I began my undergraduate degree at 41 years old expecting to make no friends and to finish within three years. Four years later, with multiple friendships formed, I can say that my university experience turned out to be far richer - and more complicated - than I had anticipated!

My first year

In my first year, I had caring responsibilities. My mom was recovering from cancer, and my job was to call in and run a few errands as and when required. This setup gave me a little extra income and meant I didn’t need to find a separate part-time job to fund my studies. It was somewhat of a luxurious situation, as I could work around my timetable and my ‘boss’ was very accommodating. I did pretty decently in my first year, but as it was only worth 10 per cent of my whole degree, there was a lot of pressure on my second year.

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My second year

During year two, I needed to find part-time work, as my mom was well again and cancer free. I found a job in a supermarket from October through December. It required me to work 12 hours a week, a good fit I thought. But by November, the workload became too much, and I dropped down to one shift per week, which they graciously allowed. Unfortunately, during the Christmas break - a crucial period for coursework and revision - the supermarket pressured me into picking up extra shifts, and feeling indebted, I agreed. That decision was one of several that contributed to a very difficult academic year.

My son was in year 12 in my second year, and as I had been so focused on my own education I didn’t notice he had started falling behind at school. I needed to take action and start monitoring his schoolwork. One of his science teachers decided the class should do their first try at their science GCSE exams in the spring period, so I dropped everything I could to help him through. This ended up being a particularly stressful time.

Managing priorities

My Chemistry degree was very demanding in terms of constant coursework, labs, and class tests, and with four looming May exams only a few months away, the pressure was constant and taking a toll.
I used to study well in the McClay Library, and in the first term I spent a few hours most days working through material. But as my son required more of my attention (whether he liked it or not), I had to knock the library sessions on the head and race home after class to keep an eye on him.

My son also started playing basketball in Newry which I was delighted about (team sports are the best), but during one of these sessions the weekly round trip in the mom taxi went awry. Trying to save time, I took a shortcut which turned out to be a dead end. Upon doing a u-turn, I ended up needing to wait two hours for a recovery vehicle to pull my car out of a hidden bank. I had way too much on my plate and the photo I took really summed up how my year was going:

I was School Rep in year two, a position no one had put their name forward for, but a role I felt it was important to be filled. The demands from the post weren’t huge but they were yet another attention drain from my academics.

I don’t know what it feels like to be a student without commitments outside of university. I imagine there are very few! Those that solely get to focus on their degree are incredibly lucky but I’m not bitter - there is great pride in making it through hard times and reaching the other side. It is what they call character building, and at by then 43, what a privilege it was to have had the opportunity to have formed more character!

By late December everything became too much, and I knew I was facing failure if I kept multitasking. So I left the job, resigned from the School Rep position, made my son and his friend get the bus to Newry, and hunkered down to finish the final term. 

This is what I needed, and for a month things were back on track until I slipped on stairs in my house during the spring reading week. I gave myself a crippling shoulder injury for two weeks. But even with the ditching of all expendable extracurriculars, the enormous coursework burden and background GCSE tutoring meant that come exam time I was completely burnt out.

I had every intention of sitting the May exams - I had revised and was as exam-ready as I could be, but the demands of a year I’d rather forget had taken its toll and my mental health had plummeted. The university does have systems in place for situations like mine - forms to fill out, doctors’ notes to provide. As the saying goes, ‘The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.’

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An unplanned but necessary year out

This led to an unplanned year out-a year which I didn’t know I needed and turned out to be incredibly useful. It gave me the chance to earn enough money to fund my final year without needing a part-time job while I gained invaluable industry experience. This experience led to a career path change and I decided teaching was for me. 

Final year

So back to September of final year (year 3 but the 4th year for me) and I was prepared. I cleared the decks...mostly (I again found myself volunteering - I can’t help it!). But from the first day I got my head down, batted away distractions, and focused on the degree as much as I could.

Now some unforeseen demands did arise - I had PGCE applications/interviews to take time out for; I developed Keratitis during the spring reading week (more hospital visits); and we had a desperately sad bereavement in March. But as my awesome son had gotten himself back on track, and my single mindedness had left me with some breathing room for those unplanned events, I ended up making it through the final year in one piece! Likely with an upper second class degree but definitely with a first in resilience!

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Mature students at Queen's

Caroline Chemistry | Undergraduate Student | NI Hi, I’m Caroline, a Chemistry student. I’m a Mom to a 17 year old, and am in my 40s so I fall firmly into the mature student category. I’m a bit of a nerd, I enjoy new challenges (hence this blog), and I’ve really enjoyed getting stuck into both my degree and as much of the extra bits of student life at Queen’s as my time has allowed for. I’m Treasurer for the Mature Student Society and am looking forward to doing a few more social outings with them - in particular the games night, I love a good table top game!