Failed University

Oldernotwiser

Poet, did you really mean to thank this?

"
If you cheated and got away with it. Well done. To have the guts to do it I think it was a good effort. I know people will look down on you for it but it's resourceful and I would never be brave enough to do it myself. I know I will get stick for writing this but ohh well. "

Sarsie

Christian ministry happens to be one of the most forgiving professions you could aim for.

There's a man I met once, called Arthur White. He used to be an East End debt collector, and I don't mean the legal sort. He says he's probably committed every violent crime short of killing someone- not a nice man, not someone you'd want in your house. He's written books- this isn't private knowledge. Then he found Christianity. These days he's making frequent trips to the former Soviet Block countries to deliver aid to children. When he came to my house, he put up my flat-pack for me. Whole rooms and rooms of it.

Take heart- you just cheated on a course you then didn't pass anyway. He used to batter the living sh** out of people.

Maybe you need to be a bit more like him. He hasn't got a degree. Or a great deal of social status. He says he doesn't need all that stuff anyway. He also said "you can never work too hard for a good boss", as he tucked into his 10th hour of physical work without a penny in pay.

You wanna be a servant of God? You need to sort out if a degree in a Christian-related discipline is really for God's sake or for your own sake I think. After some dubious behaviour at University I would consider a couple of years devoting yourself to be highly character forming.

What's more, there is absolutly no need for a degree to become a Christian minister. If a degree was the only route into it then I would feel less inclined to pack you off to the murky, dirty, nasty and unglamorous side of the world for a couple of years. Given that it isn't, then I would suggest if you want to be a minister then you learn to serve.

At least you're only serving your God as a volunteer, you've got a God and a congregation to serve as a minister, no course can teach you how to have devotion and faith.

I strongly suggest you spend a couple of years working with offenders for absolutly no measurable reward (money/status/grades) whatsoever. Try HERE. I say offenders deliberately, they are the least pitiable, least fashionable cause on that list. Therefore the only one someone endeavouring to serve the Christian God within the teachings of Jesus ought to pick.

It's not about you if you want to be a minister. Time to stop thinking of you I think.

poet123

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Poet, did you really mean to thank this?

"
If you cheated and got away with it. Well done. To have the guts to do it I think it was a good effort. I know people will look down on you for it but it's resourceful and I would never be brave enough to do it myself. I know I will get stick for writing this but ohh well. "

I certainly wasn't thanking that para:eek: but the other two:o, on reflection that probably wasn't the wisest thing to do as it could clearly be misconstrued. I will remove my thanks (useful little button!)

Oldernotwiser

poet123 wrote: »

I certainly wasn't thanking that para:eek: but the other two:o, on reflection that probably wasn't the wisest thing to do as it could clearly be misconstrued. I will remove my thanks (useful little button!)

I knew you couldn't possibly be supporting those sentiments!

whitfreak

I'm going to be blunt. You didn't work even when it was "easy" and your moaning about failing. And as your saying that you cant apply for JSA yet, its not like you were juggling a job and learning.

Put simply, get a job. Maybe return to academia when you can afford it and more importantly have a subject which you are prepared to work at. University's do not spoon feed you, and just because the fees are high doesnt mean they'll just give you a degree.

As a side note I have a friend who's in the process of becoming a priest, and I know he's having to work alot harder at that than he did at his degree. So make sure your prepared for it.

Danstar_2

For the benefit of people Reading this thread I was being sarcastic. Hard to convey when typing, especially since the rest of the post was genuine advice. I thought the over strong sentiments of support to cheating would have made it a bit obvious ohh well. It wasn't very productive of me.

Also find it ironic that the OP wants to go into the ministry when he openly admits to deception in order to gain academic achievement. I am so against it as there must be 50+ people on his course most I assume work hard and deserve their grades. Eitherway not my place to judge and I hope he reflects on it appropriately given he is after a career in a sector that preaches morality, honesty and goodwill, that said, fundamentally important to the OP - forgiveness.

Just the clarify, I did not mean come across as supporting the cheating, I was being sarcastic.

unistudent2010

Thaks for the advice everyone. I recognise that I chose the wrong route for me and then went about it the wrong way once I had got there. The mistakes I have made are very regrettable. There can be no excuse for dishonest academic conduct. I hope to be able to put this experience behind me now to concentrate on the future.
Best wishes.

Taiko

In a bit of unseriousness from me, I think this youtube link is a bit relevent to my own opinion. Feel free to watch, however please be warned there's a bit of bad language.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHRDfut2Vx0

redpete

Academically you're not up to anything beyond introductory level despite repeating a whole year of the course, even at that level you cheated to get the results you did, and you don't seem to have had sufficient motivation to do the work necessary (plenty of people cope with long commutes and demanding jobs). Don't even consider appealing.

I'm not familiar with the route to ministry in the Anglican church but I would suggest getting a job, maybe combined with voluntary work, and give yourself time to consider the way forward in the longer term.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Ignoring everything else, I find it interesting that you put your blatant cheating has the lowest priority on your list. I am surprised they even allowed you to have a certificate.

My opinion is that you haven't yet experienced the full consequences of your actions and suggest that you get a normal everyday job and use your salary to try and get the remains of your degree fair and square through the Open University, as they may accept previous credit for the modules you didn't cheat on.