Got an unconditional but want to change uni - any advice?

alyth

oh well I thnk the whole situation has been decided for me - a friend and I were chatting on facebook, and I was talking about the crappy colllege that I was at, of course on a public forum, when up pops my student advisor liking the fact that I had mentioned and chatted with my friend the fact that I was having queries about my course choice.

So the decision has kind of been made for me......cue me being bumped off my course tomorrow.... you live and learn

Oldernotwiser

alyth wrote: »

oh well I thnk the whole situation has been decided for me - a friend and I were chatting on facebook, and I was talking about the crappy colllege that I was at, of course on a public forum, when up pops my student advisor liking the fact that I had mentioned and chatted with my friend the fact that I was having queries about my course choice.

So the decision has kind of been made for me......cue me being bumped off my course tomorrow.... you live and learn

I always tell people not to worry - some decisions make themselves!

alyth

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I always tell people not to worry - some decisions make themselves!

as always you bring a smile to my face... thanks ONW! it's kind of my night for drowning myself in wine and youtuve and hopefully in the moring the decision will have been made...


it;s been made already, just spoken to a friend... why is life not easy, I want my mum bt I can't call her!

bitsandpieces

alyth wrote: »

oh well I thnk the whole situation has been decided for me - a friend and I were chatting on facebook, and I was talking about the crappy colllege that I was at, of course on a public forum, when up pops my student advisor liking the fact that I had mentioned and chatted with my friend the fact that I was having queries about my course choice.

So the decision has kind of been made for me......cue me being bumped off my course tomorrow.... you live and learn

I wouldn't assume that you will be bumped off your course - if all you said was that your college is crap and you were looking elsewhere, they might just ask you in to discuss your concerns/request you don't do this kind of thing in public forums again/etc. If you're finding the college so bad, though, would you want to spend years more there?

Good luck with whatever you decide - it does sound like you may have made your decision. If discussing options with prospective universities, remember to emphasise the positives in what you have achieved in study and life and why you want to do the course. Have a clear explanation in mind of why you have been failed on the access course and how you have learnt from the experience.

WolfSong2000

Going from personal experience, grades don't always count as much as enthusiasm and initiative. I've just got accepted into 2/3 uni's offering fairly competative courses, without having the relevant experience. What I was able to do was show awareness of the sibject matter and enthusiasm for the course and this helped a lot.

Also, for Scottish uni's, depending on what subject you want to do, you can usually switch courses once enrolled. E.g. at undergrad level, I applied (and got in) to do philosophy, then decided I might like to do law, and was told that I could switch, even though I didn't have the grades to be accepted from school to do law? It was very odd!

Oh - and don't let your curfrent college intimidate you/put you off. When I was applying to uni and writing my personal statement my form teacher told me "not to bother applying as I was too stupid" (not sure what I ever did/said to her to warrant that, but still). Was a bit of a blow, but I got an unconditional to Aberdeen, so, as my mother would say - "don't let the b*stards get you down" .

alyth

I have to be honest and say that I am still worried sick. I spoke to my other uni this morning, I would have to go through clearing and it's just too much of a gamble. I haven't heard anything from my existing college but I'm just hoping that the unconditional isn't rescinded - the student advisor who saw my comment on facebook isn't in charge of the course thankfully, I'm just concerned as to whether he can advise the head of the course to throw me off. He knew I was trying to get my original place back hence I suspect that's why he failed me on my overall course.

I kind of have a plan B if I do get bumped off, I'll just have to wait and see what happens over the next week or so.

The_One_Who

As far as I am aware they cannot throw you off a course or take back offer they have given you because you happen to say something bad about them. It seems incredibly unethical.

alyth

that's what I'm hoping, the comment I made to my friend wasn't anything to do with the actual course, it was about the crappy college and wondering whether I had done the right thing..... the guy is extremely unprofessional and I've been advised in the past to make a formal complaint about the way he's done something to me, thankfully he won't be my lecturer on my degree but I will still see him around I guess.

I'm still worried, I've barely eaten anything today from fretting about it,which isn't like me!

The_One_Who

I'm actually pretty sure (although please correct me someone if I'm wrong!) that UCAS forms a sort of official contract once and offer has been made and accepted. So they can't just decline you, or if you had a conditional they wouldn't be able to just up the conditions on a whim.

I honestly think you need to take a few deep breaths and try to calm down. Fretting (although perfectly understandable!) only makes things harder and strings them out for longer.

bitsandpieces

You might get chucked off a course if you post - for example - racist comments about staff, comments threatening violence etc. I'd be surprised if this happened just for saying a college is crap, though.

However, if you do think the institution is crap - and it wasn't just too much wine etc. - you should think very carefully about whether you want to spend years and £1000s there. If you do a degree there and later want to do one elsewhere, you may find funding much harder. Relocating can be scary - but years studying somewhere you don't rate is also a real concern.