A little help?

willgraham

Hi Boards, I'm not really sure how to post things here but my mother recommended this forum to get help from other/former UCD students so I was hoping someone could give a hand.

Basically, I'm 17, I'm a fresher and I don't like my course at all. I feel like I was too young to start college and I'm very overwhelmed and I'd like to start over as a fresher again next year in a different degree.

I'm doing the BA Joint Honours in Sociology & Linguistics, with electives in two languages, but French Literature is the only subject I'm doing that I even want to go to lectures for anymore. I have no interest in Sociology and Linguistics and I'm trying my hardest to get by but I think I'm going to do very badly on my exams in June. I already failed the Linguistics exam in Semester 1.

My gut just tells me to drop out and start over but my mother says that there's no guarantee I'd get accepted again next year, which really, really scares me -- I really don't want to stop going to college. I just want another chance to start over and do so much better next year, now that I'm a bit older and more experienced and I know what I want/what I'm doing.

Any advice on where I should go from here?

Raphael

Firstly, if you drop out and reapply to another course, you'll ahve to pay fees. Those'll be around 6 to 7.5k.

Secondly, if you want to do another course you'll need to reapply through the CAO, deadline for that is May 1st.

beardedmaster

Do you know what it is you want to do next year?

OneOfThem Stumbled

Raphael wrote: »

Firstly, if you drop out and reapply to another course, you'll ahve to pay fees. Those'll be around 6 to 7.5k.

For one year. The longer you wait to drop out the more full fees you have to pay upon re-entry.

willgraham wrote: »

My gut just tells me to drop out and start over but my mother says that there's no guarantee I'd get accepted again next year, which really, really scares me -- I really don't want to stop going to college. I just want another chance to start over and do so much better next year, now that I'm a bit older and more experienced and I know what I want/what I'm doing.

Any advice on where I should go from here?

Do you want to stay in Arts but with different subjects? Arts is a big programme after all - that's (in all likelihood) different from dropping out (no new CAO application for one thing). If that is something you are considering, dropping into the Arts Programme Office is a good idea (they actually do tend to know their stuff there).

I don't entirely understand what you mean by "get accepted again next year" - do you mean applying to a new course through the CAO and the points going up?

There's no shame in changing course or taking longer to get a primary degree (after all, anyone who goes on Erasmus has automatically decided to take an extra year obtaining their degree) - and not liking your current subjects is a pretty decent reason for changing. The main consideration would tend to be the financial implications.

generic2012

http://www.skepdic.com/sunkcost.html

Kiltennel

If you really don't like your course I'd recommend dropping out. There's no joy in studying a course for 3 years that you hate, it will make it harder to do well in it as you'll have no interest in it, and I'd imagine if you hate the course you'll probably hate the jobs it often leads to as well.

The problem right now is you'll have to pay full fees next year if you change into another course, which would be roughly 5500 euro. In relation to the "having to be accepted" well that entirely depends on the course you want to do. If your LC points are high enough that you can safely get into 3-4 courses you'd like to do based on last year's points, then you should be safe.

willgraham

Hi guys, sorry for the late reply -- thank you so much for the replies, it really helped, thanks a lot!
I'd like to go into French & Francophone Studies (which I'm already doing as an elective) as my major but my main worries lately are really with what would happen if I fail my semester 2 exams, and how that would affect my chances of getting accepted next year in a different course. Everybody keeps telling me 'you won't fail your exams, don't worry!' but it doesn't stop the stress from not knowing what would happen.

OneOfThem Stumbled

willgraham wrote: »

Hi guys, sorry for the late reply -- thank you so much for the replies, it really helped, thanks a lot!
I'd like to go into French & Francophone Studies (which I'm already doing as an elective) as my major but my main worries lately are really with what would happen if I fail my semester 2 exams, and how that would affect my chances of getting accepted next year in a different course. Everybody keeps telling me 'you won't fail your exams, don't worry!' but it doesn't stop the stress from not knowing what would happen.

So... staying in Arts... in UCD? It's kind of an important distinction - it could mean you had the wriggle room to just... change majors and repeat stage 1. If something like that is what you're thinking about you'd really want to talk to the arts prog office.

Either way I can't see how your semester 2 examinations should have any real bearing on your acceptance to another course/ major. I'm open to correction, but I don't see how credits relating to a partial fulfilment of a qualification can have an impact on third level course acceptance.

errlloyd

If you want to start from scratch, you can apply through the CAO, and if you have the points your previous grades won't matter, but as OneOfThemStumbled said it might be possible for you to go into the program office, sit down with an advisor and change your major.

You could repeat first year and you'd get a chance at a fresh start, but you might be able to carry over some credits, and you might not have to pay as much next time around.

I know there are plenty of people around who probably know how you feel. UCD is a tough anonymous place sometimes, I started just after my 18th and I felt young the whole way through. So this could be a great decision and give you a real chance to make the most of it second time round.

maisiedaisy

I dropped out after two years, changed college and course. Easily the best thing I've ever done. I felt a bit like you mentioned in my first course; a bit too young and not really sure of the whole college thing.

Talk to your program office, and if you're staying in UCD, you could use modules from your first year as electives next year if you reapply through the CAO (at least, that's the case in our program) which will help reduce your fees.