Bf failed first year, what can he do now?

Hey guys I need help real quick

So my bf had failed his first year at Brunel, and was told to withdraw from the course. He applied for an appeal back in July, and finally he got a response and was told his appeal was rejected. What are his options now? The main reason he failed was his mental health, as he got depressed and shut down quite often due to various bad situations happening in a row. He did decent on his grades, but mainly failed due to not handing in some assignments because he was in a depressed state.

What can he do? Is retaking his first year still an option? Should he try to enroll in a different uni? Should he even continue at uni? I'm trying my best to research as much as possible, so any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot!

(Edit: I would also like to add that I believe he can do just fine on the course, I just need to help him keep on track. I wasn't completely there for him last year because I was focused on my own course as we attend different unis, so I do regretfully admit I didn't help him as much as I should have.)

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 1

Anonymous #1

With all due respect, it’s not your responsibility to keep him on track, he’s an adult who chose to apply to a course he should commit and motivate himself to do. You need to focus on your own degree, whilst providing support is good, put yourself first and get the best out of your degree. You’ll regret it if you ever break up.

My advice to him is to take a break until his mental health is sorted out because there’s not point starting a new degree if he’ll have the same problem with mental health

Reply 2

Joinedup

I don't know - jumping straight back into uni if you've still got untreated mental health might not be a great idea, the year he's already done will count as his 'false start' for student finance purposes so any similar problems will mean he's unable to get funding for the length of a full degree.

might be worth getting treatment and waiting until he feels stable enough to take it

if/when you do go back make sure he gathers evidence of any mitigating circumstances (including MH) that come up and uses the unis procedures

Reply 3

OddOnes

If I was him I'd take a year out to recover and reapply to a different university. He needs to consider why it went wrong, what aspects of Brunel made him worse. So he can avoid a university with similar qualities and attend one that suits him better.
Make sure he looks into what mental health services are available!

Perhaps London living also didn't suit him? He could try a more countryside located university.