or the Students Union to see whether there are any university schemes in place which could help you in the short term until your loan comes through?

So, induction starts tomorrow. Monday to Wednesday is quite full on - institute welcome, department welcome, postgrad welcome, registration, introduction to taught postgrad, meeting your tutor, library tour... There is also a meeting for mature students within my department (both undergraduates and postgrads). Then of course there is freshers fair and freebies! I'm going to go for a drink tomorrow night with GradSoc (the Postgrad Society), hoping to find some like minded people. There is also a mature student reception on Thursday afternoon.

I can also use the sports centre for free this week, so I'm hoping to try out some classes.

I had my first week last week. We have a very intense induction period of 2 full time weeks in uni. Once this week is over I drop down to 2 full days a week.

There's 70 on my course (over 400 applicants apparently, so that made me feel good!) and at 40 I'm one of the oldest but most people I've spoken to seem lovely and made me feel welcome.

My nephew is starting his 2nd year at the same uni tomorrow so I'm looking forward to meeting him for lunch one day.

We've got to go on a team building trip on Friday to an activity centre. I'm dreading it lol.

So jealous of everyone who has started already. My first lecture isn't unil 2nd October

I went straight to Student Services who were unimpressed with it! Once I’m registered they can help with money. Fortunately I have a small army of friends who are doing after school care for me until my Finance is sorted as I just can’t pay for it until then

There’s 3 days of Intros etc then lectures start Thursday. They offer language courses Wednesday evenings so I’m looking to babysitters for that as I’d love to do it.

Glad you have a good support network Pipe

My lectures don't start until the 1st Belle, this week is just induction and registration. I'll be working all through my MSc, but have taken this week as annual leave to fully immerse myself in student life!

Currently I want to sign up to EVERYTHING - societies, science cafe, extra courses through the lifelong learning dept, TED x talks, sports classes... I will need to rein it in a little though as there are only 24hrs in a day!

Same 😩 so many extra curriculars and things like guest speakers in evenings that I likely won’t be able to do!

I'm lucky in that my DC are older (12, 14 and 16) plus DH works 9-5, so apart from a bit of ferrying DC around my evenings and weekends are my own. However, due to working as well as studying, I need to be in the library then and not messing about with societies!

Hi everyone! I'm so happy to see this thread is still running.
Sorry for the radio silence...things have been hectic and I'm in panic mode!

I start my induction week tomorrow but I still dont have my timetable for after this coming week...this is stressing me out a bit but I'm hoping it will all become clear tomorrow.
I'm having major wobbles about this university lark. I know No one on my course and I have a horrible feeling I'm going to be the only mature student. I'm worrying that I won't have anyone to have a coffee with 😂 on top of childcare worries this is all seeming too real.

It's so good to hear about others experiences...dispite the early worries and difficulties I'm sure were all going to smash It! 🤞

Rory if the truth be told I'm petrified. I'm scared I'll be the only older student on the course, that I'm not clever enough, that I won't manage to juggle study, work and family...

I'm hoping that it will be better once I actually start tomorrow.

SeaGlass you've just listed everything I'm worried about.

I just want this week over with now.

Rory I’m the only one on my course. I have 4 people from my college course going to my Uni, 3 of them I got on very well with, but we’re all doing separate subjects. I think some of my modules are the same as the woman doing Biochem but whether we’ll have the same lectures for them or not, we won’t know until today. She’s not spent any time on campus due to working so I’m being her guide today

As with college, I’m not arsed about making friends, I’m there to learn, but friends would be nice. College surprised me on that one, there were 8 of us out of the 20 that got along very well.

Toddler woke at 3:30 and refused to settle so we’re downstairs watching Tangled My friend is collecting her at 7:30, I’m taking the big ones to breakfast club at 7:45, then on the bus to Uni. Big ones being collected by another friend after school. I should be home by 4pm and toddler being dropped off at 7pm. I am so bloody lucky. Spent most of myself life isolated in a town 1.5 hours away from the city with zero support and now I’m in the city I have a small army on my doorstep. I’m constantly overwhelmed by their support and belief in me.

I had a really rubbish night's sleep, just kept worrying and running through the plans for today.

