31years old - wanting to do a degree course at night

Martin Blank

Hi All,

Bit embarassed, but this is my story:

Did my leaving certificate, got an okay one, but went straight into work in retail for 4-5 years and during that time did a Certificate at night for Retail Management

I then went into high profile company and worked my way up(promoted) into the Purchasing department and during this time completed another Certificate in this field (Purchasing&Logistics)

I then got a Management role in a small company based on my expeirence and not my "education"

A year later, I took on another challenging role back in Purchasing, but in a Pharma industry, I have a really good/well paid role in this company and am good at my job.

Now that reason Im on here is that I am very embarassed at my education and I want this to be rectified as I have stopped pushing my self for Management roles because of the critieria of having to hold a degree.

My Question:
I want to do a Business Degree course at night in a Galway/Limerick college, but I see they require a diploma to attend? Can 10 years business knowledge and my certificates get me into a business course, or would I have to do a Diploma Course first?

Sorry for the long post, but I have spent more time working than educating myself and I want to rectify that, so I can push on in my career and I really think the only way to do that is to complete a degree course.

Any help, much appreciated

Hi Martin Blank,

With any college course there is the possibility of being able to be exempt from certain bits in the lower years. For some language course I knew of a few people who skipped first year and went straight in to second year since they had an obvious knowledge of the language. So the point about being able to apply for degree while not having a diploma, to me, might be possible.

But saying that I know there are courses available in various colleges around the country which you won't need a diploma to go for it. Were you looking at degrees in ITs which are based on the 'ladder system'? (you get a diploma after, say, two years and if you get a good mark you go on for a degree). That might be where the requirement might come from. Either way the best people to talk to would be the admissions office of the college you're looking to go to.

There are also lots of options for part-time study out there. I think a lot of the colleges have prospectives for part-time students, so it would be worthwhile contacting their admission offices directly to ask for one. But there's also the Open University which is something you could do in your spare time.

One thing to keep in mind - if you're doing it part-time, have a look for tax relief on the fees you're paying

Congrats at your decision at heading back to education anyways. I hope it all works out!

Dónal

Martin Blank

Thanks very much for your post Myth

I will check will the admissions to see - should I check now or wait till nearer Sept, as this is when the course start?

Sorry, I should have noted that I would like to obtain a degree in Business.

Will also look into the Open University option, but will that take alot longer than what I hoping the degree course will? Should I be looking at 4-5 years or longer?

If you're looking to start in September then you should contact the college you're looking to go into immediately. The CAO cut-off date is the 1st of May I believe, assuming you'll be going through the CAO. But the original date for applying was the 1st of February, so it is worth getting in contact with the relevant college over the next few days, assuming you have your eye on a course or two. It depends really on whether the course has a high demand or not - if it has, you might have to wait 'til next year (to apply before the February). If it hasn't, you might be able to apply the day before you start, assuming they get the cash from you

I'm unsure about anything specific to the Open University, but I was just putting the idea in your head as a possibility! I'm sure their website has plenty of information on it.

Martin Blank

Thanks again, but I presume I don't have to go through CAO if Im going to be a part time student, or do I?

Some of them I think you do.

Just checked the cao website myself:

C) Evening and part-time courses:
Most part-time and evening courses are not offered through the
CAO Application System and direct application must be made
for them.
The HEIs offer a wide variety of such courses and, if you are
interested in these modes of study, you should make enquiries
direct to the HEIs.