Failed First Year - Help and Advice

dottygirl

Hi sadly my child failed her first year nursing. She has medical problems (not making excuses). Her university is not running another foundation course so she has to leave. She is heart broken and doesnt know if she wants to do nursing. What advice can I give her. I tried ringing her uni for advice but was told my daughter had to sort it out! Im not an interfering mum (hopefully not!) just want to advise my daughter at this sad time. University is all new to me. Thanks for your help.

melancholly

so your daughter needs to speak to her tutor. the main issue is why she failed. did she enjoy the student lifestyle too much, or, if she's honest with herself, did she struggle with the course? the answer makes a big difference in terms of the plans she makes.

if she has medical problems, she really should have filled in an extenuating circumstances form during the year. bringing it up now, however justified, does look like making excuses (and a lot of students do try it on, which is why they have strict procedures).

your daughter will have a course guidebook which will detail what happens when you fail. usually there are options to retake modules - did she fail across the board?

essentially, she's an adult and although you can support her, she needs to deal with the university. also bear in mind that you may only get 80% of the story from her (not meaning to be negative, but everyone only ever gives one side and when you're upset, you're less likely to be even handed with what happened!).

MusicalLawyer

As the Uni isn't running the course anymore she has two options if she wants to carry on with Nursing;

1) Do Foundation at another University
2) Do an Access to Nursing Course at college, and then go to Uni a year after to do the degree

dottygirl

My daughter developed Epilepsy during her course. Thank you for the advice on the access course for nursing, I didnt know this existed. I know she has to sort this out herself however what parent can stand by and watch there child suffer? I know I cant.

easilydistracted

I'd second the suggestion of meeting with the tutor, seeking advice as to whether its realistic for her to have another go elsewhere and if so when and what she needs to work on. I'd also talk to her about the mitigating circumstances requests: whether she made them and how much allowance was made.

If writing to an appropriate academic standard is the issue, study skills books and courses can help. Access courses do require a high amount of work to be produced so she needs to be ready.

Also it would be worth looking at the transcript (list of marks) she got on the course over the year. Is there a big difference between prior to and after developing the epilepsy. Is it now under control? Has she dealt with this emotionally?

I would suggest waiting until she is really well prepared to start again to give her the best chance. The leap between earlier degree study and the latter part is pretty hard, so she needs to make sure she is achieving the basics. Could she look at the OU for a short course and study skills in the mean time to keep her in the loop of studying?

As someone who supervises and assesses degree students on their practice element in social work, it is a real shame to see those who have a lot of potential but have been so keen to get on that they've been unrealistic in the amount of time they need to take out or how prepared they are in the first place.

I'm sure she'll appreciate the supportive things you can do to help her and give her some TLC so she can persue the academic side herself.

dottygirl

Thank you you have given me something to think of. I will pass all this information to my daughter. I may even do an OU course myself. I could do with something to get my brain working.

sukysue

Aw my heart goes out to you both it's so worrying and the epilepsy can seem like a life sentence. All you seem to hear about is how you can't do this or that with it. Well you can lead a normal life once you get treatment sorted.Your dd has to comply with the treatment and be safe ie do what the epilepsy experts tell her. As for nursing well is her heart really in it? Perhaps she is terribly worried about the epilepsy and cannot think straight at the moment. I think your best bet will be for your dd to start over and go and see open days for other courses in Unis.Course she may not want to do a degree and in that case she will need help to get a job.At least nursing degree is bursary paid and she has no debt from uni and can start again with a clean slate. The other thing is she must have something going for her as the competition for nursing is fierce, she must have impressed them with her attitude /results/personality at interview. Good sites for you are the student room and ucas just google them you will be surprised how quickly you understand what you need to do . She is prob too late to apply for offers now and will have to go through clearing with ucas. Never fear she just needs to decide what she wants to do . I know you are worried but I am sure things will sort themselves out ,good luck to you both .

dottygirl

Thank you sukysue. It has been a worrying time. I and my daughter are taking a week out so that she can think about her future without rushing into things.

RAS

Dotty

Under the data protection act, universities are not allowed to discuss students with their parents. By law she is not a child and is expected to manage her own affairs.

Your daughter's university will have a careers service. As far as I am aware they all have to provide support and guidance to ex-students. Although the period of support seems to vary it can be for up to 3 years after the student leaves. So she needs to go and talk to them about her options.

She also needs to go and talk to the Student Support Officer in the Student Union who can help her with any appeals, ensuring she maximises the credit from her existing course etc.

dottygirl

Thank you RAS for your advice. I didnt expect the university to talk to me about my daughter. I just wanted to be sign posted in the right direction. I will pass on what you said hopefully she will feel more positive now.

forallotherthings

Hi, sorry to hear about the tough time your daughter is having.
Having a bit of time out to think sounds like the best option as emotions are no doubt running high at present.

I can't see why the university wouldn't speak to you/advise you if you daughter gave them permission so it's maybe appropriate for you to speak with them/meet with them together (I don't know your circumstances maybe this isn't a practical posibility).

Did your daughter update the uni with her diagnosis, I don't want to sound negative but it's mandatory to keep health issues updated with the occupational health department when you study nursing so the uni could throw that one back at you if she didnt. I'm obviously not sure of the circumstances so she may well have done but if there has been some sort of problem with extenuating circumstances because she didn't inform them I think they would go down this route so it is worth being mindful of.