University Deferral

[anksta]

Who here has done this?

I'll explain, its just come back next year and carry on from where you are, or from the start of the year, simple.

I have been trying to defer for over 6 weeks now and I am not even gettin a straight answer from anyone at Uni. I didnt even consider deferring, the idea was suggested to me like this "maybe you should defer".

I went home and thought about it, discussed it with my mum etc. came to the conclusion that it may be for the best, resit a couple of 2nd year modules this year, catch up on extra credits and then come back in September and have a fresh crack at 3rd year.

So I went in the next day and said yeah, thats what I wanna do. Then they say, oh we dont know if you can, it may be too late in the year. So I said, well can you find out then. Took 3 weeks almost to get a word back saying this, and I quote:

"It presupposes that he is granted first attempt resits on those modules taken in
semester 1, if I understand he is going to apply for mitigating circumstances.
If the student thinks that he just coming back then those modules he resits will be
capped at 40%. Also I notice that he has only 80 credits at level 2. He has
a last opportunity to sit the MECH2280 and MECH2260 in the May/June exams to gain the
additional 20 credits to enable him to head for honours. Do we know
why he was absent from a resit exam in August for which he was granted a first attempt
resit?"

From his comments I don't believe it is as simple as deferring and starting fresh. If you
do so, and unless you are able to provide mitigating circumstances with appropriate
proof, you will find yourself with all resit module marks capped at 40%.

I got that on the 26th March, 2 days before I went home for Easter.

So, I thought, thats fine, I dont care what I get as long as I get it, capped at 40% is fine for me cos I was only gonna get 45 or whatever anyway.

So I come back after Easter and try to get the necessary forms to defer, go into the Student Support Office, no you can't have the forms, the date for deferral expired 2 weeks ago.

Now in the 4 weeks worth of correspondance prior to that, not once was a date even mentioned anymore than "it's probably already too late" and I have the emails etc. to prove that they didnt tell me that I was running a risk of leavin it too late.

I know you may all go "oh but anksta, you should have done the work, you should have found the date yourself" well I didnt. The people who work at Uni get paid because people like me come and study there, you go and ask them for help with anythin and they huff and puff and act like a cheeky neighbour asking to borrow their brand new power drill.

I've had a few problems this year thats hampered my work load and more to the point, my mum has been really ill these past 3 or 4 weeks and I've been at home shuttling her about to the doctors/hospital and didnt have time to be back and forth to Leeds to check dates.

Anyway, sorry for ranting, gets right on my nerves this though, I hate this course so much as it is but I'm not leavin without it.

Thanks for reading, who agrees with me that these are just being awkward and incompetent and who thinks that this is all my fault?


I'm not pretending I'm totally blameless, but I mean, come on

 

[Hitman_Leon]

I think temp withdrawal would be more in line with what you needed but even then you are probably too late to do that. In line with what I know you should have either withdrawn or defered before now. By the looks of things you have only the decision of the the exam board to wait for, they will either approve or deny your request according to documentary evidence you supply to support your application.

The huffing and puffing bit, well how many hard luck stories do you think they have to put up with from students who in all honesty just did not do their work. That is not to say you are trying to pull a fast one yourself but it happens and they do have to take every request with a pinch of salt. As for them being late with getting back to you, that probably won't wash at all, university views you as a responsable adult and as such if you need a problem sorting out you have to chase it up and not wait for a response then complain you got the answer too late.

Sorry to say but it looks like you might get grilled for this, the uni might seem hard on you but they have to protect the integrity of their degree. And one more thing on the time scale and you knowing how much time you had to defer, there will be a guide to uni rules which they will point out you should have read. If there is no guide giving dates that you may have needed to know if you planned to defer you could site that as a loop hole in an appeal if the exam board refuse to defer you. But I think you will find the guide online or in a faculty office some place.

 

[Helium_Junkie]

"was absent from a resit exam in August for which he was granted a first attempt
resit?"

You missed an exam, were allowed a first attempt resit, but didnt show to that either, and didn't submit any mitigating circumstances?

They arent going to give you any more leeway, you've made a poor impression it seems good luck sorting something out.

 

[Fyebot]

I was offered a chance to defer this year due to a mix of finance and family problems, however chose not to take it as I felt I could still do okay in my exams this year and it wasn't the final year so wouldn't count for as much.

