Is there a specific Mature Study & Retraining board?

[Edmontine]

I know there have been mature student threads. But I feel I’ve read countless, tentative Am I too old to - threads, with each OP believing they’re the first person ever to consider a degree or postgrad at 30 / 40 / 50 onwards - and almost talking themselves out of the idea before they’ve even posted.

It would be helpful to have a dedicated space - with a note at the top assuring people that they’re not freaks and would be welcomed by places of learning.

(If such a board already exists and I’ve failed to find it, consider me suitably embarrassed.)

Gosh I envy those of you just about to begin!

As a result of my previous foray into academic striving I’m spending today bent over a sceptical keyboard trying to produce something that looks as if I know what I’m talking about. It’s not fun.

But I have the prettiest notebooks. 💖 25 x 19cm Rhodia, deliciously tactile fake leather in lots of lovely colours, excellent cream paper, and a little wallet at the back (in which I used to store theatre and concert tickets. Ho hum.). Each new volume enables a period of procrastination while I number the pages …

Very excited.

I see the corner of a pukka notebook too!

You're right @burnoutbabe!

@PyjamaFan I am studying with the OU, I am about to start my 3rd module and just want to get started again now.

I am also a big fan of new stationery , will be going shopping in the next few days to find the magic notebook that will help me pass .

I'm also excited about stationery shopping. I sadly have a lot left from last year, so can't really justify a massive shop but I definitely need at least 2 new folders, have ordered a planner and also debating a wall planner as well.

Apparently we will be face to face this year as well, at least that is the current plan so obviously I also need to buy some new clothes. My exciting student wardrobe last year got used as every day stuff in the end.

@PyjamaFan

Fantastic *@CarpeDiem83*!

What's your MSc in?

Thanks @PyjamaFan, its in Psychology.

It's a conversion course for those who have a first degree in another subject, so all new to me!

I am envious of those of you just starting. I am a few days away from submitting my dissertation and would quite like to go back to the excitement of just starting. Dragging my way through edits while trying to entertain two kids is zero fun.

Sending empathy, TheOneWithTwoParties. I’ve had to ask for an extension for some non-academic work; without even the excuse of small children. Just brain fog.

I have a question.

Are any of you, in your mature study years, finding it discombobulating to encounter much younger students who are so much cleverer than you that you’re forced to re-assess the whole meaning of life?

I never encountered this as an undergraduate. Not because of my unlimited brainpower, but because in my first subject I had one to one teaching, and in my second, where I was taught in a group, I hated them all so took no notice of what they were doing or saying.

And in my former profession I was pretty much paid to be the cleverest person in the room. (Good thing I was never paid much …)

So it’s only now, post-postgrad, that I’m having to grapple with working with people (half my age people) whose intellectual fleetness of foot makes me feel like a drunk toddler.

(I am not saying this is the fate of all mature students! Older people are still more likely to do better academically - just because.)

Any words of wisdom gratefully received …

I found that they are so quick to access their knowledge.

So they’re replying intellectually with quotes from scholars etc while I’m still in the library of my mind dusting off books and trying to pin point what I want to say.

I enjoy the energy of the young students and it definitely keeps you young to be around them.
I’ve learned an awful lot from them but I’ve also brought plenty to the party.

I find some young people exist in an echo chamber theses days, I’ve definitely contributed to a wider knowledge.
I bet you do also op.

I read sone of my fellow students undergrad essays /exams and a lot of them sounded so pompous and written (to me) in such a stilted way for a 20 year old, not in a normal English at all.

It was just overly formal. Which isn't the style you see in most legal academic articles, which is quite normal English.

(Quite a few were also non English native speakers - European - so that may be part of it)

Made me feel a bit stupid when I first reads it, as they sounded so clever.

So they’re replying intellectually with quotes from scholars etc while I’m still in the library of my mind dusting off books and trying to pin point what I want to say.

