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Extenuating circumstances help

Hi everyone,

I entered an optometry degree last year and whilst on the course I had issues with some people within my cohort which led me into extreme anxiety and depression.

One of these people had threatened to stab me in the head and break my jaw(which is on video footage) on 3-4 separate occasions , him and his friends were also selling drugs on campus. On one occasion He stabbed me with a sharp object which cut me (a compass type object.) On another occassion his friend said he had a real knife on him,(two days prior to this he said he was going to stab me) after this day i never returned as I thought he would do the same with the real knife.

The bullying and threats from him and his friends which was mainly focused at me but teachers also vouched that his attitude towards them was bad, led to him being kicked off the course.

By the time he was kicked off it was already june and the year had already passed and I was already in deep anxiety and depression. I had failed a couple of my exams and missed alot of deadlines due to this and ending up failing the year. Had he been kicked off earlier I would have passed with flying colours as I am a very hard working and passionate student.

Due to this and his friends still being there as well as him knowing I study there, I would like to transfer universities under extenuating circumstances for the same course but closer to home for my safety, wellbeing and mental health.

The University i would like to transfer to (due to it being closest to my home and the only closer university, the rest being further away than my current university) has slightly higher grade requirements than I offer. Surely I shouldn't have to go further out or miss out on my life desired proffesion because of someones else's behaviour which the university has accepted was enough to exclude him off the course.

What is the best way to apply for extenuating circumstances? Should I call the university and tell them everything or go through ucas and apply online? is it worth mentioning this to the GOC(general optical council) so they can support my application? what is the process? As this will be very different to a normal application.

Thank you very much in advance.

Kind regards joe
Firstly I am so sorry you had such a poor experience at uni - I am glad the individual concerned was removed from the course. Extenuating circumstances are only really taken into consideration by the uni you are attending and not by a different uni. Thus your uni can allow you to resit year 1 without penalties but the other uni you are thinking of applying to has no knowledge of you and your circumstances.

By all means, write to your preferred uni and give your existing uni permission to share the details of the situation with the new uni. The new uni may look kindly on you and let you join their programme (even though you don't have the grades). It's not guaranteed.
Original post by mike23mike
Firstly I am so sorry you had such a poor experience at uni - I am glad the individual concerned was removed from the course. Extenuating circumstances are only really taken into consideration by the uni you are attending and not by a different uni. Thus your uni can allow you to resit year 1 without penalties but the other uni you are thinking of applying to has no knowledge of you and your circumstances.

By all means, write to your preferred uni and give your existing uni permission to share the details of the situation with the new uni. The new uni may look kindly on you and let you join their programme (even though you don't have the grades). It's not guaranteed.

Thank you for your fast reply, I thought that too but a friend of mine transfered uni with extenuating circumstances on dentistry. So I thought I should have a chance. My current uni have told me they will write an extenuating circumstances email telling any uni I apply for that they accept that these issues had a big impact on my studies within that year. Maybe an email from the optical council may support this alot more as they are above all unis offering that course?
Original post by Joestephens12
Thank you for your fast reply, I thought that too but a friend of mine transfered uni with extenuating circumstances on dentistry. So I thought I should have a chance. My current uni have told me they will write an extenuating circumstances email telling any uni I apply for that they accept that these issues had a big impact on my studies within that year. Maybe an email from the optical council may support this alot more as they are above all unis offering that course?


Absolutely it's possible to swap unis - it's just that it does not fit into a neat process box. I would avoid getting the optical council involved at this stage. They may then look into the practices of your existing uni and not be impressed. Kinda like throwing your existing uni under the bus.
Original post by mike23mike
Absolutely it's possible to swap unis - it's just that it does not fit into a neat process box. I would avoid getting the optical council involved at this stage. They may then look into their practices of your existing uni and not be impressed. Kinda like throwing your existing uni under the bus.

True, I've already complained to the uni about how late he was kicked off, so kind of already done that plus I mentioned it to the optical council the same time I mentioned it to the uni at start of the course
Original post by Joestephens12
True, I've already complained to the uni about how late he was kicked off, so kind of already done that plus I mentioned it to the optical council the same time I mentioned it to the uni at start of the course

Look at it from the uni's perspective. Say 100 people on your course. A lecturer will have perhaps 2 hours a week of contact with the group so it becomes difficult to know the good guys from the bad. It's not like the sixth form where the teacher has a class of 30 and can get to know individuals well.

This person must have done something really bad to end up on the uni's radar - not sure if you reported your abuse to the programme leader? If you did then the uni should have reacted more quickly. If you did not, then the uni can be forgiven for not knowing about the abuse you suffered.
Original post by mike23mike
Look at it from the uni's perspective. Say 100 people on your course. A lecturer will have perhaps 2 hours a week of contact with the group so it becomes difficult to know the good guys from the bad. It's not like the sixth form where the teacher has a class of 30 and can get to know individuals well.

This person must have done something really bad to end up on the uni's radar - not sure if you reported your abuse to the programme leader? If you did then the uni should have reacted more quickly. If you did not, then the uni can be forgiven for not knowing about the abuse you suffered.

Yes very true, i highlighted it within the first month.
I understand what you mean. Thank you for your advice once again 😊 much appreciated.
(edited 3 years ago)
Anyone else got views on my first post?
Thanks in advance.
Joe

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