Charlotte Løchte was sitting in the University Park in Aarhus a September day in 2009 together with the other new law students when she received a call from DJØF (Danish trade union for lawyers and economists, ed.) after having enrolled the day before to qualify for some student discounts.

"The lady from DJØF began by asking: ‘Is that really your age?’!”

Charlotte replied that yes, it really was.

"The lady from DJØF then apologised many times and told me it wasn’t because there was anything wrong with it," she laughs.

A successful project?

Even though there is nothing wrong with beginning your studies at the age of 43, it’s still so unusual that Løchte has had many similar experiences during her time as a law student at Aarhus University.

Relaxing five years later after just submitting her Master's thesis she expects to continue challenging other people’s preconceptions. But now as a 48-year-old newly graduated academic hunting for a job.

"Well now I guess we’ll find out whether my project has succeeded. Because it won’t succeed before I land a job as a lawyer."

Topping Charlotte’s list of priorities is getting to work with social security law.

Not expecting anything social

Charlotte Løchte was naturally enough not surprised by the fact that she was old enough to be most of the students’ mother. Nor by the fact that her student life would be anything but typical.

"I had not expected to have any social contacts but I did actually end up with a relationship to three of my fellow students despite our different situations. When they went to the Friday bar or out on the town, I went home to my husband and children. And when they talked about spending Christmas at home with their mothers I was already arranging everything so my children could come home for Christmas," says Charlotte, who has three children aged 15, 19 and 21.

Lack of professional challenges

That she took the plunge from a position as department secretary to student is partly due to a perception that she was getting fewer and fewer opportunities to make use of her competences as a Bachelor’s graduate in English and Spanish.

"I found there was less and less focus on using correct language and that meant less demand for my skills, which in turn affected my job satisfaction. So the question was whether to stay there for the next quarter century or whether to take the plunge."

Greater self-confidence

When asked about what she has got out of taking the plunge she pauses for thought.

"Specifically, I have come to understand jurisprudence. On a more personal level I fell like quoting Obama’s ‘Yes, we can’ because it has been a great challenge and it’s changed me a lot."

She also pauses before answering how the change in her can be seen.

"I have a more in-depth knowledge of social conditions and a different view of the world. I also have greater self-confidence because I believe in myself in a completely different way than previously. Plus a lot of people, even my husband, say that I’m now more interesting to talk to," laughs Charlotte.

Students

A word that conjures up the image of a young, relatively inquisitive type of person with a propensity to name-drop theoreticians, revel in Friday bars and consume budget-friendly pasta with ketchup.

The average student at AU is in his or her early twenties when they begin studying and a Danish national with an upper secondary school leaving examination behind them. On average they spend 28.5 hours a week on their studies, while 3.5 hours are spent on work that is relevant to their studies and 3.5 hours on work that is not study-relevant.

But more and more students fall outside of both the stereotype and the average. Omnibus met three out-of-the-ordinary students.

Source: Your Study Choice 2012 and Study Environment 2011

Translated by Peter Lambourne.