Going back to University

I dropped out of University of Southampton several years ago, partly as a result of choosing the wrong course and partly as a result of being a dim 19 year old. I’m turning 25 in a few months and have been feeling like I want to better myself and go back to full-time education.

Has anyone been in this boat? Gone back to Uni after an unsuccessful time previously? Been a “mature student”?

Many years ago my daughter had to drop out of her Maths degree at Southampton because of anorexia. She took two years out and then reapplied, this time to Bath. She had to repeat year one and I had to pay everything for her repeat year, even though she’d been on a maintenance grant etc as I was a single parent.

My son didn’t even apply until he was 25. He had A levels but had to do an Access course and from that got an unconditional place at Nottingham to read Philosophy. Because he’d been working for a number of years he got a Mature Student grant.

So, in their different ways, they both experienced some of what you’re asking. Although, of course, there are not these sort of funding streams available these days.

Sort of.

I did a degree when I was young in the mid 90s and pretty much hated it all (i commuted for most of it so that may have been a factor). I dropped out of my year abroad (i didn’t commute for that!) but completed the course as I had started it and wasn’t sure what else I would do. I did a language degree i’ve never used in work which is a bit depressing but can order an icecream in Italy and tapas in Spain.

Then in 2010 I decided to go back to get a masters (thankfully with a bursary and fees paid) at the University of Southampton. I hated it all (apart from making some lovely friends). But I don’t think I am made for academia (churning out essays) and degrees or it may have been the courses. The masters closed 3 years after I started and provided poor placements. They were winding it down really. My partner did the same course 3 years before me and praised it.

So I am probably not the best person to reply but go for it if that’s how you feel. I’d probably have felt the same way if I hadn’t finished my first degree.

What was the course you started and what do you want to do now?

Do it. Don’t leave yourself thinking, what if.

Can always drop out if you hate it.

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Here’s another option.

If you live / work in the London area how about doing a degree part time in the evening? That could leave the day to get a job and help avoid the massive debt kids are coming out with these days.

Have a look at the Birkbeck website.

I’ll declare an interest as Mrs C_S works there, so I’ll add that there may be other institutions offering similar (though probably not the range of courses)

If you find it’s not for you then you’ll already have a job so that gets rid of one worry.

Good luck with whatever you decide though.

Thanks for your replies, I originally studied Anthropology - more on a whim than anything. Did Psychology at A-level, enjoyed it and fancied something fairly similar. However it got very boring after a year and I had absolutely no motivation to do my work in the second year which led to me failing it and eventually dropping out. I’ve got an eye on a Politics degree at the moment, with the thought of translating that into a career within Scottish Government at some level. The mistake I made when choosing a course before was picking something that I wasn’t really that interested in and had very little use in the “real world”.

This is all ball park stuff at the moment but I am feeling a bit unfulfilled at the moment and don’t particularly want to keep milling along doing a fairly menial job in the hope that something better will come along when I can be proactive and make a change…

Just lie and tell people you’ve got degree. That’s what I do. If i want job that needs degree, i just say, yes, i have got masters in open heart surgery. They never check srs.

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On second thoughts, is it the certificate you want, or the actual education? Or merely the opportunity to bang teenage girls?

Either way i can hook you up srs, lot cheaper than University. Send me pm.

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But Bearsey the only degree Burger King are interested in is the temperature of the deep fat fryer (& the degree of usage you are getting out of the free WiFi)

:lou_wink:

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All depends on whether you want to keep earning and pay as you study or emerse yourself in alcohol and debauchery and have lots of uncomplicated sex with lots of intelligent women … Tough one that … Decisions, decisions…

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That was not my experience at university. I must have done it all wrong. :wink:

Better yourself my arse.

more like trying to get balls deep in loads of eighteen year old girls.

mikey is having his first mid life crisis.

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You can have mine. Not much call for a BA(hons) in the decorating game.

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Originally posted by @Intiniki

Originally posted by @areloa-grandee

All depends on whether you want to keep earning and pay as you study or emerse yourself in alcohol and debauchery and have lots of uncomplicated sex with lots of intelligent women … Tough one that … Decisions, decisions…

That was not my experience at university. I must have done it all wrong. :wink:

Indeed :wink:

Back in 89-93 (4 years of debauchery at Scottish University) you could study that in those days. I met loads of intelligent ladies who would be classified as too rude for even the likes of Bearsy - 'twas truly an education :lou_surprised:

Yeah. I was in same boat as you. Went back for a second go and pissed it all up the wall again. Except I graduated this time.

Glad I did as I need a degree for what I do now (teaching) but if you just want to get educated then there’s plenty of free MOOC at places like: https://www.futurelearn.com/

They won’t get you a degree but are all affiliated to top universities

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I didn’t go back to uni but I did start as a ‘mature’ student at 24, I loved it but don’t think I’d put myself through it now with fees and whatnot because I’m a tight bastard.

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Not quite the same position as you, but there are some similarities. I’m also thinking of returning to education after a long time in the world of work. I’ve got an interview for a PhD lined up in a couple of weeks. In parallel with that I’ve been doing phone interviews for new jobs and it looks like I’m going to be offered a good job, which would be a step up from the job I already do, which is not a bad job either, so a big decision to make.

I would not recommend studying a degree at the same time as working. I did that with my Masters and had a totally shit social life for nearly 5 years. It started off great but the last couple of years in particular were hellish.

The problem with degrees in the UK in general is that the teaching quality and the course content is fucking atrocious and the fees are criminal, but I guess that’s not so much of a concern for you in Scotland. Then come the end of the degree you find you’ve become a slave to it. You’re now specialised and although that specialism sets you apart, the specialism is only required in a few places. With one of them usually being London.

So you have to make sacrifices. Leave your family, friends and community and sell your soul to a corporation. Only to find that once tax and other costs are taken off your earnings the real benefit you’ve gained from all your hard work is negligible, by which point you’ve sacrificed too much. How can you throw away all those years of hard work and start something new again?

Go abroad before BREXIT fucks that chance - both the Netherlands And Germany offer degree course in English and NO FEES… So as well as quality degrees some variety in culture … And you get to be debauched with foreign lasses :slight_smile:

Originally posted by @StickyWhiteDovePiss

So you have to make sacrifices. Leave your family, friends and community and sell your soul to a corporation. Only to find that once tax and other costs are taken off your earnings the real benefit you’ve gained from all your hard work is negligible, by which point you’ve sacrificed too much. How can you throw away all those years of hard work and start something new again?

And that’s the reality, Mikey. Id do as Dove Piss says…forget uni and get yourself on the game. Young ass like yours comes at a premium.

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I would recommend this at Postgraduate Masters level but much trickier to do at Undergraduate level. Free undergraduate courses in English do exist as far as I understand, but they’re far less common and presumably the competition is very strong.