I secured a place to study my MA in Creative Writing at Christ Church in January 2018, with a September start. One of the biggest concerns that I faced while preparing for going back to university was the adjustment period – by this point, I had been out of education for two years, focusing on my own efforts in getting a job in the Publishing industry.

One concern that I think is very real with mature students is the worry that after spending time outside of university and making a path for themselves outside of education, they won’t be able find many people their own age, which is not true! Canterbury Christ Church is open for people from all ages and situations. I was never made to feel alone as I continued to reach out to people both older and younger than me.

Studying a Masters degree required much more time, effort and energy than my undergraduate degree, and I was worried that with my time out of university I wouldn’t be able to handle being back at university – and I wouldn’t be able to find people that I could do things with outside my course. One way that I accomplished this was joining a few societies. Joining societies such as the Arts, Crafts & Media society and keeping in touch with other people in the Mature Students society helped me be less stressed about my experience studying.

A combination of my course and work outside of it kept me too busy to consider the stressful aspects of joining again – for example, volunteering for local businesses and going to the gym has led me to become more fit and healthy, while giving me the opportunity to give back to the people around me.