If you’d told me five years ago that I’d be sitting in 2026 about to start university, I’d have laughed. And laughed and laughed and laughed. Hell, if you’d told me 2 years ago I’d have laughed too. The truth is, there wasn’t one defining moment where I woke up and announced, “I’m going to university.” Not. Even. Close. It was a slow shift.

Not because I didn’t like learning or because I wasn’t capable but because I felt like I was too, well, old. University was something you did when you were 18. You left school, got your degree and started your career. That’s what most of my school friends did. I’d already done the career bit – 20-odd years in retail, customer service and ultimately self-employment. I was married with children, a mortgage and a life that I’m guessing looked pretty settled from the outside.

People joke about hitting “that funny age” and buying sports cars or climbing mountains. Me? I hate driving and am much too unfit for mountains so my midlife crisis involved enrolling on an HNC in Applied Science.

As my children grew into teenagers and became more independent, I found myself wondering what the next chapter of my own life might look like. I knew I still had (too) many working years ahead of me and that I wanted to spend them doing something that genuinely interested me. Unfortunately, what I was doing just didn’t cut it anymore. For the first time in a long time, I allowed myself to ask a question I’d played with, but never really made moves to action before….
What if I went back to school?

Did I mention that even after all this thinking I nearly didn’t go back at all?
The year before I started my HNC, I applied for a Higher Level Apprenticeship in Applied Science at a local further education college. I was excited, nervous and reasonably confident that it might be my route to an exciting new career – work 4 days in industry while completing one day in college. Earn while you learn, guaranteed job at the end of it and all that. It seemed the perfect compromise that would mean my family didn’t have to lose out while I studied. But, the huge spanner was about to be thrown in the works and I received a phone call asking about an Access course I’d completed years before. Specifically, they wanted to know how much chemistry it had included. The answer was simple – None. Zip, zilch, nada. I had done REALLY well in the biology portion, but the course hadn’t included Chemistry.

The response they gave to that revelation wasn’t what I had imagined or hoped. I was told that without a chemistry background I wouldn’t be able to “cope with the course”. And when I asked whether there was another course I could take first, or anything at all I could do to prepare myself and apply again the following year, the answer was a blunt “no” (and an immediate *clunk* as they hung up the phone). End of conversation.

I was completely deflated. I didn’t even look at their website again to figure out if I could study something remotely Chemistry-ish. I just resigned myself to the negative spiral of:  Maybe they were right. Maybe I had left it too late. Maybe I just wasn’t capable. Maybe you CAN’T teach an old dog new tricks. It’s amazing how quickly one person’s opinion can become your own inner voice.

Looking back now, I realise something really REALLY important (so sit up and pay attention folks!). Sometimes people aren’t judging your potential, they’re judging your starting point, and those are two VERY different things.

Then I met someone who saw things differently.
Fast forward to January of the following year. I was getting twitchy again. That desire hadn’t left me to do this course. I’d wallowed quite long enough in the self-doubt/pity inspired by my last short-lived foray into higher education. So, after some thought and research into my options I formulated a plot… (No Pinky, we aren’t trying to take over the world tonight!)… I would try one more time to gain a place on the HNC Applied Science in a DIFFERENT FE College, and if that failed, I would find somewhere to do a Chemistry A-Level. So, on my 39^th birthday, I applied to SERC for the HNC in Applied Science (Biology).

Walking into the interview, I was nervous but determined to be completely honest so before anyone even asked, I explained that my previous Access course hadn’t included chemistry. I also explained that if it meant I had to work harder than everyone else or do something else alongside the HNC, I was prepared to do whatever it took to succeed. The interview was with the course coordinator who didn’t seem remotely concerned (I later found out he was the Chemistry tutor too). And here’s where I knew THIS was my “place”… He wasn’t interested in what I didn’t know – he was interested in whether I was willing to learn and ultimately he gave me a chance.

That 15 minute conversation in May 2024 completely changed the direction of my life. (And that’s me being as un-dramatic as I can.)

Turns out that chance wasn’t wasted.
Starting the course was daunting. I felt sick walking in on that first day. What if I was just kidding myself and I fell at the first hurdle? I went in to my 2 year part-time course thinking if I could just make it til Christmas of Year 1 I should be ok. Academic writing, referencing, practicals, revision… none of it felt completely natural at first, and chemistry definitely required some extra reading. But gradually, something funny happened… I remembered how much I actually loved learning. Not because this was just the next step in the path well trodden and I had to, but because I really actually wanted to. Every assignment I completed chipped away at the little voice telling me I was too old or too far removed from education. Every surprise distinction I achieved reminded me that experience counts for something. The organisational skills I’d built through years of work, the resilience that comes from juggling whatever family life throws at you, the ability to stay calm when things don’t go to plan…. None of those disappeared just because I’d racked up a few decades on the calendar, in fact if anything, that, lets call it “life experience”, just bolstered my biggest strengths.

By the end of the two years, I graduated with an HNC Applied Science with an overall Distinction. Somewhere between that phone call and graduation, I’d stopped trying to prove to anyone else I could do it because I’d proved it to myself and THAT is what mattered. That HNC opened the door to studying Biomedical Science at Queen’s University Belfast. Going to university just wasn’t part of the master plan… until it became the whole plan, but that my friend, is a story for another day.

Looking back, I’m incredibly grateful that one person was willing to look beyond what I was missing on paper and see what I was prepared to bring instead.

And now?
As I write this in July 2026 I’m preparing to start a Biomedical Science degree at Queen’s University Belfast. (Why Biomedical Science? Well, that’s a post all of its own!) I have no idea what the next few years will bring. I’m a bag of nervous, excited energy with a healthy dose of self doubt, because here’s the thing, I know I completely exceeded all of my own expectations throughout the HNC, but this is new. This is different. All those familiar “what ifs” are back. But here’s what I do know: There will be moments where I question myself, get overwhelmed by assignments, or wonder why on earth I ever thought this was a sensible idea but there will also be moments that remind me exactly why I started.

That’s what this blog is for.

It’s not to pretend I’ve got everything figured out or the perfect advice to impart. Because I don’t. I just want to try and (honestly) document what it’s like to do university in your forties—the wins and the wobbles and everything in between.

If you’re thinking about going back to education yourself, I hope my story will reassure you that it’s never as late as your inner critic likes to suggest. And if you’re already on the same journey, I’d love to know how your experiences compare!

Either way, WELCOME. I suspect we’re going to have plenty to talk about.

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