How to prepare for University as a mature student UK 2025

Disclosure: The Graduate Samaritan is a free independent blog supported by its readers; this post may contain affiliate links that may earn a tiny commission to help the blog sustain itself, thank you for supporting this independent blog! (full disclaimer here)

Here we are, (almost) ready to start this life changing experience. Probably you can feel the mix of excitement and anxiety coming together! In this article you can find some tips on how to prepare for University as a mature student with 5 simple activities.

Many people when are about to start university as mature students, have doubts regarding their “cognitive abilities”.

Basically, they are not sure about competing with younger students, or at least performing at their level.

Some common thoughts among them: “I have been out of education for a long time, will I be able to cope with the university workload?”; or “I haven’t written an essay in years, I don’t even know how to start!”

Coping with a university degree as a mature student is not easy indeed. The study workload gradually increases to a level that requires a real effort and dedication.

As per most mature students, having to deal with jobs and/or family commitments on top of studying does not make things easier at all.

So what can you do ahead of university to be ready academically?

When to start preparing for university as a mature student

It is important to identify a somewhat indicative point in time to start preparing for university.

This is something that might vary according to your specific situation. However, it would be ideal to start squeezing some time in approximately one month/few weeks prior your start.

By doing so, all the activities we will be discussing later in the post will still be “fresh” in your mind when you actually start.

Do it with curiosity rather than anxiety!

Obviously, this is something you do not need to stress about. Take your time and do it with curiosity rather than anxiety!

Generally, the first two/three weeks of university are very light, and designed to give you an overview of the topics covered in your modules.

During this period you will probably have the opportunity to change your course selection; should you realise that some are not as interesting to you as originally thought (unless mandatory).

It is after that point that the workload starts to increase! Mind that, after passing that introductory period, changing course selection will be more complicated and you might need to wait a long time.

This is important as, after passing that threshold, you might not be able to drop out from a course you are enjoying to enrol into another one.

Best study books for mature students

If you are unsure about your study skills, below you can find some great study guides for people returning to education, all available on Amazon UK.

These were recommended by mature students from our Reddit Community, obviously feel free to join! You might find them useful for your mature student journey! (p.n. all links to Amazon UK)

• The Return to Study Handbook: Study Skills for Mature, Distance, and Workplace Learners.
• The Mature Student’s Guide to Writing (Palgrave Study Skills);
• The Mature Student’s Handbook: 47 (Macmillan Study Skills);
• Effective Notetaking (Study Skills), by Fiona McPherson;
• The Mature Student’s Study Guide: 2nd edition: Essential Skills for Those Returning to Education or Distance Learning.

How to prepare for university as a mature student

Now I will go through 5 tips on how to prepare for University as a mature student. These simple activities could make things a lot easier for you.

1. Read/keep up with the News

A lot of people are so into the work and home life that do not keep up with the news at all. Knowing what is happening around you, at a national and international level, is very important for university.

This is because, a lot of academic debate during class can actually happen around the news. Therefore, if you are not aware of the news, you might miss out on insightful debates and conversations.

As a start, if you aren’t already, try to get into the habit of reading the news on a daily basis. The BBC News website is a fantastic source, their articles are generally very well written.

They also use a variety of technical and sophisticated words that are worth getting used to. These can come in handy when writing essays or delivering presentations!

2. Prepare your own Glossary of Terms (key activity!)

After you get used to reading the news, you should then focus on the subjects you are going to study. This is extremely important and, it will save you tons of time later!!

One of the most time consuming activity during for all students, particularly at the beginning, is to search the definitions of complex words and acronyms.

This definition-searching process can sometimes take you more time than actually studying! A very wise thing to do is to create your own glossary of terms.

This is certainly a key activity to do in order to prepare for university efficiently as a mature student.

Firstly, start reading simple basic articles and academic readings related to your degree (get used to Google Scholar and other academic sources if you already have access!)

Secondly, highlight anything you don’t know the meaning of. Keep it simple, look for recurring themes/concepts rather than every single words, otherwise it would get too much.

Lastly, find the definition of those words, understand it and rewrite it in your own words. This last step is extremely important.

Why this is helpful to prepare for university

By making your own glossary of terms beforehand, you will be able to attend lectures and actually follow them without problems.

Whereas it is common to forget a definition/terminology some time after reading it, rewriting in your own words will help you retain them for longer, much longer.

Moreover, this is an activity you could, and should, continue throughout your studies. So your glossary of terms will keep growing, and your technical knowledge will grow with it!

(suggestion: using an alphabetical notebook will make everything easier to note down and search.)

3. Maths Revision (basic)

If you think that mathematics is not relevant to your subject, you are wrong! Obviously, some subjects naturally involve a higher level of maths than others, but this is not the point.

Revising maths, especially if you have been away from it for a long time, is key to prepare for university as a mature student!

No matter what subjects you will study, doing some revision will be beneficial. Why? You might not even notice it, but by doing that you will sharpen your cognitive skills!

You will be able to (re)develop skills such as problem solving, analytical thinking, testing hypothesis, collecting-validating-interpreting data and so on.

There is no need to go crazy about it. Again, some very simple and basic maths to refresh those skills and get them going!

Here you can find an interesting article about the importance of numeracy as well as useful resources for exercises: National Numeracy – why is numeracy important?

4. Plan ahead to prepare for University and Life schedule

You will hear this term a lot during your academic experience, alongside time management. Planning ahead is really another key factor to prepare for university as a mature student.

But what exactly can you do before actually starting university? The first thing is to request/find the academic calendar for your degree and all subjects, if available.

Alternatively, most universities usually can provide access to the previous academic year’s calendar. However, mind that most likely that will differ from your actual schedule.

But why is this an important thing to do? You could get a lot of useful information just by scrolling trough the calendar.

For example, how many days (and which ones) per week you would need to attend lectures; or an estimate of those if using the old calendar.

Mind that, during an academic year, there are not just the obvious breaks such as festive breaks and bank holydays; but also study/reading weeks, exam weeks and many other breaks you probably won’t know about.

Knowing when those breaks are can help you plan your work/family commitments. As a mature student, this is a massive help!

5. Pre-Networking

Another important recommendation is to start building your student network as soon as possible. Unfortunately, many mature students feel inappropriate for the university environment.

As a result, they tend to isolate and struggle to socialise with other students. You are not alone! There are a lot of mature students in the UK, you will be actually surprised to meet so many!

If you are looking for some inspiration, here you can find some successful UK mature student stories published on the blog! Who knows, maybe one day you will share yours and inspire others.

In any case, you shouldn’t really limit your network to fellow mature students, but to all students. Mind that, during your studies, you will most likely have to undertake group projects.

Therefore, sooner or later you will need to interact with much younger students as well. This would be way better, and easier, if you knew someone already!

Social media platforms can be very helpful for building your network before jumping into your mature student journey.

Find and join all possible groups (usually on Facebook) related to your university and interests. These might include a mature student group/society, your degree course group (either current intake or previous ones), or little hobbies you have for which there might a society for!

How to find them? Just go on the search bar and literally type what you are looking for, and the name of the university.

You cannot imagine how useful those groups can be beforehand, and during your studies! You can ask all your questions there, find other (mature) students, share tips and so on.

Conclusions on how to prepare for University as a mature student

If you have been out of education for a long time, starting university as a mature student might look harder than it actually is.

Hopefully this post has given you some ideas of what you can do to prepare ahead of your university start. These simple activities can really help you get ready for this unique and exciting mature student journey.

Summing everything up: read the news every day; prepare a glossary of terms for your course, revise some basic maths; start expanding your university network early.

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail” ― Benjamin Franklin

Disclaimer

As usual, we need to disclaim the obvious. Everything you read on this blog is based on the authors’ opinions, experience and research. Therefore, consider it as an opinion only, thank you for reading!