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Horribly depressed about my choice of university - is it really too late to change?

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(edited 5 years ago)

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Original post by danriccini
Hello, thanks for taking the time to read this :smile:

I've taken my gap year and am due to start at the university of kent in september. I don't want to live in Canterbury. I've been dismissing this feeling for the whole year, thinking that it's stupid to want to change just because of location but i've come to decide I really want to study in a larger, livelier city. Please don't dismiss this as cold feet or a stupid reason to want to change - I simply won't be as happy and am sure that I will regret my decision.

Is there anything I can do at this point? It's worth mentioning that my required grades are ABB but I got BCC and was let in to kent anyway.

Slightly panicking :frown:


do not go where you do not want to

take care that this is not just cold feet



Look at UCAS and see if there is anything in clearing that you like the look of
Original post by TenOfThem
do not go where you do not want to

take care that this is not just cold feet



Look at UCAS and see if there is anything in clearing that you like the look of


This, though you should also be sure that the issue is what you present it as. Don't feel rushed into attending university.
Reply 3
Avatar for Andy Cr
Andy Cr
Canterbury is a brilliant city, it is small but very lively :smile: I've lived in Bristol, Brighton and London and I like it here best, it's a bit of a hidden secret. The rave/ free party scene is great, it's friendly safe and clean, 50 mins on the high speed train to London and there is a lot of art and live music and the pubs are brilliant. Bigger cities have more people but oddly it is easier to be lonely in them. It's like the difference between Glastonbury and Sunrise. I would suggest you give it a go.
Original post by danriccini
Hello, thanks for taking the time to read this :smile:

I've taken my gap year and am due to start at the university of kent in september. I don't want to live in Canterbury. I've been dismissing this feeling for the whole year, thinking that it's stupid to want to change just because of location but i've come to decide I really want to study in a larger, livelier city. Please don't dismiss this as cold feet or a stupid reason to want to change - I simply won't be as happy and am sure that I will regret my decision.

Is there anything I can do at this point? It's worth mentioning that my required grades are ABB but I got BCC and was let in to kent anyway.

Slightly panicking :frown:


The university of Kent is one of the best universities in the world, you are very lucky
Original post by Andy Cr
Canterbury is a brilliant city, it is small but very lively :smile: I've lived in Bristol, Brighton and London and I like it here best, it's a bit of a hidden secret. The rave/ free party scene is great, it's friendly safe and clean, 50 mins on the high speed train to London and there is a lot of art and live music and the pubs are brilliant. Bigger cities have more people but oddly it is easier to be lonely in them. It's like the difference between Glastonbury and Sunrise. I would suggest you give it a go.


Are you serious? This is exactly what I needed to hear. I owe you a pint. I have family there and assumed it was as I remembered from when I was younger since I couldn't find much online to suggest otherwise. Maybe I'm insecure but I hate the feeling of being disconnected (and I love edm)

Will do some more research but you've really helped my nerves. Thank you <3
Original post by TenOfThem
do not go where you do not want to

take care that this is not just cold feet



Look at UCAS and see if there is anything in clearing that you like the look of


Am looking through clearing but it seems that i'll have to drop my place at kent and settle for a worse university since I got in on grades lower than my predicted ones. Thank you :smile:
Reply 7
Avatar for ayeeel
ayeeel
8
I agree with comments above ^^^ that Canterbury is a great city - don't rule it out! You'll see it differently as a student than with family :smile:
Original post by danriccini
Am looking through clearing but it seems that i'll have to drop my place at kent and settle for a worse university since I got in on grades lower than my predicted ones. Thank you :smile:


I feared as much :frown:

I know lots of people that have gone to Kent or CCC and enjoy Canterbury - I believe there is a strong student presence

Can you go for the weekend this or next week to get a feel for the place?
Reply 9
Avatar for smjwell
smjwell
7
I felt the same way about Warwick. I missed my grades but still got in and I had the mentality of 'it's Warwick, I'd be stupid to turn this down'. Anyway I ended up going and I hated. Partially because I was on the wrong course, but even if I enjoyed my course I don't think I could have stayed. I stayed there for a whole academic year, but I will be starting at a different university and on a different course this September.

I would say it's not worth it. Not only did I waste time, but also a great deal of money. Yeah, you could go there and actually find that you love it. I personally think the risks of hating it are too high.

You could see if there are any places left in clearing as someone suggested. Or take a gap year. As someone already said, don't feel rushed into attending university. A year out reapplying to somewhere you know you absolutely love would be better in the long run. You could maybe retake, if you feel that would suit you. A year out will also give you time to make sure university is for you, maybe get a job or do something else productive.
Original post by TenOfThem

Can you go for the weekend this or next week to get a feel for the place?


This is a good idea. My girlfriend and I could go down next weekend. I think that would help me.

