Advice please

moped_mark

Hi all, I’m in a dilemma and need some advice.
Basically I’m 24, a mature student at a uni in Manchester. For quite a while now I have been thinking of quitting my course as my motivation and enjoyment has been dipping for quite a few months. But from encouragement from friends and family and the realisation of the effort it took to get there...I stuck at it.
It’s now exam time and I have missed one of my exam, partly down to my own stupidity and health reasons! And I have been told that I need to write a letter to the exam board explaining why I didn’t take the exam. I should point out that I have missed a few attendance marked practical’s and the exam board will see this.
So I as you can guess, I feel like a right paper hat!! And I really don’t know what to do. I have found a job I am interested in (science area, but not related to my course) and have decided to apply for it as it can’t hurt to open opportunities. But I don’t know what to do, do i....

1 Plough ahead to see if I’m allowed to take a resit, (if that is how it works?!?!).
2 Do I take a gap year to figure out wot i want and keep the university door, ajar?!
3 I cut my losses, start repaying my loan

I’d be grateful for any advice on this.... I’m just hoping whatever decision i make, i wont regret it!

melancholly

what course are you doing and would you be happier switching to a different course? is this the end of your first or second year (i.e. are you over half way there!)

i take it the advice to write the letter has come from a tutor? the exam board will sit in a few weeks to go through the results and they (or a separate group) will also consider extenuating circumstances.

universities really do everything they can to avoid throwing people out - so i imagine if you want to stay on then they will give you the option of re-sitting the entire year or re-sits (depends on how much of the course you have otherwise completed successfully).

if you want to stay and get a degree, then there are options - but if you really don't think this is for you, then don't band your head against a wall. even if you want to take a gap year and maybe come back, it's worth making sure that you don't need to redo this entire year and so do the resits anyway.

Voyager2002

First, write that letter, and get the best mark that you possibly can get in this year's exams.

By all means go to the interview for the job that interests you. Your performance in your course up to now may make the difference between getting it or not. And they might encourage you to complete your degree and come back to them as a graduate, in which case you might feel there was more point to your studies and be better motivated.

Again, doing an interesting job for a year would do a lot for your motivation (and your finances). But do get any resits out of the way, so that you will have the option of returning to study if/when you feel that is right for you.