I love the term “Mature student”.
My wife said to me when I was accepted as a direct entry “It will be funny; you’ll be a mature student”. The reason we found this so funny is there is very little that’s mature about me. I still listen to the same pop punk bands I listened to when I was fourteen, I still refuse the notion that I’m too old to be in a nightclub during the week and still feel as young as I did when I left school. So why am I a mature student?
Well firstly I’m eight years older that most in my class, I ask more questions than I probably should and I sit in the front row just to make sure I don’t miss anything! Jokes aside though I feel like I enjoy University more than I ever have. By being able to relate a lot of what I learn to real life experiences I have had I enjoy it a lot more than I did previously.
But how will this mature student go and live somewhere abroad with so many commitments at home in Edinburgh…
The reason all this exchange talk happened in the first place was the simple. I asked myself the question all third years ask themselves, or really should ask themselves…” What I am going to write my dissertation on?”.
Luckily I had been thinking about this for a while. Being lucky enough to work in the social service sector I decided I will incorporate my work into my studies. Why ignore a wealth of experience and potential research opportunities that I am exposed too for sixteen hours a week? It was decided. I will be writing my dissertation on disability rights amongst the people of Edinburgh in relation to the job market.
But wait, why stop at Edinburgh? Could I carry out research in Glasgow, or London, or…. The United States? Surely not. The home of the disability rights movement in the 1970s. That would be too good.
Well turns out it wasn’t too good, it was possible.
But how easy would this be…
