is 19 too old to repeat?

mariecxx

I was heart broken getting my results.. In my mocks i scored 525 and in the real thing i got 470...Have absolutely no idea where i went wrong. My parents are upset and my principal is shocked. I wouldnt mind repeating but im already 19 ( did ty ) and therefore ill be 20 leaving school... For some reason this really bothers me. My parents have offered me the choice of going to a local private school. I may get my second choice but im not overly keen on this.. should i just repeat and get on with it? thoughts?...

spurious

Of course 19 is not too old to repeat. 30 is not too old to repeat if you want to.
Would you feel better in a centre where everyone is repeating? There is no need to go to any 'private' place if that is the case.

jrmb

Absolutely not. I'm 21 and repeated in 2011-12. I'm hoping to gain access to university this year. My friend finished his bachelor's degree recently aged 38 and now he's going on to do a Ph.D.

I'm not so sure that there's any need for you to repeat. 470 isn't a bad result by any measure. You'll probably get some offers. Unless you're adamant that you have to do medicine from day 1, you can still do practically anything you want.

The leaving cert is over and you've done well. Anyone in college who is still preoccupied with numbers on a page from yesteryear isn't worth your time.

aimzLc2

mariecxx wrote: »

I was heart broken getting my results.. In my mocks i scored 525 and in the real thing i got 470...Have absolutely no idea where i went wrong. My parents are upset and my principal is shocked. I wouldnt mind repeating but im already 19 ( did ty ) and therefore ill be 20 leaving school... For some reason this really bothers me. My parents have offered me the choice of going to a local private school. I may get my second choice but im not overly keen on this.. should i just repeat and get on with it? thoughts?...

I would just repeat if i was you! one year is not a big deal and you are not too old! i turned 19 while repeating and i was among the younger people there, many were 21! and some were older too..

hfallada

I just repeated and Im 20 now going to college. Ask yourself do you want do a college course that you dont really want to do and realise in the third year, **** want am I doing here. I hate this course and this isnt what I want to do for the rest of my life and then realising you have to repeat at 21/22( there was a good few in my year in the same situation).

I knew last year, the day of my results that I wanted to give the LC a second chance.The feeling yesterday of looking at my results and knowing that I got the results I wanted first time round was unbelievable. Im 98% sure Ill get the course I want to do, in the university that I wanted to go to for like the last 4 years. If your even hesitating that you think you should repeat, follow your instinct. Apparently half of students in medicine in TCD are either HPAT repeat students or people how took a year out. Meaning most people going into college are 20 somethings and its the same for most courses in TCD & UCD.

The chances are you probably will be working until 67/68. Do you really want to settle for a choice that could affect the rest of your life, just because you have to repeat for one year.

I would recommend going to school that specialises in repeats. Mine did and tbh I wasnt 100% happy with it and know if I went to another school in Dublin I probably could have gotten another 30-50 points(I still got over 500). But I know I probably be getting my dream course on monday so I dont really care.

NB look at your scripts with your teachers to see where you went wrong. For me it was so helpful seeing where I ****ed up on somethings like PCLM in English. Make sure there isnt a huge mistake in your script like my neighbours daughter repeated and got her course on random selection and viewed her french script and discovered her oral wasnt counted( so she went down 5 grades in it).


PM if you have any questions

irishgrover

first off, congrats on your results, but sorry that they may not get you what you want.

You are young and hopefully will have a great life in front of you. Many things may happen in the next 5 / 10 / 15 /20 years of your life that will make an extra year in school seem very insignificant.
Personally (I'm 42 btw) I repeated the leaving cert, got into a course and uni that I thought I wanted, quit after 6 months, went to an IT (RTC), failed first year, took a year off, went back and got my degree. So by the time I eventually graduated with a degree I was 25 or so. Ended up taking a job in an industry I was not qualified (in Ireland), followed a woman to America, landed on my feet, was making 6 figures by the time I was 29. Made 1.1m in the dot com bubble, lost 1.06m in the crash, got married (same woman), followed her back to Ireland. Got a job/house/mortgage. Got sick, almost died/got better. Got four kids, got fat, got old, got happier.
Long winded point being, who the **** knows what will happen. Don't think short term, a year is nothing. Do what you believe will help you to live the life you ultimately want to. No point in setting yourself up for regrets.
best of luck with whatever you decide...

PS: ya might want to consider appealing some subjects if the mark seems way off...

Billiethepup

470 is not a poor result by any standards so stop beating yourself up!

