Studying Social and Political Sciences as a mature student

Hi! I’m Tugba. I am a final year mature student studying BA Social and Political Sciences. I am going to share my experiences as a mature student who has no educational background in the UK and I hope my journey will help prospective students with similar backgrounds.

Why Social and Political Sciences suit me so perfectly

I have a strong passion for being part of a change that makes life better for all of us
and linked to this passion, politics and related disciplines have always been
fascinating for me. After being an activist and working as a journalist a while ago in
my home country, I decided to study a course related to my interest. It was not easy to make a choice among very fascinating options. After looking at the available
options, I decided to apply for Social and Political Sciences at the University of York for a number of reasons.

Firstly, Social and Political Sciences provide an opportunity to analyse complex world problems and address these problems by drawing knowledge and perspective from Politics and International Relations, Social Policy and Sociology with the assistance of leading academics in their fields as a member of a Russell Group university.

Studying three different disciplines in one course gave me a great chance to have a
wider perspective and greatly enhanced my options for work and applying for
postgraduate courses. This unique experience sometimes makes me think that we
have three different pairs of magical glasses to see the world and each of these
glasses is more fascinating than one another.

As I mentioned about work and postgraduate options, I want to happily add that I
perfectly combine my studies with volunteering in a national third party organisation to support migrants. One of the optional modules I’m studying in my final year is Migration, Immigration and Social Policy. I am so happy that I have the chance to volunteer in a non-governmental organisation where I can combine the knowledge I acquired during my studies with real-life practices and experiences in a professional work environment.

How challenging times turn into success

Going back to the beginning; when I started my studies, I was quite anxious about
my potential and whether I could be successful in my studies or not because I do not have any educational background in the UK and as a mature student, I had a long gap since I last studied years ago in my home country. But, despite all these worries, I have been provided great support to improve my academic skills and thanks to this support, I managed to transform my anxieties into accomplishments smoothly.

In addition to the support I was provided to improve my academic skills, I was also
extremely satisfied with the well-being support I was offered during the difficult times I experienced during the earthquake disaster that happened in my country in 2023. It is life and we all can have ups and downs, but feeling comfortable with the institutional support available there whenever I need it, I feel much more being part of the university and well looked after when I need extra support.

Opportunities I was given

I was chosen as a Student Ambassador and really enjoyed working on Open Days
throughout my three years at the university, to talk to prospective students and their families about my experiences. Seeing prospective students inspired by my humble experience has been a great honour and happiness for me.

Additionally, I was also the course representative during my first year and this
opportunity gave me a chance to build up a great experience that is beneficial for my future job applications.

And Further Opportunities!

The last thing I want to share with you is that before completing my studies, I applied for two postgraduate courses at the University of York. As I mentioned earlier in my text, knowing that I have options to get expertise in a particular area that I am really interested in, I applied for two courses; MA Social and Public Policy and MA Applied Human Rights and I had an offer from both courses in two days after submitting my application which made me feel over the moon!

I am sure with all this support and assistance and more that I did not yet mention but available whenever you need, you will greatly appreciate being part of the university community and enjoy studying in the subject area you are passionate about. I wish you all the best and please comment under my post if there is anything I can help and assist you with.