43 and College

olestoepoke

Hi I came on here searching for reassurance, I sat my leaving cert last year and I'm halfway through a QQI level 5 uni access course. Hoping to go to college this September. I'll be 43 years old this year. Please if you don't mind, can I ask, what did you study? How did you get on regarding your age? Any advice you have the time to give is very much appreciated. I'm feeling a little apprehensive, to be honest. Thank you.

Taltos

Mod Note
OP - please don't bump zombie (old) threads. I've moved your post into your own thread as that other was was 4 years old and the OP may not be around to answer or care to have their past issue flagged again.

Teyla Emmagan

Where are you hoping to go to college? Have you spoken to Maynooth? Something like a third of their students are mature. My mam went there (first time in college) at the age of 50 (loved it). My friend's mother just started at the age of 59. They both chose Arts degrees.

Airyfairy12

When I was in college the majority of the students were over 30, most of them in their 40's,50's and 60's. Only a handful of us were in our twenties. My auntie went to college at 55. Its never too late.

gline

Airyfairy12 wrote: »

When I was in college the majority of the students were over 30, most of them in their 40's,50's and 60's. Only a handful of us were in our twenties. My auntie went to college at 55.

This really depends on what course you go into. Im in the final year of a physics degree as a mature student, im the only mature student in my year. Theres certain advantages/disadvantages to being a mature student, depending on your area of study.

Op, what are you hoping to study?

olestoepoke

Hi sorry for the late reply, I've applied today on the CAO for a business course. My first choice is Accounting and Finance followed by various business degrees, business and tech, business management etc. I have a brother who's a qualified accountant so hoping to use this to my advantage. thanks for the help guys. Oh and I forgot to mention, Applications were for DKIT and DCU. These two colleges make the most sense for me given my location.

gline

olestoepoke wrote: »

Hi sorry for the late reply, I've applied today on the CAO for a business course. My first choice is Accounting and Finance followed by various business degrees, business and tech, business management etc. I have a brother who's a qualified accountant so hoping to use this to my advantage. thanks for the help guys. Oh and I forgot to mention, Applications were for DKIT and DCU. These two colleges make the most sense for me given my location.

Did the Level 5 QQI have much maths in it? From what I've seen, maths seems to be one of the biggest challenges for mature students (obviously this depends on what profession you are coming from). All of the mature students that I have had contact with, including myself, have struggled with maths in most degree's that contain a good proportion of maths. So my advice whould be to do as much pre-study in maths before you start your course if it is going to contain a lot a maths (obviously, again this depends on your current level).

Some of the advantages of being a mature student is, they usually know exactly what they want from the course and usually arent afraid of putting the work in to get there. Life experience is also an advantage, you wont worry about a some of the things that younger students might e.g. social aspects.

However a disadvantage of being a mature student is being less sharp compared to coming straight from school for 10+ years, so the learning curve is steeper for mature students (again depending on your course). This can be very noticeable in taking written exams. Also stress can be higher for some mature students because you have less years to "waste" as it were, so achieving a good degree can be very important and coming back to do another degree years later isnt very appealing to most. Another is being around young people all day everyday , some love it, some hate it.

Just my 2c, everyones experiences differ.

olestoepoke

That's great advice thanks very much. I'm not too bad at the maths, I got an A1 in ordinary level last year, Tutor was able to tell me I scored 96% overall. Not a lot of math this year except for the statistics class. I feel I well prepared for the work ahead. We're doing a total of 9 assignments this year which includes a 6,000 word sociology project. I suppose the first few days of college will be a tough, Ill settle in after that.

mud

I was a mature student albeit a bit younger than yourself. I think you'll be fine as you seem to have a good handle on the amount of work in front of you.

My advice is to not let differences between yourself and other students stand in your way. As others have mentioned, you will be in class with lots of different types of people, different ages, different goals etc. Keep your eye on your own prize and work towards your own ends.

It can be difficult being in a class with people who may not have a lot of sophistication or life experiences. Again, paddle your own canoe and get on with it. You're there for your best qualification so I hope you achieve that.

One last thing, attend all extra labs and tutorials etc. Try not to take up too much time in lectures asking questions that could be asked at a later time/via email etc. Even though I was a mature student, there were other mature students who thought they could take over with their questions because they were "entitled" to. Believe me, asking a ton of questions endears you to no one and you would be better off jotting down your queries and pursuing them with your tutor/lecturer during office hours.

Best of luck. Learning is great and I hope you enjoy it.

Supercell

OP I'm 46 and completing a masters this year, never to late, go for it.
With higher qualifications becoming necessary to land many jobs i think, in the future, there will be more and more people of older ages in college, certainly on my course there are quite a few older than me.

olestoepoke

mud wrote: »

I was a mature student albeit a bit younger than yourself. I think you'll be fine as you seem to have a good handle on the amount of work in front of you.

My advice is to not let differences between yourself and other students stand in your way. As others have mentioned, you will be in class with lots of different types of people, different ages, different goals etc. Keep your eye on your own prize and work towards your own ends.

It can be difficult being in a class with people who may not have a lot of sophistication or life experiences. Again, paddle your own canoe and get on with it. You're there for your best qualification so I hope you achieve that.

One last thing, attend all extra labs and tutorials etc. Try not to take up too much time in lectures asking questions that could be asked at a later time/via email etc. Even though I was a mature student, there were other mature students who thought they could take over with their questions because they were "entitled" to. Believe me, asking a ton of questions endears you to no one and you would be better off jotting down your queries and pursuing them with your tutor/lecturer during office hours.

Best of luck. Learning is great and I hope you enjoy it.

Briliant advice and very much appreciated. Thank you

racso1975

My only advice as an ex mature student is if you get to pick partners for group work try to stick with other mature students.

olestoepoke

racso1975 wrote: »

My only advice as an ex mature student is if you get to pick partners for group work try to stick with other mature students.

I hear that. Heres hoping theres a couple near my own age on the course.

maryishere

olestoepoke wrote: »

Hoping to go to college this September. I'll be 43 years old this year.

You'll be fine. I done the same thing in my 40's, went back to university full time.
I was surprised there were a fair number of people older than me. Good luck with it and enjoy.

5rtytry56

racso1975 wrote: »

My only advice as an ex mature student is if you get to pick partners for group work try to stick with other mature students.

I know this from painful experience.