Thinking of dropping out

TBH you should've thought about all that before you applied. Also, you're in Oxford, a social life isn't what you're there for. Maybe if you start studying in the time you spend trying to socialize you'll do better.

Sorry, might be a sounding a bit mean, but it's true.

I'm doing Classics at Oxford and I'm thinking of dropping out. I don't like my subject anymore (and I'm not that good at at it) and although I've met some nice people, I feel like my social life is a bit boring- I've only been clubbing about three times since freshers, I think. We don't have any kind of kitchen and no-one hangs out in the common room ever, so we don't really socialise spontaneously, it's always planned in advance. I wish I could leave my room and see people but I don't unless I text them all and ask if they're busy first, and a lot of the time they're working. I'm planning on applying this cycle for Speech and Language Therapy at places like Reading and Newcastle- I wouldn't have to accept any offers until May so I can go do another term at Oxford in the meantime and see how it goes. My family were so incredibly pleased when I got in to Oxford, it feels like I'm going to be a massive disappointment to them if I leave. I had doubts about it before I went, but I kinda got swept along. What do you all think? Am I insane?

TBH you should've thought about all that before you applied. Also, you're in Oxford, a social life isn't what you're there for. Maybe if you start studying in the time you spend trying to socialize you'll do better.

Sorry, might be a sounding a bit mean, but it's true.

I feel the same, I do Maths and Philosophy and am by far the worst at both in my college. I also really don't like maths anymore, but I'm spending most of my time on it just to absolutely scrape by. I got back to college after Christmas a week ago, after debating seriously whether I should come back or not. Everyone I spoke to over the holiday told me to give it a year, but now I'm back it's all exactly the same as before, I'm still unable to do most of my work and I really don't enjoy it. The thought of quitting now I've made it this far is really horrible, I don't know if I could even if I was borderline failing out, but carrying on like this also doesn't seem to be feasible.

I love the people here, socially I have settled in really well, and I know that shouldn't be a factor but it makes it harder for me to consider leaving when I have such good friends here. I just wish it wasn't Oxford. If I were at most other unis I would have switched course without a second thought earlier in term, but the process is so awkward here and I kept telling myself that it was only the system shock of moving to Oxford that was making the work so hard and that eventually I would catch up and get on top of it. That obviously hasn't been the case and it's actually gotten much harder rather than easier to cope with.

I can't see a way out, I already get a lot of extra help from my college and other maths students, and I have talked to my tutors about possibly leaving. They think I can make it through the course but I don't know if it's worth feeling so bad all the time and not really enjoying a minute of the studying.

Has anybody got any suggestions at all as to how I can make this term better for myself? I really don't want to leave, partly because I got this far and partly because I can't shake the feeling that maybe it is going to get easier after this year.

so I'd be 24/25 before I got my first real job...
I'm one of those people that hates not having a real plan and knowing exactly what they're doing.

I feel the same, I do Maths and Philosophy and am by far the worst at both in my college. I also really don't like maths anymore, but I'm spending most of my time on it just to absolutely scrape by. I got back to college after Christmas a week ago, after debating seriously whether I should come back or not. Everyone I spoke to over the holiday told me to give it a year, but now I'm back it's all exactly the same as before, I'm still unable to do most of my work and I really don't enjoy it. The thought of quitting now I've made it this far is really horrible, I don't know if I could even if I was borderline failing out, but carrying on like this also doesn't seem to be feasible.

I love the people here, socially I have settled in really well, and I know that shouldn't be a factor but it makes it harder for me to consider leaving when I have such good friends here. I just wish it wasn't Oxford. If I were at most other unis I would have switched course without a second thought earlier in term, but the process is so awkward here and I kept telling myself that it was only the system shock of moving to Oxford that was making the work so hard and that eventually I would catch up and get on top of it. That obviously hasn't been the case and it's actually gotten much harder rather than easier to cope with.

I can't see a way out, I already get a lot of extra help from my college and other maths students, and I have talked to my tutors about possibly leaving. They think I can make it through the course but I don't know if it's worth feeling so bad all the time and not really enjoying a minute of the studying.