OMG! Exactly this! I remember a day during my course when I passed a fellow student (the youngest, just out of undergrad) who was also on the way to a seminar. Neither of us had done the optional reading; we had 15 minutes. I skimmed the pages and felt confident I’d be able to follow the discussion. He skimmed the pages - and then engaged in a ten minute colloquy with the tutor - quoting and reinterpreting what we’d read. By that point I scarcely recalled even the point of the reading.

So I’ve had to find ways to support my memory and energy. I definitely can’t sit up all night any more, or work for hours and hours to finish something. So I have to start a project long before I would be naturally inclined to do, and stagger the work into tiny little snippets,interspersed with lots of ‘Money Heist’ and MN.

I was never one of those students aged 20 so I don’t feel too different now. I usually have something to say but I’ve never been good at remembering exactly which theorist said that thing so I do a lot of “I can’t remember what this was in”.

My course was a really mixed intake which meant although I was probably one of the oldest there were others in their late 20s and 30s who made me feel less of a dinosaur!

Hi all, and thanks for the suggestion for a new Mature study section.

We're still working on reducing the number of areas on the Talk boards so we're not planning on launching new boards at the moment. However, it's great to see that the Mature Study & Retraining request thread has turned into a thread supporting mature studying - and it seems to be working well. (Nice to see lots of love for stationery too).

So for now, could we suggest that you start a thread called,
Mature study and retraining and see how it goes?

There's already a model for this type of thread from the Mumsnetters who are doing the Cancer support series.

Discussions around mature students/studying could possibly go in the existing Higher education section.

Let us know your thoughts - we think the support provided in a thread or threads is a good idea, and we can see there's a demand for it so far. We'd like to check the popularity and usefulness of threads for now and return to the idea of a new section once we've seen how these go. And if you need more than one thread then feel free to label any extra ones with something like, 'Mature study: New thread title'
and we'll see how it goes.

Best,
MNHQ

Thanks, MichaelMumsnet - will wait and see what people think …

I'm up for trying with a thread. It's something to point people towards if they post elsewhere?

I'm up for trying with a thread, if it can be linked here that would be great.

Even if it does just end up as a safe space to share stationery

Yes a thread would be good to have some fellow travellers on the returning to study journey! As mentioned above, we can then refer people to the thread if they make a relevant post......which would probably be started in AIBU half the time even with a dedicated section

Would anyone care to start a new thread, as suggested by MNHQ?

(I’m more involved with research atm, rather than any taught course. Also not sure I’d be able to give the thread sufficient attention.)

I started my first module course book this evening and I have severe fear, I'd love to keep these threads going

"Second degrees are tricky as they generally are not funded (bar healthcare ones and sone stem) so I just had to pay the £9k each year for mine.

But £9k pa compared to say a professsional qualification training is cheapish."

Sadly this thread isn't for me. I already have a degree as I was made to go to uni when I was 18 to do a degree I was crap at (my mum had a lot of control over me at that age).
Hated it (loved uni itself tho ha) never used it and now I've seen a degree I'd loved to have done.

No chance. Can't get funding and sadly 9k a year is almost what I earn in a year..Nice to have money to be able to fund your own degree 😢

blackheartsgirl would the Government Postgraduate Loan be of no help at all to you? Pretty much everyone with a first degree (and under 60 on the first day of the course) is eligible, as are most Master’s courses. Obviously it might only cover (or partially cover) the fees, leaving nothing for maintenance, but it is intended to make postgraduate study possible.

I acknowledge that the corresponding PhD loan is of less use; institutional funding really is preferable at that stage.

The point of this thread is to help people find routes to what they want to do (and to cheer people on as they do it). Perhaps if you could say a little more about your circumstances someone might be able to suggest something helpful?

@blackheartsgirl

Have you looked at the Open University? It's not as expensive as standard universities. I'm studying part time and it will cost me around £3k a year. So much more manageable. Plus the courses are designed to be done alongside working so it's all very flexible.

Yes open university may work as you can do it very part time to pay much less (though open university probably costs the same as other degrees if you did the degree in 3 years)