Mature Student... Where to start?

darapixie

Hi,

I am 30 yrs old and want to go to college for the first time. I left secondary school at the end of 5th year and went and did a City & Guilds in Sound Engineering (which I did not pass at the time)

I have been working in different roles since then always usually Customer Service based roles.

I am at the stage in my life where I want to go back and do some course that will enable me to better myself in society but I don't know where to start.

Am I too late to submit an application?

The nearest college to me is Maynooth. I am going to head to the Citizens Advice in Maynooth today but I thought I would come ask here too.

Thanks in advance,

Ana

paperclip2

Hi Ana,

If you are thinking about going to Maynooth it would be worthwhile talking to their Mature Students office. At present they are only accepting applications for a limited number of courses as their general application deadline was 1st Feb.

More information is available here: http://admissions.nuim.ie/mature_students/index.shtml

In general the first thing to do when looking at going to college is finding the course you want to do.
Think about the things you enjoy or are good at and then look at courses related to these. the National Courses database http://www.qualifax.ie has info on virtually all college courses in the country.

Hope this helps.

Mr. TTime

Hi Ana

You could also try www.bluebrick.ie which has flexible learning courses from all the Institutes of Technology plus a few of the Universities (not Maynooth though)

agent graves

i applied for the general science in nuim and i had my interview yesterday,, i pretty much got knocked back by the fact i have been out of education for 8 years, they gave me the leaflets and books about the science foundation course and fetac courses and said it would be better for me to have a little foundation first, so i think its pretty obvious that i wont be getting in and il def be doing that foundation course,

any ways if your going for something you have little or no experience in it would be worth your while to do a course in it first, it will greatly increase your chances.

Lexor

@patrickpaul: Even though you have been out of education for eight years, why did you get 'knocked back' so much? I was out of education longer than eight years when I started my degree course. Did you do badly in the applicable subjects in your leaving cert that would have been required for the NUIM course? i.e. you failed maths in your leaving but applied for a maths course in NUIM....Certainly the first year I done in my own degree was all foundation stuff...the hardest part I found was getting back into the study routine.

agent graves

No I passed my leaving cert maths, they said it would be better to do the course with a bit of something under me, a level 5 or 6 as they said, they were afraid that someone goes in and after 6 weeks drops out over the work load, the impression I got was they called me to tell me to do a course before hand which I find strange because don't mature students get reviewed on life experience and all that and not there school results.

If I end up getting the course il be shocked, def won't stop my efforts tho.

Larianne

Although disappointing, don't be put off getting told you don't have the previous academic experience to get a place on the course. What the college has said to you is I think the main worry of any college application board - can they handle the workload?

I got knocked back from all my preferred colleges the first year I applied to a health science course due to my lack of academic experience. I'd previously completed an art course 8years beforehand.

I went and completed an access to Science course. I do feel that it helped me greatly and I probably would have found it a struggle in first year without its foundation in sciences and study skills behind me.

I got offered my top three choices the following year. It sounds like they would like to accept you once you've got the foundation of knowledge behind you.

Best of luck!

agent graves

@Larianne
ya I got that feeling from them that they would like me there but rather me have a course first, because he said I think this is the course for you but since your out of school 8 years would be better if ya had a course, best interests at heart perhaps.

What science course did you do before college?

icarus86

Hi i was in a similar situation a couple of years ago, tried getting into a course in Galway but did not get into it. I only had a Leaving Cert to my name but never went to college previously, when i did not get in i was advised to go the Fetac route so i did and it was the best decision i could have made. It opened up so many options for me.

Larianne

patrickpaul wrote: »

@Larianne
ya I got that feeling from them that they would like me there but rather me have a course first, because he said I think this is the course for you but since your out of school 8 years would be better if ya had a course, best interests at heart perhaps.

What science course did you do before college?

I did UCD's Access to Science & Engineering course. http://www.ucd.ie/adulted/prospectivestudents/accesscourses/accesstoscienceandengineering/

NUIM also have an access course for Science, but I cannot find the page on their website. Maybe contact the mature student office for information.

TCD and NUI Galway also have ones.

Just to note, if you complete an access course in one university you can still apply for other unis. I did mine in UCD but went to TCD.

taytoRking?

hi all....

i got knocked back when this yr when i tried to do cooking....will apply for a baking course now but dont think im getting a look in because i left school at 16 and being 41 now think ive missed the boat yrs ago.....dont feel like anyone was willing to help me with my courses....but in all jobs i had i did well and moved up ladders in them all....thought this is what mature was all about..but seems i was wrong....

i really wanted health & safety but cudnt find any place that done it....any advice would be greatly appreciated...

K..

Larianne

There's a health and Safety course offered in UCD. I know a couple of guys who did the access to science and engineering course went on to do that course there.

Here's some info: http://www.ucd.ie/t4cms/UCD_HDipSHWW.pdf

Eire Go Brach

I am in the same boat as Ana. Im 35 left school in 5th year. I work full time as a printer. I have always done well in any job I did.

But I just want a change of career and I have no clue where to start.
I don't even have a clue what all the terms mean

But I do hope to do something soon. So I am starting now

pprendeville

i went back last year to study Chinese and International Business in DIT. I'm 30 in July. Very challenging course but very rewarding. highly recommended with good options for the future.

Abby19

For what it's worth, doing well in work, whether you have qualifications or not is only one indicator of possible success. Working is quite different to studying. You tend to do well in the group work, the practical work, the continuous assessment, but getting into the swing of studying can be difficult. You have a life, might have family commitments, financial considerations, etc. And chances are you may have killed off a few brain cells along the way.

If you have been out of education for a long time, and heading into a 4 year degree, it can be good to have a refresher (a lot of your classmates will be coming straight from school and the LC), to prepare you for your course, and see if you can hack the studying, and if it is all that it's cracked up to be. And if they offer a place to someone who does drop out (not saying it is going to be you), it means someone else doesn't get that spot.

HOS 1997

I've read this thread with great interest. Like others, I went from school to work and now want to go back to college to help me change career.

I was looking at accountancy but it is too similar to what I am doing now and what I want to move away from.

I've always been interested in history/politics and would love to do something in that field. Don't know where to start though - I would like to do a foundation/basic course first to get back into the routine of studying. I'm not sure what the job prospects are with a course like this behind me either.