Missing lectures

I’m currently doing a science foundation year and recently have found myself missing a lot of lectures. The main reason being I just don’t see the point in sitting there for 2 hours whilst the lecturer reads off the slides when I could literally do the same from my house. I always go to practicals and always catch up on the lecture slides so is it really that big a deal? One of my modules takes attendance and mine is probably around 60% but would this even matter with a foundation year, would potential employers look at my attendance?

Reply 1

MrMusician95

Potential employers don't care but if a university takes attendance seriously you could be kicked out. And believe me, don't get into the habit now of missing lectures.

Reply 2

999tigger

Original post by Anonymous

Employers will not know, but doesnt make you the brightest if your uni says attendance is required. Your money, your choice, but you could look silly
unless you ace your exams.

Reply 3

Mr Wednesday

Original post by 999tigger

Employers will not know ....

Not entirely true if they ask for a letter of reference from a tutor / the course leader. It would of course be pertinent to say something like "Joe Blogs has delivered a solid mid 2:2 performance in exams but has only attended 60% of scheduled lectures" in that letter as it gives a sense of work ethic and committment.

Reply 4

Liverpool Hope University

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous

Hi there,

You've already had good advice from @MrMusician95 and @999tigger that I can only add too.

If the attendance on your lectures is monitored and you're not attending, you could risk being withdrawn your course which would cause problems for progressing to your undergraduate course.

And as @MrMusician95 says, its best not to get into a habit of missing lectures now so you'll be ready to attend on your undergraduate.

Fi :horse:

Reply 5

999tigger

Original post by Mr Wednesday

No it wouldnt.
Tutors arent stupid and arent in the habit of stitching you up hence you select one.
Unless it was one of the few unis that make yopu tick a register it would be irrelevant and the tutor would not know.
If you change that 2:2 to a 2:1 it becomes even more irrelevant and also before a tutor did that they might find out why attendance was low because there may be a genuine reason. So be careful how much you read into it.

My point about attending isnt about work ethic or commitment.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 6

Mr Wednesday

Original post by 999tigger

Tutors arent stupid and arent in the habit of stitching you up hence you select one.

They do however have to live with the long term consequences and reputational damage of a less than honest reference. If you do that, an organisation that recruits students from you stops trusting you and at that point any of the students you write a reference for in the future are suspsect. I have a list of a few people I wont trust a reference from, I would be really surprized if other people and organisations dont.

>> "My point about attending isnt about work ethic or commitment"

Beg to differ on that, students with 60% are with very few exceptions either long term unwell (which requires a very different kind of reference) or just not committed to the course.

Reply 7

999tigger

Original post by Mr Wednesday

You misunderstand the purpose of the reference or how it would work in the real world. Students choose their own referees and tutors are more likely to refuse to give you a reference if they dont believe they can give you a good one. If there is no attendance requirement as is common in most unis, then whether they attend or not is irrelevant and plenty of students do not attend because either the lecturer is poor or they can learn better otherwise. No idea why you think you have a right to know that or it makes any difference.

Beg to differ all you like. you clearly seem to think you know the point I was referring to but you were incorrect and you might benefit from reading the thread again.

There are benefits to attending, be they social or getting extra information from the tutor or because you are paying for it, but nothing to do with work ethic or worrying about your reference. Some courses lectures are more important than others.

Anyway am quite happy to avoid wasting more time with you and will agree to differ.

Reply 8

Mr Wednesday

Original post by 999tigger

Currently writing the 7th reference for a student in the last week for a mix of jobs, fellowships and PhD positions so I think I know how this works :smile:

. Lots of things go into that mix and understanding the totality of a students achievements and any challenges they faced along the way is an important part of the job. I also get to read a lot of these in return, and you rapidly get a sense of when a referee is telling you that candidate x "didnt make best use of all that their course offered".