Going to Uni as a mature student next yr

milliemonster

I am currently 37, trained as a nurse but have been out of the NHS for 5 yrs. I am currently in a job I enjoy but due to bullying and harrassment by my line manager I am going to be giving this up.

For some time now I have been looking for another job unsuccessfully, I have applied to undertake a short return to practice course to enable me to practice as a nurse again and am waiting to hear if this is going to run in Sept due to funding cuts.

For many years now (even whilst I was nursing) I have wanted to change career completely and to teach, prob secondary. I already completed a teaching certificate a few years ago which I enjoyed thoroughly, but have not pursued this before now due to having a family and needing to put them first.

I am now at the stage where I have spent some time thinking about this more and more, my job situation I feel is the catalyst for this decision now.

I enquired 6 months ago at uni regarding a 2yr science degree which also gives QTS which I would be suitable for as my nursing would satisfy the entrance to this shortened course. I am hoping to get accepted on this for Sept 2011.

In the meantime I need to redo my GCSE Maths (as I got a D, A's in 9 other subjects!!) which I am intending to start in Sept this yr, do the return to practice so I have means of earning as a nurse on the bank or agency to support full time uni for 2 yrs, and want to enquire at the local secondary where my daughter starts in Sept about getting some voluntary experience a couple of afternoons a week to put me in good stead for being accepted onto the degree.

I know teaching jobs are more competitive now and there are no guarantees, but I will have my nursing to fall back on and despite this, I have been putting this off now for some years and this is the time I need to make this work for me.

I have to leave my current job, I cannot work for my manager anymore as he is making me ill. Would it be frowned upon resigning to gain voluntary experience in prep for uni?

Can anyone offer anymore advice on how what I could do to increase my chances of acceptance at uni next year?

Oldernotwiser

The whole point of degree like this is that they are in shortage subjects where posts can't be filled, so getting a teaching job may be less difficult than you think. On the other hand, who knows what employment will be like in the public sector in 3 years time? Also worth looking at is the fact that many of these courses still have vacancies at this time of year.

http://search.ucas.com/cgi-bin/hsrun/search/search/StateId/QYs2_GhuwKoLdy5uumSGm6ACTGQAm-4Z6F/HAHTpage/search.HsSearch.submitForm?txtSubject=science&cmbQual=DEG&cmbAttend=FT&cmbInst=&chkExtra=Y&chkQTS=Y&button1.x=29&button1.y=15

You sound to me as if you're doing everything right, the only problem being that you may find teaching doesn't live up to your expectations when you get a closer look at it.

Good luck.

Catbag

I completely agre with the previous poster. I applied to go to Uni last year aged 29, having left school at 17 and been a full time mother of three for the time in between. I was absolutely certain that they would laugh me out of the building, but as it turned out i was given an unconditional offer on the back of an open day. They couldn't get me in there fast enough.
What i didn't understand at the time is that they really know their stuff, and they also know that mature students (almost without exception in my experience) make infinitely better students than the fresh faced 18 yr olds who are coming up from school and go wild on the freedom and student money. I didn't have a clue about the whole application process when i turned up at the open day and certainly hadn't done as much preparation as you have! I think you'll have the same reaction from your uni as i did. Already you are showing levels of dedication that simply cannot be met by other students because it just wouldn't occur to them. Relax! You are going to be just great!:T

stephyt23

Get as much school experience as possible is my advice! I'm on a BEd Early Primary Education degree with QTS just about to start my second year. I'm also classed as a mature student (although i'm only 23) and it's definitely experience that counts for a lot, plus uni's love it. There are so many who have dropped off our course since having our first placement as they didn't fully realise what the job en tales because they've not gained much experience. There are quite a few people on my course who have come from nursing backgrounds aswell.

stephyt23

Catbag wrote: »

I completely agre with the previous poster. I applied to go to Uni last year aged 29, having left school at 17 and been a full time mother of three for the time in between. I was absolutely certain that they would laugh me out of the building, but as it turned out i was given an unconditional offer on the back of an open day. They couldn't get me in there fast enough.
What i didn't understand at the time is that they really know their stuff, and they also know that mature students (almost without exception in my experience) make infinitely better students than the fresh faced 18 yr olds who are coming up from school and go wild on the freedom and student money. I didn't have a clue about the whole application process when i turned up at the open day and certainly hadn't done as much preparation as you have! I think you'll have the same reaction from your uni as i did. Already you are showing levels of dedication that simply cannot be met by other students because it just wouldn't occur to them. Relax! You are going to be just great!:T

Yep this also very true. Out of everyone that's dropped off my course it's the young ones as they don't have the experience, whereas us mature students have had life experience and going back when we're older shows a much higher level of dedication and the drop out rate is less because many of us have had to give up full time jobs to go back into education.