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Did I make a mistake by CHOOSING to resit first year?!

I started uni last year September and I'm studying Accounting and Finance. Prior to starting uni I had been diagnosed with anxiety, depression and BDD. I feel like going to a uni far away from my home on my own made my anxiety worse and I found my first year of uni really overwhelming. I struggled to settle in and my head was all over the place. Then in around March time I had somewhat of a mental/nervous breakdown and was admitted into a hospital, then transferred into a mental health unit where I stayed for over a fortnight.

However, since then, I feel that I am in a better place mentally. I am on medication that improves the symptoms of my mental disorders, and I have also gained a more positive perspective on things through maturity and therapy. I turned 20 last week.

My uni welfare tutor had a meeting with me and suggested me deferring my exams until the summer period or choosing to take a break and do first year again. I chose the latter. However now I'm starting to strongly regret this choice I made some friends who will now be progressing to second year who I will miss lots.

I'm already behind because I took a gap year for mental health reasons in Year 12 so this means that I will now be 2 years behind. The module exams I had before the summer exams I had passed all of them, and now I'll have to do it all over again and not even because I failed it .

I just can't help feeling awful for opting to re-do first year. The only thing is that because in first year my priorities were not in order and my mind was all over the place I didn't invest as much effort into my exams, I think some I barely just passed, yet now I should be able to put in more study time. All of my friends from school are going onto 2nd year now, I feel almost embarrassed and feel really remorseful.

What do you think? How can I feel better about my decision? :frown:
Reply 1
bump
Ultimately, a year or two at this stage isn't a big deal at all, people have wasted way more years of their life and ended up successful. A person starting uni at 20 wouldn't even be considered a mature student, so I really don't see anything for you to be ashamed about. I don't see any reason why you can't still hang out with the friends you made this year either, even if they're moving on to their 2nd year you're still at the same uni aren't you? I understand it feels like a huge deal to you right now but trust me, it really isn't.
Reply 3
My parents are making me feel so horrible about my decision :frown: but they've never been supportive of my mental health anyway. They don't even know of my hospital stay of this year.
Reply 4
You should ask to go back into Year 2, as there was no reason for you to retake Year 1, and classes have only just started so there's still time to move around. They shouldn't have even let you do that, it's a waste of fees and your Year 1 mark doesn't even contribute to your degree.
Reply 5
Original post by Petulia
You should ask to go back into Year 2, as there was no reason for you to retake Year 1, and classes have only just started so there's still time to move around. They shouldn't have even let you do that, it's a waste of fees and your Year 1 mark doesn't even contribute to your degree.


I haven't done the exams to enter year 2 though.
Reply 6
Original post by Petulia
You should ask to go back into Year 2, as there was no reason for you to retake Year 1, and classes have only just started so there's still time to move around. They shouldn't have even let you do that, it's a waste of fees and your Year 1 mark doesn't even contribute to your degree.


It doesn't seem like you even read the OP, and you seem to have completely disregarded my mental health issues and circumstances.
Reply 7
Not everyone gets the chance for a do-over on a really bad year. You're through it-- now enjoy what's in front of you.
Reply 8
Original post by Anonymous
It doesn't seem like you even read the OP, and you seem to have completely disregarded my mental health issues and circumstances.


I did read it and you said yourself you have all of your friends in second year. It doesn't make sense to retake the year when you passed it and it doesn't contribute to your degree. And with regards to your mental health I personally don't see how holding yourself back a year would help you since all of the friends you made and trusted aren't even going to be in your classes to support you. And you're likely to feel depressed and bored eventually from repeating the same modules again. First year is usually just consolidation of A level information and bringing everyone up to the same level. I think you should ask to go into Year 2 because you'll probably feel more motivated with the people you know around you and knowing that it's basically a fresh start because Year 2 is when your grades start to matter.
Reply 9
Original post by Petulia
I did read it and you said yourself you have all of your friends in second year. It doesn't make sense to retake the year when you passed it and it doesn't contribute to your degree. And with regards to your mental health I personally don't see how holding yourself back a year would help you since all of the friends you made and trusted aren't even going to be in your classes to support you. And you're likely to feel depressed and bored eventually from repeating the same modules again. First year is usually just consolidation of A level information and bringing everyone up to the same level. I think you should ask to go into Year 2 because you'll probably feel more motivated with the people you know around you and knowing that it's basically a fresh start because Year 2 is when your grades start to matter.


I passed the modules throughout the year but the actual summer exams I did not sit so I can't go into year 2 since I didn't do the summer exams which makes up most of the grades anyway.

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