I actually get a bit of a lie in this morning as I'm usually in work by 8am, but don't need to be in uni till 10am today. But that just gives me more time to worry! I did think about going for a swim first to calm my nerves, but vanity means I don't want to turn up on my first day with damp hair and smelling of chlorine

I had a lovely email from my tutor last night running through all the department stuff for this week, and saying how much she was looking forward to meeting us all tomorrow. So that was nice.

I think I just need to take a deep breath and get on with it now.

Good luck to everyone else starting today!

Good luck today pipe and seaglass!

I also had a rubbish nights sleep, I couldn't switch my brain off.
I need to be on campus for 9.45 so will do the school run and then jump on the bus.

I should be back for the afternoon pick up but if I'm not my mum is on standby...

Have a great day everyone!

OK, first session done. I was expecting to feel ancient and to some extent I did - I am definitely the oldest on the course. What I hadn't expected was how male dominated it was - out of the 10 students on my course I am the only woman. I am also the only PT student on my course.

Everyone seems nice enough though, quite chatty and we've set up a WhatsApp group. Some of them already know each other as they did their undergraduate degrees here, but lots are new like me.

I had a quick walk around the Fresher's Fair, but I found I had to ask for leaflets etc, whereas they were just handing them out to "normal" aged students. Which was a bit off putting and made me wonder how welcoming they'd be to mature students in general. Although I may just be being over sensitive!

I'm going to go for a tour of the library after lunch. At least I know what I'm doing there...

I'm 31 and starting an MPhil at Cambridge next week. I'm really nervous. I did my undergraduate degree as a mature student, but commuted to my local university so it didn't necessitate any major upheaval. I remember feeling as if I didn't fit in at first, especially as a few of the younger students acted as if it was school and they didn't want to be there. Eventually I connected with a few more studious types in their early twenties and that helped.

Now I'm moving to Cambridge and will be sharing a house with strangers, which I haven't done since I was 19. There's also the dreaded impostor syndrome making me wonder why on earth Cambridge accepted me (with an academic scholarship, no less) in the first place. And then there are the class anxieties - none of my family or friends went to university at all, let alone somewhere like that. My undergraduate university was a heavily working-class ex-poly and I still felt out-of-place at first.

We'll see. I'll have to try to keep the reasons why I applied in mind! Good luck to everyone who has an induction week this week!

I've completed my first 2 sessions and so far I'm feeling ok, if a bit of a loner...I'm the only mature student on my course so that's a bit of a bummer but I'll get over it.
I also still dont know anyone because most of them seem to be in halls together or maybe it's just that I'm older and so they're not approaching me. I really hope I find someone I can have a coffee and a chat with! 😣

Library tour went well. It is lovely there and I am definitely going to use it as a quiet study space.

I'm finding the hardest question that keeps cropping up is "So, where are you living?" - meaning which halls. If you say in my house with my DH and 3 DC it kind of dries up conversation!

Also quite funny is the student who thinks he's so grown up because he worked for a year between his BSc and his MSc. Feel like pointing out I've been working for almost 20 years in between...

I was planning on going to the GradSoc drinks tonight, but I'm not sure now. I feel old compared to even the PhD students that I've met. I'm sure there must be some more mature students hiding somewhere!!!

I was repeatedly mistaken for a teenager yesterday My legs are killing from all the walking around. Today is registration. I don’t cope well with huge queues and busy places but my Access Pass (a Pass for students with MH and/or specific learning differences will allow me to queue jump if it overwhelms me too much) is making me feel a bit calmer.

Just starting the third full week of my course and found out yesterday that I'm pregnant

Eeek mama when are you due? If you are only a few weeks gone will that mean you are due after May exams? I know a student on my course last year had a baby and took a year of "maternity leave" in between years 1 and 2.

Good that you have that pass Pipe, hope today goes OK. I found the Fresher's Fair a bit overwhelming in terms of noise and crowds, but I escaped to the peace of the library. Things will calm down after this week. I'm slightly regretting wimping out of the postgrad social last night, the photos are on Facebook and it seemed to be quite a good mix of people. I think I'll go to the next one. Today is 3hrs of introduction to postgraduate study, which I think might be death by PowerPoint! I'm going to go for a (free) swim first.

As far as I know, I won't have any exams then (due June 1st). Got classes until Christmas and then I'm supposed to be on placement for six months. Hopefully I will find a company doesn't mind a waddling intern!

I think universities are better than they used to be regarding pregnancy. Good luck!