Anyone here taken the decision to return to higher education after years away from it? I keep mulling it over, who here has done it and hasn't regretted it? There's no way I can do it full time. I'm looking at doing a certificate for starters (baby steps, if you will), I attended an open day and got the relevant prospectuses, literature, etc.

Please, I need some success stories/motivation.

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*Huggy Ragnarsson Is My Co-Pilot*

"coming up on kittyradio, an erotic thriller featuring Shannon Tweed..."

I think it's great you are looking to go back to school!

Umm, I guess the only thing I can suggest is don't try to act smarter than the younger people in the class? When I was in college it kind of annoyed me that the older students did that...I mean 98% of them didn't of course, but the small percentage that did really annoyed me. It's like they thought they had an 'in' with the professors because they were the same age or something.

Technically speaking, for all intents and purposes I'm a mature student. It makes you laugh - I'm 22.

I decided to give up my job, which wasn't a bad job really, to get on one of these access courses that get folks into uni. I might have had the grades from school already to get into uni but they were no good for the uni I wanted to go to since they're five years old. So I've been doing this course that, if I'm honest, is a little bit beneath me in some ways (and not so much in others) but, like you, I have sort of thought of it as being a bit like baby steps, easing myself back into study.

Or at least that's sort of how I thought it would be, but actually the workload on this year-long course has probably been worse than how I imagine the first two years of uni combined to be. There's a little less than two weeks until the end of the course and I've got about a dozen pieces of work still needing done. Why am I on KR?!

But yeah, my old job wasn't hideously bad and sometimes you could kick back and think "shit, yeah, I did a fucking great job for that client". But nothing quite beats the feeling of satisfaction you get from knowing you're doing something for you. Meeting a new set of people is of course a welcome bonus.

What sort of things are you looking at doing?

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Deux hommes font une promenade amicale. L'un des deux porte un parapluie à son bras.
Il se met à pleuvoir. L'homme n'ouvre pas son parapluie et l'autre lui demande pourquoi.
- Parce que ça ne servirait à rien, lui répond son ami. Il est plein de trous.
- Alors, pourquoi l'as-tu pris?
- Parce que je ne pensais pas qu'il pleuvrait.

Thanks for the advice!

I'm quite confident I will NOT be attempting to outsmart any of my classmates, the fact is, IRL, I will more than likely be freaked out at the prospect of sitting in a class after being away from education so long and try to blend in with the wall or something

Right. I'm looking at doing a certificate in Islamic Studies. From a sociological/current events perspective, not as a believer! I wanted to do Media but despite my interest it IS a "yoof" oriented subject and don't see much scope for an entry level position at my age. Having said that, I have no idea what on earth I would do career wise in terms of Islamic Studies, but it's something that has interested me for quite a few years and the motivation for going back to college is more or less me wanting to develop intellectually, etc - the whole employment aspect is really very secondary for me at the moment.....

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*Huggy Ragnarsson Is My Co-Pilot*

"coming up on kittyradio, an erotic thriller featuring Shannon Tweed..."

I've been in the same position. I'm coming to the end of a one year access course and there's been a lot more work involved than I expected. I hand my last piece of work in tomorrow, have a 'transition review' on Monday, and then it's effectively over and I'll just be waiting impatiently to start university in September.
In all honesty, I felt a bit daft at the beginning of it all. I'm 24 and all my friends have graduated from university and found meaningful employment by this point. But, ultimately, I just couldn't go on working shitty jobs for peanuts as it was making me miserable.
I think I'll probably feel a bit awkward when I get there and I'm surrounded by 18 year olds who have never been away from home before, but I'm starting to look forward to it a lot. As Black Mambo said, the feeling of doing something for yourself can't really be beaten.

