OT. re-training, returning to study ? experiences?

[Queen Firey-Bou]

okay hive,

what are your thoughts experiences?
being mature students?
going back to study after... 17 years in this case,
any of you done this & still managed to support a family?
with no money in the coffers,
i'd have to give up secure tenancy & find housing & school for mini-bou.

never mind the actual course i'm sure they'll just laugh me outtof the house.
i looked at the degree show stuff, & jesus was i intimidated, & i really think i can cut a post grad?

how much does it cost to live in full time education for a year ? will they let dogs & kids on campus ?

shit.

[Floyd-the-k]

Hi Bou,

Dunno about costs, but I loved being a mature age student the last time I tried it. Great fun.
  By a curious coincidence, I'm about to try the same thing myself next year.  I'm nervous about it but looking forward to it.    
  I think there is a bit of help around for those with families.

yours equally trepidated

[Noisybast]

My advice would be... practically worthless in this case, I'm afraid.

Here's my 10 step plan for going nowhere fast:

1. Enquire about suitability of MSc cousre.
2. Believe lies about course content.
3. Apply for MSc course at last minute.
4. Enquire about possiblity of 12-month reduction in working hours.
5. Believe employer's lies ("Of course we'll let you go back to full-time when you finish")
6. Work arse off to finish coursework, whilst lazy bastard teammates slack off & take credit for your hard work.
7. Collect qualification. Fail to achieve anything with it. Pay 3 grand for privilege.
8. Fail to increase working hours - fall into further debt.
9. Eventually (12 months later) manage to secure overtime working revoltingly unsocial hours to try to make hours up to somethiung approaching full-time
10. Become bitter & twisted shell of a human being. Complain to all & sundry at every available opportunity.

[Queen Firey-Bou]

m'okay, thats what i feared, bearing in mind i have juves to look after so probably can't work & study,

i dunno if the course content is lies, i'm too thick to understand it.   electronic imaging MSc.. ? i believe its something to do with film & tele & computers & animation.  waaay outta my league i'm thinking.

but then i'm already a debt ridden bitter twisted shell of humanity so whats to loose.... ah, a nice secure tenancy.... ie , a home.

[petemaskreplica]

Heh, I was just thinking while battling my way round Camden the other day that if you had a stall there you'd clean up :)

Have you looked into doing Open University type stuff? If you're not looking to move, something like that might suit you quite well, some kind of part-time course you can get the work done in the evening. Which might take a bit of time away from the kids, but surely they're old enough to cope with that by now?

My personal experience of mature students is middle-aged blokes with beards... I thought them so lame at the time. How fate comes back to kick you on the arse.

[Queen Firey-Bou]

cleaning up ? argHHHHG !  thats what i do every day.. more bleach vicar ?

aye sadly, if i coulda produced enough pottery & punted it thru the right arty ferty gallerys, i'd a done fine, people liked the work. stockholm was another place which seemed to appriciate proper crafts... however unless a nice shed somewhere appears in next 6 months thats pottery over. been there done it.

done OU. really enjoyed it.

and yes i am looking to move, figured a funky new direction college course to be a good way to ease myself make into normal society.  annoyingly enough , if it was some dumb old diploma in hotel studies, or 'management', or 'how to sponge european subsidies to impress tourists with pointless crap' i'd get the whole lot paid by the enterprise company.

[Trout]

Hi, Bou.

If you work out what course you want to do, and where it is, then you can do it.

Just take things in the right order. Find a course with prospects first, then accommodation. Waitressing or bar work is fairly easy to get (please don't flame me, waiting and bar staff!) and you should be able to add to your income with things like family credit. Then sort out a school. Mini-Bou will cope.

You're intelligent and capable enough to get it done.

Good luck!

- Trout













PS: You smell of shite :-P

[Art]

Are  there any courses available in Bounty Hunting?

[Generally Contrary]

That's only offered by the Open College of the Arts.

[Noisybast]

Having read my last rant back, I think I just may have come across as a tiny bit negative.
Don't let my whinging deter you, Bou - I was stuck in work, in a bad mood, and a tad frustrated at the glacier-like progress of my search for another job.
I think I should pay a visit to Larf's whinging thread.

Sorry if I put you off!

[Quirkafleeg]

You can study to be a private eye by mail order...

[Queen Firey-Bou]

rolls eyes,

gaawd you guys just don't pay attention, ive done the bounty hunter course with the open college of the arts, the market in bounty hunting has bottomed right out here.

i also did the private eye mail order course, it turns out to be a con & all the PE's were actually spying on each other to see who got the best grades, the standard of tutoring was terrible. I didnt mind one guy called jack point, but sometimes the phone tutorials were run by his assistant mr raptor, he was a complete heid the ba' .

[GordonR]

"You can study to be a private eye by mail order..."

Or you could save yourself some money and learn it on your own.  Following people, stealing and opening their mail, listening in on private conversations, watching them at night through the windows of their homes...it's all good on-the-job training.

[Queen Firey-Bou]

indeed gordon, Btw , Is that a new top youre wearing ?

[Something Fishy]

I have just this year returned to study.

I have gone part time at work on order to study a PGCE part time.

Things are tight financially as a result but i am really enjoying it and can see lots of potential for putting it into use (am already doing my training practice through work as our trainer - the PGCE is for Post Compulsory Ed).

Wife has been really supportive which has helped greatly.

All in all it is going OK thus far.