Darlee Booth is a mature Microbiology student and you can read her story below.
My name is Darlee Booth and I’m 25. I'm from Downpatrick and I have two kids.
I had a horrible time in a previous relationship in which I was working 70 plus hours a week. I had my son and knew I didn’t want that situation for him so decided to change my situation.
I was studying in SERC Downpatrick for my GCSEs and I wasn’t really sure what to do afterwords. I heard about the Access course and thought this sounds like a great opportunity. I hadnt been interested in university before but thought this was a good time to go.
Honestly, I think I’m a lot more prepared than people who are coming straight from school as I’ve done assignments and stuff in Tech already. Whereas a lot of people I’ve talked to have done very few assignments in the style of university work as they’ve done mostly tests/exams. I’ve had no problems with assignments as I know how to structure and have done referencing before.
My major commitment is being a mother for my two young children. I had one of my children whilst completing my Access course. This can be stressful at times balancing studies with home life.
It's good getting out and meeting people that are like minded and have the same kind of goal essentially really, and I’ve always loved science.
Balancing it with being a mother of two young children as in particular, my son has some medical issues so I have to balance universtity with a lot of medical appointments, home life etc.
If I got overwhelmed, just taking a break is really all I can say. I know it sounds cliché but if I was stressed with an assignment or something, I’d just leave the work and go do something with the kids and come back later. This would save stressing out and not really getting anywhere with the work. Just go destress and then come back to it.