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I'm Squarepusher, and I approved this message.

im 25, and i started law this year. although i very much work in the industry, i was concerned about being able to do the univeristy stuff the way they want you to. alot of what is taught in law and what is expected in law students is very different the practical 'applications' of the law. im all about the practical law. anyway, im doing pretty good. i got a really good result for an assignment on something i was really unsure about, unenthused about, felt totally apathetic towards. im doing it full time. im working full time. its a lot of work. but thank god my boss is totally supportive and encourages me to do uni stuff at work. im very lucky.

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bitten inner lip

i felt like an elder when i went back to school at 25 but my courses usually had a few people that were older than me so i felt better. i actually got along better with the elders because they was about they business, and had their heads on straight, whereas the youngins were messy and apathetic

i had to rearrange my life around a bit in order to be able to work full time and go to school, many a sacrafice was made social and otherwise. but it was all worth it in the end.

Ah, I remember you saying before that you were doing an access course like me. I'm glad you've gotten on well with it. Hard work though, eh?

I mean, I'm only 22 but like you I'm a little afraid of being surrounded by excitable 18 year olds come September, especially after having been in fairly mature company this year on the access course. I've gotten the whole "wahey, freedom, let's go crazy" thing out of my system long before now so it's going to be strange to be in the company of people like that. The good thing is that I wont be staying in the uni accommodation so it wont be constant. But I'll take any excuse for a heavy drinking sesh and to be around kids who are just getting their first proper taste of that, and are really gonna go at it, probably isn't going to go too well for me.

At least I'll be able to drink them under the table?

But yeah, it's a bit weird knowing that all my school friends have finished up at university now, and I'm only about to start. It's also quite daunting to think that I should be going on 27 by the time I graduate and start looking for work. I can't imagine how it must feel for the folks in their 30s and 40s.

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Deux hommes font une promenade amicale. L'un des deux porte un parapluie à son bras.
Il se met à pleuvoir. L'homme n'ouvre pas son parapluie et l'autre lui demande pourquoi.
- Parce que ça ne servirait à rien, lui répond son ami. Il est plein de trous.
- Alors, pourquoi l'as-tu pris?
- Parce que je ne pensais pas qu'il pleuvrait.

That was a big issue for me actually. It freaked me out to think that I'd be 27 going on 28 when I got out of university at first, but now I'm aiming to milk this education thing for all it's worth. I already feel like I've spent more than enough time doing things that I hate, so unless I can be absolutely sure that I'm heading in the right direction employment wise, I'll just keep on learning.

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I'm Squarepusher, and I approved this message.

Jayne, you're not a "mature student" in the sense that your costs/funding is different at Uni until you're 25

Champers, my dear, take courage from what my Literature teacher told me last week: she dropped out of school at 16, before going back to education later, and got her degree when she was 32. It's never too late!

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I am really proud of you.

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"We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard-working, very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation," she told the crowd.

Ah, yes. I was so relieved to discover that because I'll be 25 when I get to uni I didn't have to arse about digging out old P60s to prove how wonderfully independent I am.

My filing system is woefully inadequate.

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I'm Squarepusher, and I approved this message.

So is mine! Tomorrow before I go do an exam I have to call the Job Centre to get my yearly totals because Student Loan forms are bollocks

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I'm not trying to be a downer and to be honest it probably is to do with with how low ranking my uni is but all the mature students on my course quit within the first year.

a lot of students are probably older than 18 when they go to uni, gap years, foundation years at college and all. not that 1 or 2 years is much different though i suppose. my dads going in september, same as me! except not the same uni or subject.

as a young student i would like there to be some older people on my course rather than everyone being 19 i start uni in september, (especially if they're good at my subject)i would find it intresting...
i think its good to mix with a variety of people all ages at class and at work.

i reckon you should go for it! can always drop out if its shit

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no no never say maybe to smack bunny baby again.

Not going to happen. I'm moving to the campus just like an 18yr old leaving home for the first time. If I don't like it, tough.

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How old are you? I thought you were like 19?
I didn't mean ALL mature students quit. Just an example.
What does moving to a campus have to do with things?

I'm 22.

And I figured the difference between moving house to go to un