I don't know, maybe. Have you done any short courses recently? Would part-time be worth a look?

>Also if anyone went to uni a mature student, how is that experience? I'm in my thirties now, would I stick out like a sore thumb?

Yeah but you can still make friends with other mature students. I started at 22 and even that made a lot of difference in the first year or two. The lads in their 30s, 40s and 50s generally lived more monastic lives so don't expect the party life.

I can't answer the funding stuff, but nothing ventured nothing gained - you might as well ring SFE to see where you stand.

>Also if anyone went to uni a mature student, how is that experience? I'm in my thirties now, would I stick out like a sore thumb?

You will stick out like a sore thumb, but it's totally fine. Lecturers nearly always prefer mature students, because they tend to be much less annoying as long as they resist the temptation to be a smart-arse. If you try and fit in with your younger peers than you'll look totally pathetic, but it's very easy to slip into the more age-appropriate role of a kindly uncle. When you've been in the adult world for a while, you forget just how daft and incompetent and scared the average 18-year-old is, especially when they're living away from home for the first time. Even if you're a bit of a fuck-up by adult standards, having a few basic life skills will make you seem incredibly worldly-wise to them.

A friend of mine had a similar experience to this. She kept having mental health difficulties, and repeated multiple years of her degree, but she was active and did a lot of good things for the department, or so she says, so in the end they just let her write some cheap essay about why she loved studying there and gave her the degree for that, just because everyone wanted her to succeed. She was older than everyone else too, but she was under 30. However, all mature students are the same age in the eyes of non-mature students, so you should be fine there.

Could you give a percentage chance of you dropping out again? If you really don't think it'll happen again, like say a 5% chance, you should definitely go for it. If the chances are 25-30% even with your improved health, maybe brace yourself for rejection. But you should still try. Why would you do their job of rejecting you for them? Make them do it, at the very least.

>>6487
>>6488
When I retaking courses I was generally the oldest on each cohort as each time I retook I'd be with the year below. One time there were a couple of 40 year olds, another time I was the oldest by far (at only 23ish).

I live with my girlfriend in the city I would study at, so it's not like I'll be the 31 year old boomer in a halls of residence while 18/19 year olds are getting pissed and playing FIFA in the common room.

>>6489
The percentage of dropping out is very low. This is the course I wanted to study when I was 16, but was talked out of it by my family. If I give an actual fuck about something, I find learning about and writing about it much easier. I read deeply into this subject for pure enjoyment. I think that biggest barriers are whether I can get funding, and overcoming that fear/stigma of being a mature student on a course that will likely be mostly 18 year old freshers.

>>6486
Something very similar happened to me, although I was only in uni from 2012 - 2018 which might make a difference. I really don't want to give you false hope here but when I contacted student finance back in 2020 I was told that if I wanted to start another full time degree I would have to pay the tuition fee for the first year myself but that they would pay the tuition fee for the next two years and that I was entitled to the full maintenance loan for every year including the first. Alternatively they'd fund an Open University course which is what I ended up doing because of the pandemic.
Student finance were genuinely really helpful when I phoned them, all of my previous extension applications were on file so they knew my circumstances and the advisor was able to tell me what funding they'd give me in minutes. I know it's nerve wracking, I was shitting myself for every second I listened to that awful hold music, but you have to phone them.

Applied to uni last Friday. Got an unconditional offer today. Spoke to SFE a couple of weeks ago who said as long I've got evidence there's no reason not to fund me. Hopefully my psychiatrist will provide a good letter.

Maybe I can do this.

>>6497
I'm genuinely excited for you, man.

>>6497

Good for you mate. Best of luck.

Place accepted on course, student finance secured, DSA assessment done. I'm just really nervous now because of being a mature student, and because I'm panicking about the course itself. I know I can do it but it's scary doing something I've never formally studied before, with skills and practices very far removed from just researching and writing essays. I'm excited, but scared, by the prospect of having to create and design stuff.

Fuck Yeah!
(Create and design stuff, you say? Surely there's an AI to fuck that up for you?)
Anyway, mature studenting is my dream, so have at it, vicariously.

>>6500

Feel free to disregard, but if I could offer one bit of advice, I'd say try and stay in close communication with your profs and tutors. The last thing you want is to get stuck and feel alienated from the course, so make sure you always have a point of contact for when the going gets rough.

Other than that point, well done on taking the leap, lad. You will come out better for it.

Start tomorrow. Excited/nervous. Found out the course leader, who is my personal tutor, worked where I used to work and left there to study this course as a mature student, just years and years ago. I found that quite reassuring because (hopefully) he can give some tips on being that old boomer.

Three assessments in first term. Multiple choice exam, design project, and 1500 word essay. 1500 words is a lot less than I'm used to, especially because this subject is something I know/care about so I have plenty to say.

This seems very doable.

>>6503

Best of luck, lad, and well done for having the stones to actually try. It sounds like you're setting off on the right foot also.

Keep us posted.

>>6503

You'll smash it mate. Never too old to learn and all that.