Will I be stupid to take my unconditional?

Okay so basically, during A level exam season I was so depressed and the build up of exams made me crumble and I overall was so miserable at my sixthform. I just dreaded to get out of bed and go, not because I’m lazy. If I’m honest, I really think I’ve got EEU, however I’ve got an unconditional. I couldn’t bare to think of anything worse than staying at the sixthform and resitting. Should I just take the unconditional? Would it be easy to resist A levels in first year if I find a centre that allows me to do so? Any help is greatly, greatly appreciated!

Reply 1

Anonymous #2

I believe you must get at least EEE for the unconditional to be valid. I’m sure you will have got that, so yeah why not take it. You can always withdraw at a later date if you change your mind, but I don’t see why anyone would want to resit A levels.

Reply 2

nabzy1

In my personal opinion, as you were depressed and unable to concentrate, I don't think you should go to uni this year, take the year out to improve your mental health and resit your exams so you have a chance of doing well. Going to uni this year will add to your stress levels and your mental health comes first before anything. if retaking is something you really dread, i'm pretty sure you can just defer your entry, sort yourself out mentally and go next year instead.

Original post by Anonymous

Reply 3

Anonymous #2

Original post by nabzy1

This is also a good point. I may have wrongly assumed the OP’s mental state had improved.

Reply 4

Quick-use

Original post by nabzy1

I strongly recommend this as well.

Your mental health won't magically improve in a new setting. You'll find that it'll just keep getting worse until you get a handle on it. I would strongly encourage you to take a year out, focus on your health, see your GP, get referred to a psychiatrist (through your GP) and resit your A levels. Make yourself healthier and happier first before embarking on university studies.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 5

Anonymous #3

Original post by Quick-use

I strongly recommend this as well.

Your mental health won't magically improve in a new setting. You'll find that it'll just keep getting worse until you get a handle on it. I would strongly encourage you to take a year out, focus on your health, see your GP, get referred to a psychiatrist (through your GP) resit your A levels. Make yourself healthier and happier first before embarking on university studies.

I know this is an individual case and so is mine. I was similar to OP, but in my case 1st term of uni, I was extremely depressed and lazy. However I made friends and I no longer felt that way. In actuality I was so happy and I did so many things that I never dreamt of doing.
For me it improved my mental illness, without seeking help, but I guess that's just me.

Also I feel like Universities can give more help for mental illnesses than regular schools can.
Just my opinion.

Reply 6

aims143

Hi, sorry to hear about your state of mind right now. I hope you have considered reaching out for help from a professional!

It is very easy to slip up, especially when you are under the stress already of getting to university. By the sounds of it, you do seem very capable if you did manage to gain an unconditional, (so congratulations on that!). So why not just take some time for yourself (as mentioned by someone else above), and really try and recuperate yourself. It is important that you do look after your mental health. Possibly think of retaking, you'll be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't! You're clearly capable of doing better!

Being in a uni environment will only cause this worsen at this moment in time unfortunately. There is a lot of pressure with moving out, making friends, feeling lonely, managing your own time, work and finances. It can be stressful and I would only advise that you go forward with taking the option if you feel like you would be able to cope.

As has been mentioned above too, I really think you should either consider taking time out or resitting your A Levels, you will find that you will have better job prospects after university and you don't want to regret not retaking when you had the chance just for the sake of going to university earlier.

Remember, there is no textbook way to handle your education. If you feel like you need to take time out, then you really 100% should. It doesn't matter if you go to university a few years later, it'll be better anyways because you will be maturer and mentally ready to deal with it!

Reply 7

Quick-use

Original post by Anonymous

What term of your university are you in now?

In many instances, I found myself to be like you but it never lasted long to be permanent.

Reply 8

Anonymous #4

Regarding your first reply to this thread. He/she can get UUU and they'll still be accepted, even have dropped out of A Levels (very few people do this), and you still get accepted as it's unconditional.

I would say don't resit honestly unless you are aiming for a better uni/course. A Levels made you feel depressed, Sixth Form culture made you feel depressed. A third year where you're a year behind and potentially even new is even worse than what you already experienced I'd say. Especially with A Levels there's no January exams and modular exams anymore which makes it even worse.

Some employers will care about your A Level Results. A law firm will and any competitive industry/jobs. However if the degree is specialised and highly employable don't waste a year, the degree will be harder than A Levels so the results paint a stronger and better picture of you as a candidate.

Regarding your mental health, first year of Uni for most courses is actually easier than A Levels, it gets harder Y2 and harder again Y3. If you aren't happy with where you are at during a gap year it may make your mental health worse.

If you do get EEU and decide to resit make sure to defer entry though. What course you doing?