To be honest, at this point I may just have to accept it's too late. I don't want to waste my place there since I was lucky to have it at all. I won't spend four years there if I really do want to move somewhere else. An extra years worth of debt seems a small price to pay to be happy.
Reply 11
Avatar for Andy Cr
Andy Cr
Original post by danriccini
Are you serious? This is exactly what I needed to hear. I owe you a pint. I have family there and assumed it was as I remembered from when I was younger since I couldn't find much online to suggest otherwise. Maybe I'm insecure but I hate the feeling of being disconnected (and I love edm)

Will do some more research but you've really helped my nerves. Thank you <3


Canterbury has one of the largest student populations relative to city size in Western Europe, and has a lot going on - It seems a bit quiet on the surface but most of the best stuff goes on underground. If you are at UKC do yourself a favour and don't hang around the campus (The venue is rubbish anyway, to be honest there aren't any good big nightclubs here, but they are overrated anyway, smaller venues are almost always better) Take a couple of mates and start drinking in the Cherry Tree in the high street (Or the Lady Luck if you are a punk, metal fan or lesbian..). These are where the cool kids hang out, if you want to meet musicians, dj's, artists, skaters etc. Here is where you'll find them.
Visiting would be a good idea, There is a double room at the Whitstable travelodge for next Friday on Ebay. Buy it now £29.00. Item 141381124240. Or Keynes has double room with breakfast for £65.
OP

I was in exactly the same position as you 4 years ago. I dont want to say which uni ( because I like to maintain my privacy online) but it's basically a village/campus uni and I had always dreamt to go to a London Uni but it didnt work out ( I only applied to that uni becuase I knew its the only uni i had a even a small chance of getting in). Even when i went to the interview i only half heartedly put in effort ( god knows how I got a place) because deep down i didnt want to go there, and ended up going there cause it was the only offer i had for a very good course.

So yeah I felt exactly as you, even after starting to uni I was determined to transfer to another uni in the first semester, but then after that I made really good mates and did have fun going out even if it wasnt a proper city. We would just travel to nearby cities when we'd get bored of where we were.

Fast forward 4 years, I cant believe how fast time has gone, im applying for jobs and hopefully will now work in a city! And i'm glad I stuck it out, cause eventually I got used to it, and met some amazing people. And i think of the pros such as cheaper accomodation!
Original post by danriccini
hello, thanks for taking the time to read this :smile:

i've taken my gap year and am due to start at the university of kent in september. I don't want to live in canterbury. I've been dismissing this feeling for the whole year, thinking that it's stupid to want to change just because of location but i've come to decide i really want to study in a larger, livelier city. Please don't dismiss this as cold feet or a stupid reason to want to change - i simply won't be as happy and am sure that i will regret my decision.

Is there anything i can do at this point? It's worth mentioning that my required grades are abb but i got bcc and was let in to kent anyway.

Slightly panicking :frown:

what course are you doing
Original post by danriccini

I've taken my gap year and am due to start at the university of kent in september.

Is there anything I can do at this point? It's worth mentioning that my required grades are ABB but I got BCC and was let in to kent anyway.

Slightly panicking :frown:


If you hadn't taken a gap year already I'd have suggested doing so but just to make you feel happier about the situation. When you get to university you'll discover that a lot of the fun is from who you are with and not where you are. A visit might help but really the only way to see the place as a student will see it is to be in hall.

Sign up for any Facebook fresher's page and start having a look at what sort of groups there are that you might want to join. You'll spend a lot of time the first year in other students's rooms, or in corridors, and after the first year your friends can be much more scattered in a big place than in somewhere smaller.
Original post by help!!!!!!!!!!
what course are you doing


Politics and international relations
Original post by danriccini
Politics and international relations

is it a highly demanded course?
if the universities you want to go to are still offering the course in mid sep contact them again
Original post by A100whoo
OP

I was in exactly the same position as you 4 years ago. I dont want to say which uni ( because I like to maintain my privacy online) but it's basically a village/campus uni and I had always dreamt to go to a London Uni but it didnt work out ( I only applied to that uni becuase I knew its the only uni i had a even a small chance of getting in). Even when i went to the interview i only half heartedly put in effort ( god knows how I got a place) because deep down i didnt want to go there, and ended up going there cause it was the only offer i had for a very good course.

So yeah I felt exactly as you, even after starting to uni I was determined to transfer to another uni in the first semester, but then after that I made really good mates and did have fun going out even if it wasnt a proper city. We would just travel to nearby cities when we'd get bored of where we were.

Fast forward 4 years, I cant believe how fast time has gone, im applying for jobs and hopefully will now work in a city! And i'm glad I stuck it out, cause eventually I got used to it, and met some amazing people. And i think of the pros such as cheaper accomodation!


Thank you, you've made me feel better about it. I'm just gonna have to see how I feel during the first year. Going to keep my options open :smile:
Original post by parentlurker
If you hadn't taken a gap year already I'd have suggested doing so but just to make you feel happier about the situation. When you get to university you'll discover that a lot of the fun is from who you are with and not where you are. A visit might help but really the only way to see the place as a student will see it is to be in hall.

Sign up for any Facebook fresher's page and start having a look at what sort of groups there are that you might want to join. You'll spend a lot of time the first year in other students's rooms, or in corridors, and after the first year your friends can be much more scattered in a big place than in somewhere smaller.


Completely agree with this. I attended college for a year at a very small town in my country, so I was sort of in the same situation. Plus the fact that I'd always lived in a big city up till then. That one year turned out to be the most amazing time I'd ever had, almost entirely because of the people I spent with (a lot of bonding came from our mutual hatred of the town, even :tongue:). I haven't bee to Canterbury, but I'm positive it won't be as bad as that. Still, it's best to give it a go. :biggrin:

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