After applying for another course at the College, her lecturers recognised Colleen’s academic ability and encouraged her to consider the Access course,
“I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do and I kind of discovered the course by accident through being at College already and I had never thought of University before that. It wasn’t until I was at College I realised how much I really loved studying.”
She was surprised by the variety the course offered allowing her to study subjects she loved but also completely new areas which she hadn’t considered before, “History was always my first love at school and this came back to me during the course. I had never studied Sociology, Psychology or Politics before. I left school thinking that maybe Modern Studies was the closest I had got to Politics. It just showed me all the different options that are available.”
Colleen said she would recommend this course anyone, especially if you aren’t sure of what you want to do just yet, “Access to Humanities offers a lot of different subjects. It opens your eyes to a lot of different opportunities."
As a mature student Colleen wasn’t sure about the transition of returning to College,
"I had done a course a year before this and it was really mixed, there were some school leavers and some students nearer my age or older. Because there are more mature students on Access everyone has the same goals and were really prepared to learn, discussions were great, and everyone really got involved in the class. This is a greatly beneficial way to learn as well just hearing everyone else’s views.”
Having decided to return to learning herself when her daughter started school Colleen had to balance learning with home life, but she found a lot of her classmates were in the same position, “The majority of people on my course have families or had other commitments and most people were working too alongside coming to college. Everyone understood each other's situations which was so much easier, and we could really support each other. I’m a single mother so it was a massive decision for me to to come back and do something for myself. Access made that a reality as well for me.”
Having now achieved her dream of getting into University of Glasgow, Colleen shared how the college experience helped get her there,
“I think a lot of people expect that they would have to go back and do Highers to get into Uni, but you can literally go straight to with this course. I always thought that Glasgow was the dream, and I was never going to get in but I was accepted and I absolutely love it. I wouldn’t be where I am today without Access. I loved the Waterfront campus and the lecturers, everyone is so lovely.”
Hoping to follow in their footsteps one day, Colleen says that lecturing is the dream job for her, “The lecturers at the Waterfront were absolutely amazing and I think it was really beneficial that some of the lecturers were mature students who had come back just like me. That was a real eye-opener."
Speaking of her College experience Colleen said, “There was absolutely nothing that the lecturers couldn’t do for you. I kept in touch with my lecturers and they are even supporting me with some work experience. They have just been brilliant during the course and after - I couldn’t fault it.
Check out our Social Science courses, giving you access to an exciting range of career paths or further study: