Mature student

[123efox]

Hi all, so at 38 I'm making the big decision of applying for a pedestrian apprenticeship nursing degree over 4 years. I have 3 children and my youngest starts school in September so it kind of ties in well. I work currently but don't have a career and feel iv always wanted to do more but having kids has always put me off. The worry I have going back to university is the academic part. I haven't studied for 17 years, have forgotten how to write an essay and know the younger more confident students will just give my confidence a knock but I feel deep down is this enough to make me say no? any mature students who ever felt the same?

Paediatrician!!

I start a masters 4 yr nursing course this September & I will be 46🙈.

Do you mean Paediatric nursing/ child branch nursing? Is it a 4yr course because it has an integrated masters or does it come with a foundation year of some sort attached? If it has a foundation attached to it (such as an Access course) then you will be fine as this is a good first step after many years away from academia. If not then I would strongly suggest you do some form of recent study in line with science/ health. I’m not sure there are many nursing degrees that will accept students without recent (within the past 5 years) study. Either way you are never too old to study or enter into a career of your choice. It takes upheaval and dedication for sure but it will be worth it in the long term if you’re happy in your choice.

I'm halfway through a SALT degree and I had exactly all the nibbles - but it has been totally fine. I've found the uni were really supportive with things like academic writing; if you were driven enough to take up the support that was there - lots of workshops were running, staff available to support with referencing etc... but to be honest I've not needed it (it's my second degree though) - I just had to get my head around doing a different referencing system and then I discovered the wonder of referencing software which did not exist at the time I did my first degree!

I have generally found the younger students are NOT some boundless vat of confidence either - they're all as muddling through it all as the rest of us!