They usually try to help people who have had problems if they've got a good history, but if you've already been given a second chance once with the missed exam/resit and haven't taken it.. you're gonna need a seriously good excuse. As well as showing them that you have a lot of determination/conscientiousness towards working in the future. Otherwise they're not going to bother, as there are statistics saying that people who defer a year are unlikely to return to university after and if you've missed both an exam and it's resit without good reason, you will be a high risk.

In fairness they should have given you the deadline dates, however they will be able to argue that you should have looked it up if the information is available to students, (if not, you should be able to appeal the deadline or something?).

I would be wary of resting your hopes on defering, as from the quote you've given it does sound a bit negative. Go hunt all the information you can on it, especially if you think your reasons are valid. But don't assume you'll be able to, you should start trying to revise at the best of your ability at this point if you've got no positive confirmation of resisting.

At the very least a bit of work will show them that you are serious about a fresh start, and you might be suprised what you can manage. And if they don't let you defer and you fail, your problems will have been on record and they might let you resit the year anyhow.

 

[Tom0]

I agree, you seem to be like a needle in the haystack of incompetence. Wether or not you are late they were very slow getting an answer and took a long time to do so which doesnt help at all. Maybe it lead to your plea falling through the cracks meaning it took an age?

Its all bad luck it seems to me, keep your eye on the prize you'll get there if you keep working.

 

[anksta]

I'm a bit past trying my best at this year now, as I said, I had the idea of deferring suggested to me by a tutor, it wasn't like I was sackin my work off thinkin "oh well I'll just defer".

I missed the resit exam I had in August which is referred to in that email because I had 5 resit exams and I took them all except that one, I've got a bit of a tendency to panic when it comes to exams, I got diagnosed with chronic anxiety and that exam I missed was on the morning of my last one. Them 2 were the hardest so instead of panicking and failing them both, I cut my losses and took one, which I passed and got me into 3rd year in the first place.

I feel like this department couldnt give a toss whether or not I'm there or not, aside from a research student who stood in for the first 2 weeks in first year, I've not had a personal tutor since then apart from the head of the Aero section of my course who, when you say to him "I'm not interested in planes" looks like you've just told him 2 and 2 is 5.

I'm not having this, I know I should have done my work etc and all that but lettin me have another go at it and only allowing me the worst possible mark doesnt damage the integrity of the degree. I also requested to change from the Aero course onto the straigfht Mechanical course as I'm only short one module for that, which I could do in May. They said I can;t do that either.

 

[anksta]

I agree, you seem to be like a needle in the haystack of incompetence. Wether or not you are late they were very slow getting an answer and took a long time to do so which doesnt help at all. Maybe it lead to your plea falling through the cracks meaning it took an age?

Its all bad luck it seems to me, keep your eye on the prize you'll get there if you keep working.

Cheers mate, appreciate the vote of confidence.

 

[Hitman_Leon]

I'm not having this, I know I should have done my work etc and all that but lettin me have another go at it and only allowing me the worst possible mark doesnt damage the integrity of the degree.

The truth is if students were given a chance outside the rules that are laid down to make degrees a worthwhile qualification the degree would loose its integrity. A degree is valued by the work put into the degree and the rules that must be adheared to by any student wishing to gain said degree. They are also valued by employers because the rules under which you study and the work you have to do within those rules show employers not that you are capable of not doing any specific job but that you are capable of learning and applying yourself to a certain standard.

So a degree demonstrates more of potential ability than of proven ability, proven ability is say working your way up from one position to a higher position. Potential ability is what a degree says about you, this person can apply themselves and be sucessful they have completed this work in this subject to this standard and within these rules so were awarded a degree. Not to say all graduates live upto their potential but that is another matter.

The truth is if you did not keep ontop of things regardless of your circumstances and the uni gave you another chance they may set a standard that will allow other students to appeal to try and get the same treatment as you. This would in effect devalue the degree and leave the uni with a reputation for turning out students who were given too much leaway outside the rules.

Truth is you can only rely on your appeals to the exam board and if you feel you have been unfairly treated start work on backing up your claim now. You need to collect all documentary evidence and find someone in the union or support bodies to help you out. If you do have genuine reasons they will give you a fair hearing but do it now as soon as possible.