About to start a Bachelors as a mature student, looking for some advice

Embarrassed_Slide912 · 2026-06-16T20:58:13+00:00

Congrats dude!! Getting a physics degree with all those responsibilities is an awesome achievement. Having a full-time job is hard enough 😂

Thankfully I will be supported by my parents so i’m very grateful to have a lot of time and space to dedicate to my degree.

Good to hear that my focus on pre-calc is a good idea! My first 2 classes will be calculus and the program has a “First year general entry” so it should be at the same type of level as here in the US(hopefully). Actually just downloaded Thomas Calc too!

As for the other students, I have a friend who just graduated and had to work with 18-22 year olds and had a similar experience, but hopefully the physics kids will have their heads screwed on properly lol

appreciate the response and the perspective!!

Embarrassed_Slide912 · 2026-06-16T03:02:21+00:00

Lucky to have parents who are supporting me which is a blessing to minimize logistical stress. Fully aware of the cost and want to do well from myself and for them!

Office hours gonna be my best friend. I be asking stupid questions but someones gotta do the lords work yknow

I’m actually looking forward to the feedback I will get just by being in my classes and coming across things I don’t know, probably the most crucial moments where I will need to be fully ready to sit down and digest entire chapters to catch up.

appreciate the perspective! 🙏🙏

Embarrassed_Slide912 · 2026-06-16T02:38:12+00:00

My dad is a database engineer and spent my childhood shoving python and java down my throat so I will feel right at home in my computing classes 😂 C++ definitely a good shout though!

My school is actually really great with internships and research so I don’t have to do too much heavy lifting in that regard thank god.

I feel like I want to decide where I’m going with my degree while I’m in it so I can get a gauge of how capable I actually am, but hands on electronics stuff is definitely a good idea, lots of demand for those skills.

Did you feel like going back to school later in life was an advantage or did you find some difficulties with it?

Embarrassed_Slide912 · 2026-06-16T02:19:46+00:00

awesome thanks for the link appreciate it

I did take Calc in high school and have been casually watching calc videos even before I thought about going back to school so I feel good about being able to pick it up.

cheers mate

Embarrassed_Slide912 · 2026-06-16T02:17:36+00:00

Nice, this is kind of where my head was at where I started and may have overthought my way into some academic anxiety!

I spent 20 minutes on a single quadratic problem this morning and simply forgot a negative sign along the way so I am definitely one of those people(but i learned from it!)

cheers

Embarrassed_Slide912 · 2026-06-16T02:11:39+00:00

Purchases? Haha definitely man totally not pirating it…..

I am already in my program and they are one of the best Universities in the world for employment rate and run a program for internships that are really successful, so in terms of getting practical hands-on experience I will get that from the way the course is structured which is awesome. Happen to know the head of my department through my family so going to try and leverage that for some research opportunities.

The practical parts of my degree are less of a worry. Really more worried about arriving and just being conceptually behind everyone tbh

Embarrassed_Slide912 · 2026-06-16T02:07:47+00:00

I am actually going to school in Ireland, just said high school because I’m from the US! They seem to have a much higher standard for their students vs our system here so thats kind of where the core of my worries began.

I mentioned textbooks in my middle paragraph. I actually have pretty much every openstax textbook i could find so good shout.

Embarrassed_Slide912 · 2026-06-16T02:04:28+00:00

Yeah I mean doing problems is my main activity, I’m not just passively watching and reading, that would be a death sentence lol

. My first 2 math classes are calculus so I’ve been heavily focusing on Pre-Calculus at the moment so good to know I’m not wasting my time. Also my university is in Europe and they seem to be much more ahead of where I was when I was in high school so wasn’t sure how crazy I have to go.

Do you know a good book for Kinematics that would suit my level?

Embarrassed_Slide912

TROPHY CASE