38 and going to Uni!

Ivrytwr3

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel said:

I've been told its Harvard referencing - Currently reading up on it! 

http://www.neilstoolbox.com/bibliography-creator/index.htm

Saved me a lot of time

Auti

Remember you can apply for a student card so money off loads of stuff. It is also handy to show local library who can then get you ‘out of county’ reference books if you need to read them ( I used books to read around my subject and brush up higher maths/engineering ). Time is going to be your biggest bugbear! I was older part time working single parent and making sure they still had the quality input meant living on small amounts of sleep Very Very worth it though

bramptonbrew

I'm 37 and did an online masters last year (my degree certificate actually arrived in the post this morning so now it feels official!). I worked full time, and whilst for the most part I was able to cope with the time management, life happens. I was able to get extensions on two assignments which was a huge help. My university had a COVID policy around extensions where they were automatically granted without needing a doctors note or any other proof. Might be worth looking to see what the extension policy is just in case you need to use it (hopefully not, but having some idea of what it is will be a stress relief if you need to use it). 

Get a student card! Back when I was doing my bachelors degree it was still called an NUS card but now they're branded as TOTUM. There's also discount schemes like StudentBeans and Unidays which have their own student discount offers. We moved house last year as well (nothing like doing two stressful things at once), and I was able to get student discount at Samsung for a new TV and tumble dryer. If I ever buy anything from a store I ask if they do student discount - if they say no, well it was worth asking for future reference; if they say yes, then hurrah!

RogerBareford

kirtondm said:

Referencing will be the bane of your life - still don't undestand the diffrence between havard style and Cardiff-Havard style!

You can just use a website like https://www.citethemrightonline.com/ and it makes it easy peasy.

MrCinnamon

It's been said but I will say again, back up your work regularly on a reliable medium, on multiple platforms. It will save many tears.

Plan your time well & stick to it or you will end up falling behind & it taking over your entire life.

Despite how excited you may be now, all degrees have times of drudgery, so always have something fun planned to maintain motivation.

Having completed 4 university degrees and two postgraduate diplomas I can confirm that the part time degrees require far more determination & focus.

Good luck!

adamp87

If you will have access to the Uni library you may find that much cheaper overall for printing than buying ink cartridges and such 

kimwp

Make sure you actually need the books on the booklist - I thought I needed to buy them all and it turned out I didn't even need one of them.

DiseasedBunny

Look at Rocketbook for note taking, I’m doing my MSc through the ou and it’s a godsend rather than going through reams of paper

mothernerd

I was going to go through the list of things I sent my sons off with (basic cookery, eating, couple of tea towels etc but if you're at home you won't need those). Building on two previous suggestions (household routine and ready meals) I would recommend stocking up on basics (tins/pasta/ toiletries, anything with a long life) then you could leave checking those until half term.

Have a chalk board/ wipe clean board or just a pad and paper and everyone is responsible for adding to it. I've used this with my sons from quite a young age - they get to put 10 food items on the Christmas list. It's okay if they put down ten different types of cakes and biscuits but they can't sit down to a meal and say "oh did you forget a, b or c". If they didn't choose it, they don't get to complain. If anything runs out they put it on the list (preferably when they open the last one or the last pack - sorry I've been my mum's carer for the past five years and have got into having backups in drawers and more backups in another room). It used to be pills before I started stock checking and rotating those at least once a month.

I was a Traidcraft rep (and also a f-t student/ p-t worker) when my 2 eldest were at uni and the youngest still at college, and DS2 would often be brought to our house in a friend's car to be loaded up with big boxes of toilet paper (his friend said buying toilet paper wasn't something you thought about until you left home and then only when you were seated in the bathroom and noticed there wasn't a single roll in sight. When it got near to the end of term and their grant money had gone (6 lads living in a shared house) they would empty my freezer as well.

Don't feel guilty about 'shortcuts'. There will be times when you have too much to do, no matter how you juggle and if you have to rely on ready meals or takeaways because an important assignment has to go in, that's fine. 7 years ago I moved back to my original small house on 4th/5th November (picked up and returned the van at midday) and on the 13th I went into hospital for a total hip replacement. On the Saturday in between those dates I bought cooked, sliced and froze my Christmas turkey, did a freezer shop run (delivered later in the day) and carried on to the SM (taxi home). After my operation, I could do my once a day walk down the stairs, cook a ready meal and sit down to eat, unload any dirty pots and reload my small rucksack with easy things to eat (sandwich supplies, yoghurt for the next day's breakfast - I added porridge oats which I kept in my room along with lots of fresh fruit, cutlery including using up some plastic pieces and paper plates left over from a long ago party). My youngest son was terrified by the responsibility of 'looking after me' but with forethought and arranging everything around me (big house was being sold but tiny 2 bed had a much better layout where I needed it) all he had to do was make sure I had at least 6l of bottled tap water by the bed and put my shoes on for me. When there were less restrictions on my movements and I could stay down stairs longer, I asked him to put filled bottles by the kettle as i couldn't walk to the tap to fill the kettle.

In short plan ahead as much as possible, organise and make sure everyone knows that a lot of things are not your responsibility, set firm boundaries (space and uninterrupted time) and enjoy yourself (especially if you didn't get to do it when you were young). best wishes

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

kimwp said:

Make sure you actually need the books on the booklist - I thought I needed to buy them all and it turned out I didn't even need one of them.

How would i find this out? They have told me i need around £200 worth of books