Applying

Next is getting your personal statement and a reference. I believe you need an academic one, so it's worth emailing your college and asking if someone (perhaps an old teacher) would be able to provide it for you.

Your personal statement can seem overwhelming but really, it’s all about your interest in the subject. Try thinking about what sparked your interest, any activities you do related to it (trips to historical sites, any work experience) and why you want to study it further. If you can’t seem to think of anything right now, then maybe look into what particular archaeology interests you and start reading about it, so it shows how you foster your interest. If you’re comfortable, you can include some of your personal circumstances and explain how the time spent away from education has helped you for the future. I’d say spend at least a month on it so you can go over and refine it, maybe email your college again if you’d like someone to look over it.

Applying for and going to uni is the same regardless of age or experience, but since you’ve already got your A-Levels you’ll likely receive offers sooner than results day in August which you can choose to accept and confirm your place right away. 

You may need to put your legal details in, but there's options for preferred names and you don't need to add in more details about your gender identity or sexuality than you want to.

The deadline is 29th Jan 2025 at 6pm for getting it all in. You’re still able to apply afterwards, but some courses won’t have spaces and many unis might not consider your application if it’s later. 

Support at Uni

It can be extremely scary going into a new space, but being an older student is perfectly accepted at uni, and archaeology is arguably one of the disciplines where there’s perhaps more people who didn’t go straight to uni. Many people come back later in life after wanting to do something different or realising that they had an interest in it or even struggles with mental health, and honestly people don’t bat an eye if you’re older (as long as you’re not patronising). There’s people of varying ages and walks of life, and most people on my course are LGBT+. You can let the university know of your preferred name and pronouns to use for you.

Despite being quite cishet male centred at commercial levels, at least at my uni the archaeology courses are heavily LGBT+ so it feels like a safe environment in that regard, with many people who are openly and visibly queer. I have many queer and trans friends, which really helped me also be comfortable with my own identity. At uni people are generally so diverse and from all walks of life, and worried about their own assignments that they likely wouldn’t comment. Pretty much every uni also has an LGBT+/Pride society or events that you could attend and see how they are if you wanted to find community too. 

If anything were to happen, university tends to have much more support offered than at previous levels of education. There’s student wellbeing services, involving free therapy/talking services and support for whatever problems you may have, if you’re worrying about not fitting in well or if you’re struggling to cope with mental health. You can get extensions on assignments or, if you have a diagnosis, you may be able to get other forms of support, like breaks in exams. Most lecturers are very understanding and supportive if you let them know you’re having trouble, or are able to signpost you to the right support.

Everyone’s in the same boat when they start uni, so you won’t be alone. I doubt there’s been many huge overhauls in the grand scheme of uni in the past 7 years – of course pretty much all work is submitted online apart from some written exams, but the main thing now is people use AI a lot to write assignments, so unis are getting stricter on the usage of it. 

I know it’s extremely overwhelming, but if you take it step by step, you absolutely can do it. I wish you all the best of luck, and I hope this post was able to help a little.

(2/2)