Unhappy and don't know what to do :(

Hi guys, so i'm new to this so please bare with me, and I apologise for the essay ...

I'm a second year law student, awaiting to do my up-coming exams, and i'm completely miserable! I would post this on studynet but I don't really want the tutors to see this.

I just feel completely at a loss. A part of me just wants to fail my exams so I have an excuse to quit and leave, join another Uni and do a completely different course (maybe computing or photography, as I find them more interesting and get more joy out of them), but another part of me feels, "get a grip you've got one more year left!" I feel like I should carry on but I don't know if I can take another year of this, what if I fail this year, thats 2 years i'll have left to endure it. I used to love law, I loved it at alevel and I was so excited to start the course, and now I can't even remember why I loved it or why I even bothered to apply.

Lastly I feel like the tutors just don't care. When ever I send an email nine times out of ten I get a moody one back, or if I email the law admin office I never get an email back. I just feel like i'm all alone and the teachers don't want to do anything to help.

Do I stay? Do I go? Do I email the tutors? Do I take a year off? I have no idea, and I just feel so lost. So my question is ... does anyone have any insight or advice as to what I should do? Has anyone been in this position before and how did you cope? And if I do decide to leave have I left it way to late in the year? Any advice/answers/help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys :frown:

Reply 1

xtal33

Original post by UnhappyStudent

Hi guys, so i'm new to this so please bare with me, and I apologise for the essay ...

I'm a second year law student, awaiting to do my up-coming exams, and i'm completely miserable! I would post this on studynet but I don't really want the tutors to see this.

I just feel completely at a loss. A part of me just wants to fail my exams so I have an excuse to quit and leave, join another Uni and do a completely different course (maybe computing or photography, as I find them more interesting and get more joy out of them), but another part of me feels, "get a grip you've got one more year left!" I feel like I should carry on but I don't know if I can take another year of this, what if I fail this year, thats 2 years i'll have left to endure it. I used to love law, I loved it at alevel and I was so excited to start the course, and now I can't even remember why I loved it or why I even bothered to apply.

Lastly I feel like the tutors just don't care. When ever I send an email nine times out of ten I get a moody one back, or if I email the law admin office I never get an email back. I just feel like i'm all alone and the teachers don't want to do anything to help.

Do I stay? Do I go? Do I email the tutors? Do I take a year off? I have no idea, and I just feel so lost. So my question is ... does anyone have any insight or advice as to what I should do? Has anyone been in this position before and how did you cope? And if I do decide to leave have I left it way to late in the year? Any advice/answers/help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys :frown:

I'm sorry to hear you're unhappy, it's a difficult situation.

Since you've almost finished the second year and the fees will have been paid - I'd say knuckle down for the next month and pass your exams. Then re-assess the situation.

One last year at university (7-8 months in reality) will probably fly by. If you were starting a new degree you'd have to check the finance situation, as you only get 4 years of funding from student finance. You could take a year off between the second and third years, but it's probably best to get it over and done with if you were considering that to be honest.

Not getting replies from the admin office is unacceptable (lecturers I can understand to an extent). If you have questions I'd go to them in person, they're there to help you after all.

Reply 2

UnhappyStudent

OP

Original post by xtal33

I'm sorry to hear you're unhappy, it's a difficult situation.

Since you've almost finished the second year and the fees will have been paid - I'd say knuckle down for the next month and pass your exams. Then re-assess the situation.

One last year at university (7-8 months in reality) will probably fly by. If you were starting a new degree you'd have to check the finance situation, as you only get 4 years of funding from student finance. You could take a year off between the second and third years, but it's probably best to get it over and done with if you were considering that to be honest.

Not getting replies from the admin office is unacceptable (lecturers I can understand to an extent). If you have questions I'd go to them in person, they're there to help you after all.

Thank you for your speedy responce and thank you for your help/advice, I didn't realise you only get 4 years of funding from student finance /: I agree that my third year will probably fly by, I think that this year has gone really fast, I think I just find it so daunting having to go another year with the feelings that I have, but I guess it could be totally different next year and I could be happier. I didn't really want to take a year off anyway because if I did chose to go back and do my last year I would want to graduate with my friends, I just wondered whether anyone had taken a year off and whether it helped, but I guess it probably would be better to just get it over and done with you're right.

I've got a consolidation class at the end of this week with a decent teacher I might stay and talk to him at the end of the lesson, and see if I feel any better. Thanks so much for you're help I really appreciate it (:

Reply 3

notchip

Original post by UnhappyStudent

Hi guys, so i'm new to this so please bare with me, and I apologise for the essay ...

I'm a second year law student, awaiting to do my up-coming exams, and i'm completely miserable! I would post this on studynet but I don't really want the tutors to see this.

I just feel completely at a loss. A part of me just wants to fail my exams so I have an excuse to quit and leave, join another Uni and do a completely different course (maybe computing or photography, as I find them more interesting and get more joy out of them), but another part of me feels, "get a grip you've got one more year left!" I feel like I should carry on but I don't know if I can take another year of this, what if I fail this year, thats 2 years i'll have left to endure it. I used to love law, I loved it at alevel and I was so excited to start the course, and now I can't even remember why I loved it or why I even bothered to apply.

Lastly I feel like the tutors just don't care. When ever I send an email nine times out of ten I get a moody one back, or if I email the law admin office I never get an email back. I just feel like i'm all alone and the teachers don't want to do anything to help.

Do I stay? Do I go? Do I email the tutors? Do I take a year off? I have no idea, and I just feel so lost. So my question is ... does anyone have any insight or advice as to what I should do? Has anyone been in this position before and how did you cope? And if I do decide to leave have I left it way to late in the year? Any advice/answers/help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys :frown:

Hey, sorry you're having a rough time :frown:

I can empathise because I was in a really similar situation a few years ago, also at the end of the second year of a law degree! I was really unhappy but the difference was that I didn't really seek any help from my uni, so it's really good that you're at least trying to do that.