Has anybody got any suggestions at all as to how I can make this term better for myself? I really don't want to leave, partly because I got this far and partly because I can't shake the feeling that maybe it is going to get easier after this year.

I always wanted to go to Oxford, I spent years working hard and getting the grades that eventually got me a place to study Chemistry this year and I have to say it's the worst decision I have ever made.

You come here knowing you'll have to work alot, what you don't expect is to work 50-60 hours a week and still feel like you're getting nowhere. I spend hours and hours on work and never get it right, and the tutors don't really help you when you don't understand you're just expected to go away and try again by yourself.

I go to labs where the lab demonstrators offer you no help and if you ask for it they either tell you they're busy or haven't done the lab themselves so don't know how to help you. You have to move everything you own back and forth from home to uni every eight weeks. In short this place drives you insane.

I can understand the poster's new lack of interest in their subject because that's what I feel like right now, the social life is rubbish because your schedule is too packed for you to have much of one. I think you should definitely tell your family again that you're not happy and do what feels right to you, I don't think I'll be sticking it out here any longer.

Oxford does not turn out how you think it will.

I feel the same, I do Maths and Philosophy and am by far the worst at both in my college. I also really don't like maths anymore, but I'm spending most of my time on it just to absolutely scrape by. I got back to college after Christmas a week ago, after debating seriously whether I should come back or not. Everyone I spoke to over the holiday told me to give it a year, but now I'm back it's all exactly the same as before, I'm still unable to do most of my work and I really don't enjoy it. The thought of quitting now I've made it this far is really horrible, I don't know if I could even if I was borderline failing out, but carrying on like this also doesn't seem to be feasible.

I love the people here, socially I have settled in really well, and I know that shouldn't be a factor but it makes it harder for me to consider leaving when I have such good friends here. I just wish it wasn't Oxford. If I were at most other unis I would have switched course without a second thought earlier in term, but the process is so awkward here and I kept telling myself that it was only the system shock of moving to Oxford that was making the work so hard and that eventually I would catch up and get on top of it. That obviously hasn't been the case and it's actually gotten much harder rather than easier to cope with.

I can't see a way out, I already get a lot of extra help from my college and other maths students, and I have talked to my tutors about possibly leaving. They think I can make it through the course but I don't know if it's worth feeling so bad all the time and not really enjoying a minute of the studying.

Has anybody got any suggestions at all as to how I can make this term better for myself? I really don't want to leave, partly because I got this far and partly because I can't shake the feeling that maybe it is going to get easier after this year.

I'm doing Classics at Oxford and I'm thinking of dropping out. I don't like my subject anymore (and I'm not that good at at it) and although I've met some nice people, I feel like my social life is a bit boring- I've only been clubbing about three times since freshers, I think. We don't have any kind of kitchen and no-one hangs out in the common room ever, so we don't really socialise spontaneously, it's always planned in advance. I wish I could leave my room and see people but I don't unless I text them all and ask if they're busy first, and a lot of the time they're working. I'm planning on applying this cycle for Speech and Language Therapy at places like Reading and Newcastle- I wouldn't have to accept any offers until May so I can go do another term at Oxford in the meantime and see how it goes. My family were so incredibly pleased when I got in to Oxford, it feels like I'm going to be a massive disappointment to them if I leave. I had doubts about it before I went, but I kinda got swept along. What do you all think? Am I insane?

I'm sorry if you've already been asked this question, but is there something about the structure of your course, Classics, that's putting you off it, or is it just Oxford itself?

It's the language. I'm still interested in the literature and history of the ancient world and I would probably be fine doing classical studies rather than classics elsewhere, but because I hadn't done Latin at school I wasn't really prepared for what it was going to be like. It's a mixture of the fact that I don't love Latin, that it's taught really intensively and also in the most old fashioned way possible (grammar grammar grammar!) I do have a bit of an issue with Oxford in general though and just how generally intense it all is. Don't get me wrong, there's some fantastic opportunities and things going on here but it's really hard to keep on an even keel, you get a few bits of awesomeness interspersed with feeling completely overburdened. It's amazing to eat in halls at long tables and pretend you're Harry Potter () but sometimes I wish I could just make some pasta with my friends, you know?