If you want to repeat now, do it. 19 is not too old. I entered my undergrad straight from school and I was relatively young in the class at 18. If its a high points course your going for you can be assured there will be LOADS of repeats/matures/graduates/overseas students etcetc and they will almost all be older than you! :-)

I'm a decade older than you and repeating this year - I wish I was ONLY 19! :-)

Figerty

470 points is a fine leaving cert. Consider taking a college place if offered in a related course to your real first choice; complete first and/or second year and then do an internal transfer within college or colleges during your college career. This usually involves getting high grades and proving yourself. Perhaps it might be as a post grad. that you get to be what you really want to.

Your degree will take the same amount of time to complete as repeating a year and you may find that the course you are in is the one for you. There is no guarantee that on repeating that you will get the points you need.

endacl

470 is a really good result OP. you should be proud of yourself.

Well done.

Billiethepup

Figerty wrote: »

470 points is a fine leaving cert. Consider taking a college place if offered in a related course to your real first choice; complete first and/or second year and then do an internal transfer within college or colleges during your college career. This usually involves getting high grades and proving yourself. Perhaps it might be as a post grad. that you get to be what you really want to.

Your degree will take the same amount of time to complete as repeating a year and you may find that the course you are in is the one for you. There is no guarantee that on repeating that you will get the points you need.

By all means take a college place OP and go for something else if thats what you want. But I wouldn't be taking a similar course with the hope of transferring internally -most universities (in fact id probably assume all universities) will only allow internal transfers if you have enough points to enter the course through the CAO. So internal transfers aren't a back door by any means.
Postgrad may be an option depending on the subject your interested in -but 3/4 years is a long time to do an undergrad degree that you don't want to be doing in the hope of getting a postgrad in the area.
Best of luck

mariecxx

hfallada wrote: »

I just repeated and Im 20 now going to college. Ask yourself do you want do a college course that you dont really want to do and realise in the third year, **** want am I doing here. I hate this course and this isnt what I want to do for the rest of my life and then realising you have to repeat at 21/22( there was a good few in my year in the same situation).

I knew last year, the day of my results that I wanted to give the LC a second chance.The feeling yesterday of looking at my results and knowing that I got the results I wanted first time round was unbelievable. Im 98% sure Ill get the course I want to do, in the university that I wanted to go to for like the last 4 years. If your even hesitating that you think you should repeat, follow your instinct. Apparently half of students in medicine in TCD are either HPAT repeat students or people how took a year out. Meaning most people going into college are 20 somethings and its the same for most courses in TCD & UCD.

The chances are you probably will be working until 67/68. Do you really want to settle for a choice that could affect the rest of your life, just because you have to repeat for one year.

I would recommend going to school that specialises in repeats. Mine did and tbh I wasnt 100% happy with it and know if I went to another school in Dublin I probably could have gotten another 30-50 points(I still got over 500). But I know I probably be getting my dream course on monday so I dont really care.

NB look at your scripts with your teachers to see where you went wrong. For me it was so helpful seeing where I ****ed up on somethings like PCLM in English. Make sure there isnt a huge mistake in your script like my neighbours daughter repeated and got her course on random selection and viewed her french script and discovered her oral wasnt counted( so she went down 5 grades in it).


PM if you have any questions

thanks so much for this! and im absolutely delighted that repeating worked out for you! its great that you're 98% sure you'll get your course! i think im going to repeat in a private school that specialises in repeating.. just because ill be taking up a new subject and tbh i really dont think i could handle going back to my old school with a different year! just out of interest what is the course you're going for?

mariecxx

endacl wrote: »

470 is a really good result OP. you should be proud of yourself.

Well done.

thank you

Fad

mariecxx wrote: »

I was heart broken getting my results.. In my mocks i scored 525 and in the real thing i got 470...Have absolutely no idea where i went wrong. My parents are upset and my principal is shocked. I wouldnt mind repeating but im already 19 ( did ty ) and therefore ill be 20 leaving school... For some reason this really bothers me. My parents have offered me the choice of going to a local private school. I may get my second choice but im not overly keen on this.. should i just repeat and get on with it? thoughts?...

I'm starting college all over again four years after the leaving, I'm probably going to be five years older than most of the people in my course, you'll be grand .

Wait for Monday, and then think about what you want to do. I'm not a big believer in faith or destiny or anything, but things generally work out pretty okay, do what you will think will make you happiest, even if it's not ideal in the short term.