I basically had a meltdown and had to suspend for a year. In that time, I worked and when the time came to go back, I'd gotten used to the money and really didn't want to. Besides which, all of my friends had graduated and so I had to make new living arrangements etc. too. I lasted until Christmas of third year and then dropped out. So, purely personally, I would advise against suspending, especially if your enthusiasm for the course is already waning. I also loved law at A-Level and also loved most of the content of my degree, I just realised early on that I didn't want to pursue a career in it.

Obviously I didn't finish, and so I can't advise on the merits of sticking it out, but there were many of my friends who did (despite feeling similar to how you do now). I'm in the third year of a very different degree now and it's been a completely different experience, though part of me still wishes that I'd stuck Law out (without having to suspend). Once you have this undergrad degree, there's nothing stopping you pursuing a second one in something else later.

The one thing I would say is that just before the exam period probably isn't the best time to make an objective decision. A break over the summer might make all the difference in terms of how you feel about the final year.

Good luck!

Reply 4

UnhappyStudent

OP

Original post by notchip

Hey, sorry you're having a rough time :frown:

I can empathise because I was in a really similar situation a few years ago, also at the end of the second year of a law degree! I was really unhappy but the difference was that I didn't really seek any help from my uni, so it's really good that you're at least trying to do that.

I basically had a meltdown and had to suspend for a year. In that time, I worked and when the time came to go back, I'd gotten used to the money and really didn't want to. Besides which, all of my friends had graduated and so I had to make new living arrangements etc. too. I lasted until Christmas of third year and then dropped out. So, purely personally, I would advise against suspending, especially if your enthusiasm for the course is already waning. I also loved law at A-Level and also loved most of the content of my degree, I just realised early on that I didn't want to pursue a career in it.

Obviously I didn't finish, and so I can't advise on the merits of sticking it out, but there were many of my friends who did (despite feeling similar to how you do now). I'm in the third year of a very different degree now and it's been a completely different experience, though part of me still wishes that I'd stuck Law out (without having to suspend). Once you have this undergrad degree, there's nothing stopping you pursuing a second one in something else later.

The one thing I would say is that just before the exam period probably isn't the best time to make an objective decision. A break over the summer might make all the difference in terms of how you feel about the final year.

Good luck!

Hi! Thanks so much for your reply, I am so glad i'm not alone!! I'm sorry you had a bad time to, but it's interesting and worth while knowing what it was like taking a year off, I think i'd probably do the same and not go back if I did take a year off (I don't think I will now). I also agree completely with you, there is no way that I want a career in law now, I used to want to be a solicitor so bad, then at the start of this year my passion had started to dwindle so I thought about being a paralegal, I thought it would be less stress, then a friend of my sisters became a paralegal and she was treated like crap because she wasn't as "superior" as a solicitor so she got dumped on, and now I just couldn't care less about it, so i've got to the stage in thinking whats the point in carrying on. But like xtal33 said, hopefully my third year will fly by and then it will be over!!

I really appreciate your help and thank you for telling me that you kind of regret not carrying on with the law degree, I do appreciate the opportunity that I have at studying for a degree in law and i'm pretty sure i'd regret it to if I quit, it's just so hard on my emotions right now, but like you said it probably is the wrong time to drag all this up before my exams. Hopefully i'll pass and feel better over the summer after a long break. Thanks again, I feel a bit better after reading your post so thank you!!

Reply 5

University of Hertfordshire

Official Rep

15

Original post by UnhappyStudent

Hi guys, so i'm new to this so please bare with me, and I apologise for the essay ...

I'm a second year law student, awaiting to do my up-coming exams, and i'm completely miserable! I would post this on studynet but I don't really want the tutors to see this.

I just feel completely at a loss. A part of me just wants to fail my exams so I have an excuse to quit and leave, join another Uni and do a completely different course (maybe computing or photography, as I find them more interesting and get more joy out of them), but another part of me feels, "get a grip you've got one more year left!" I feel like I should carry on but I don't know if I can take another year of this, what if I fail this year, thats 2 years i'll have left to endure it. I used to love law, I loved it at alevel and I was so excited to start the course, and now I can't even remember why I loved it or why I even bothered to apply.

Lastly I feel like the tutors just don't care. When ever I send an email nine times out of ten I get a moody one back, or if I email the law admin office I never get an email back. I just feel like i'm all alone and the teachers don't want to do anything to help.

Do I stay? Do I go? Do I email the tutors? Do I take a year off? I have no idea, and I just feel so lost. So my question is ... does anyone have any insight or advice as to what I should do? Has anyone been in this position before and how did you cope? And if I do decide to leave have I left it way to late in the year? Any advice/answers/help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys :frown:

Hi there,

Sorry to hear that you feel this way!

If you want to talk to someone- who isn't a tutor- about the way you're feeling and your options going forward, then the counselling centre offer a really good confidential advice service which may help make your feelings clearer and decision easier.

http://www.herts.ac.uk/why-us/student-support/counselling/home.cfm

Try and book an appointment with one of your tutors as well, i'm sure if you sit down with one of them and tell them exactly how you're feeling they can offer you additional support and suggest ways to make your final year experience a lot better!

Whilst it may not be worth dropping out of your course at this late stage, there are definitely things you can get involved in that will enable you to develop your other interests (computing or photography) and may give you a wider range of career options once you have completed the course.

Feel free to inbox me or comment below if you need any further information.

thanks,
Ashley (University of Hertfordshire Official Representative)

Unhappy and don't know what to do :(

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