Moving away a success?

fifomania

Has anyone here ever moved away as a Mature Student and hated it??
I have courses all over the country on my CAO and am trying to visualise myself making the effort of travel. I don't want to make a total b***s of my CAO this year so want to do the thing right!
Any opinion or advice greatly appreciated

bigglesx

Will you be moving alone? I expect it'll be easier if you do.

If I get offered a place at any of the colleges I've applied to, I'll have to move my whole family, find a new house, put my kid in a new school, help the SO find a new job, etc. Nightmare! But worth it in the end, I think, considering what I'll get out of it.

But I'm unsure what you're asking. Do you want to know what it's like to move to a new place? Because I've done that a million times -- both within Ireland and in my home country of England and in Italy (where SO's from). It can definitely be hard. It takes time to get your bearings and to make friends -- but you'll have a ready-made support network built in at the college, which will make things easier.

I wouldn't worry about it too much until you know what's happening.

lisajane

If its what you want, it will be a success.

When i finished school, i picked a course for the sake of it and it was based on location. I didn't have to move away which at the time i liked the idea. I didn't even consider looking at colleges outside galway. What a waste of my time?

I now want to go back to college and i am going to move away for it. Fck it, life's to short to be worried about things. Choose a course in which you want to to do regardless of where it is.

fifomania

bigglesx wrote: »

Will you be moving alone?

Yes, I'll be moving alone. Which I know is a good thing so I only have to worry about myself, can't imagine having to move a family!

lisajane wrote: »

When i finished school, i picked a course for the sake of it and it was based on location. I didn't have to move away which at the time i liked the idea. I didn't even consider looking at colleges outside galway. What a waste of my time?

This is kind of the case with me at the minute. I have already been accepted to a college about half hour away. This will leave me coming home every day and I'll be saving money from not renting.
But I feel like moving further afield, like to Dublin or Galway, to get a change of scenery. But (there's always a but) I don't know if I would like it and I've heard things about renting and the fees coming back in.
I don't want to make a huge mistake and end up making a mess of this years application. :rolleyes:

loctite

Yep just finished my BA in Accounting & Finance in DCU as a mature.

Commuted every week up and down as my fiance lives back west and its where our home is. Was very difficult, being away especially at exam time when had to stay up for few weeks at a go. Didn't help that I hated Dublin too.

But the other side of it is if you are away from home/family & friends and you don't like the place you are living, you are definitely more inclined to study and work harder.... As much as I hated being away from my family, it definitely helped me with regards to no distractions.

I hate the city and the city life so had no motivation to head into town or go out...

fifomania

loctite wrote: »

Yep just finished my BA in Accounting & Finance in DCU as a mature.

Commuted every week up and down as my fiance lives back west and its where our home is. Was very difficult, being away especially at exam time when had to stay up for few weeks at a go. Didn't help that I hated Dublin too.

But the other side of it is if you are away from home/family & friends and you don't like the place you are living, you are definitely more inclined to study and work harder.... As much as I hated being away from my family, it definitely helped me with regards to no distractions.

I hate the city and the city life so had no motivation to head into town or go out...

So have you moved back home? Did you find the 3/4 years at DCU flew? I've heard a lot of people say they hate Dublin. I can't imagine spending 3/4 years at college and not liking the city, that's the mistake I don't want to make! Can I ask what made you decide to go back to college as a mature and why did you choose Dublin, was it to do with the course??

loctite

fifomania wrote: »

So have you moved back home? Did you find the 3/4 years at DCU flew? I've heard a lot of people say they hate Dublin. I can't imagine spending 3/4 years at college and not liking the city, that's the mistake I don't want to make! Can I ask what made you decide to go back to college as a mature and why did you choose Dublin, was it to do with the course??

For a start everyone is different. By hating the city it really just deleted the distractions from my life. I hated having to sit in traffic or stand on cramped buses, so I got up earlier in the morning, got to the college @ 8am and stayed in till @ 9 or 10 ish until all the traffic had died down.

I chose to return to college for several reasons.
1) To get a Degree.
2) I was already a qualified Micro biologist, hated the work, and had left the industry and pursued work for several years working in the Outdoor pursuits industry. The level and consistency of income was just unsustainable and I had to return to a "proper" job, so went back to Uni to study Accountancy & Finance.
3) Chose Dublin because the course gave the maximum amount of professional exemptions in the shortest amount of time. All Level 8 Accountig degrees bar the DCU one take 4 years, the DCU one took 3 years.

The reason I chose the course was all Dublin. I was accepted into UL which would have been closer to home but in hindsight, even though it was incredibly difficult away from family, it was all worth it because I know it would have been way harder to study closer to home.


You have to ask yourself what is your motivation to move? To enjoy the city or to get your qualification, I'm sure you can have both, but my priority was academic qualification.