Sense of purpose on access course

Tom began the course 13 years after leaving school

BBC technician Thomas Magnusson continues writing about his return to the education system via a Thames Valley University access course.

I have now managed to get myself halfway through the year and I feel that I am doing really well.

All the fears that I had initially are gone but instead new ones have arrived.

I never thought I would get the jeepers before handing in essays and having exams - but waiting for the results is a nightmare. As I have never gone through these sorts of issues before I feel quite terrified at the thought of failing.

When we started the course the teachers asked us why we wanted to study business.

At the time I really had no clue, but it seemed like the right thing to do considering my background is in IT and I wanted to further myself within information systems. The aim was always to continue to study beyond this year.

Careers

What I have found really amazing is when I have asked friends and colleagues why they went to university and what they studied, some of the answers are quite funny.

Almost all of the time they were not even close, in their subsequent careers, to using what they had studied.

One friend studied languages at university and does now work in the European branch of a big international company - but as an accountant.

Another studied history at university and is now working as a manager of accountants.

An old friend from school in Sweden, whom I met in November for the first time for over 16 years, told me he was now studying to become an architect, which I thought was great.

I asked him why - and his answer was that a friend of his had told him it was a cool thing to study.

Interview preparation

In general it seems that people who start studying later on in life are more focused and know what they want to study and why, whereas students fresh out of school perhaps choose a course without really knowing why.

Those on my course are now applying for places at university and preparing ourselves by doing mock interviews to learn to give the correct answers when asked questions by professors.

My friend's choice of work and study is in the back of my head.

I wonder how the professor would react if I was to say when asked why I had chosen a particular course - "Well I don't know, my friend said it was cool so I thought I might do it", or "I am not really sure".

On a more serious note, it is quite difficult as you have to sit down and really think though the questions you think they might ask, then answer them.

It might sound really easy but in fact it is not. Thankfully we had our teacher there to help us otherwise I believe we would have been a lost cause.

So far we have studied and finished off human resource management, e-business, ICT, maths, personal and professional development, academic and written communication.

The final part of the course is accounting, marketing and maths. It has been very interesting so far and I can't wait for the final part to start.

This course has been really fantastic for me, I am really enjoying it and I really feel that I am achieving a lot which I bring into my position at work. I feel more confident in what I am doing as I have learnt quite a bit.

The course has been quite tough. Mixing work, studies and social life is not easy.

I need to take two days off a week for university. They are very sympathetic at work and make it easy for me to study, for which I am very grateful.