I'm doing Classics at Oxford and I'm thinking of dropping out. I don't like my subject anymore (and I'm not that good at at it) and although I've met some nice people, I feel like my social life is a bit boring- I've only been clubbing about three times since freshers, I think. We don't have any kind of kitchen and no-one hangs out in the common room ever, so we don't really socialise spontaneously, it's always planned in advance. I wish I could leave my room and see people but I don't unless I text them all and ask if they're busy first, and a lot of the time they're working. I'm planning on applying this cycle for Speech and Language Therapy at places like Reading and Newcastle- I wouldn't have to accept any offers until May so I can go do another term at Oxford in the meantime and see how it goes. My family were so incredibly pleased when I got in to Oxford, it feels like I'm going to be a massive disappointment to them if I leave. I had doubts about it before I went, but I kinda got swept along. What do you all think? Am I insane?

Seriously, why has this quote got 29 dislikes..this is just the truth!!...(truth hurts)

Because it was a stupid thing to say?

No-one who goes to Oxford (or any other university for that matter) owes anything to those who wanted to go but didn't get in. And to tell someone they "should have thought about that before applying" is just absurd; you can't know what it's actually like at a university until you've been there.

OP: sorry if you've already answered this (I only read the first page) but did you have collections at the start of Hilary? If so, and if they went okay, I'd think about sticking it out. I felt quite unhappy at several points during first year but I ended up staying and am very glad I did. Don't forget that in second year you can move in with friends and have the kitchen and the evening social stuff that it sounds like you've been craving. You'll also be more used to the workload, so hopefully will find you have more time to have a social life.

However, I only say this to show that you can come from a position where you're miserable at Oxford to one where you're very happy to be there - but if you want to go, then go - and don't let anyone tell you that you're doing something wrong by dropping out.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Sorry it took so long to reply to this. I did have a collection, I thought I did terribly and walked out early in tears but as it turns out I (just!) passed. I also got an essay back today and one of the comments said "tremendously argued!" so the work is going better. Everything is going better, actually. I rearranged my room to make it more homely, the work is more interesting now that it's not all just Latin grammar, I've been going to counselling to help out with my anxiety and now that people seem to be getting in to the swing of work a little more, I've been seeing more of my friends- who I would actually really miss if I left. It's not great but it's starting to feel... manageable. It's tough but I think I can do it and I think things will keep on getting better. So I'm probably going to stay.

(and I have an offer for speech sciences at Newcastle in case it all goes tits up!)

Sorry it took so long to reply to this. I did have a collection, I thought I did terribly and walked out early in tears but as it turns out I (just!) passed. I also got an essay back today and one of the comments said "tremendously argued!" so the work is going better. Everything is going better, actually. I rearranged my room to make it more homely, the work is more interesting now that it's not all just Latin grammar, I've been going to counselling to help out with my anxiety and now that people seem to be getting in to the swing of work a little more, I've been seeing more of my friends- who I would actually really miss if I left. It's not great but it's starting to feel... manageable. It's tough but I think I can do it and I think things will keep on getting better. So I'm probably going to stay...)

# Wait a minute, it's stopped snowing
Girls are fraping, girls are rowing
Playing Quidditch. Feel less ropey.
TSR folk kindly disregard this OP #

I'm doing Classics at Oxford and I'm thinking of dropping out. I don't like my subject anymore (and I'm not that good at at it) and although I've met some nice people, I feel like my social life is a bit boring- I've only been clubbing about three times since freshers, I think. We don't have any kind of kitchen and no-one hangs out in the common room ever, so we don't really socialise spontaneously, it's always planned in advance. I wish I could leave my room and see people but I don't unless I text them all and ask if they're busy first, and a lot of the time they're working. I'm planning on applying this cycle for Speech and Language Therapy at places like Reading and Newcastle- I wouldn't have to accept any offers until May so I can go do another term at Oxford in the meantime and see how it goes. My family were so incredibly pleased when I got in to Oxford, it feels like I'm going to be a massive disappointment to them if I leave. I had doubts about it before I went, but I kinda got swept along. What do you all think? Am I insane?