I hate uni, can I just quit
I'm at leeds conservatoire and I hate it. My flatmates blast music from the kitchen late in the night, and I don't like living in a city. I've been around the school and there are hardly any practice rooms and I need them because I'm studying classical piano with foundation year. I didn't want to do the foundation course but my a-level grades were really bad and I didn't get the grades to apply for the 3 year course.
I feel like I've made a massive mistake coming here, Is it possible to switch unis or courses or should I just quit and go home.
I really hate it here.
I feel like I've made a massive mistake coming here, Is it possible to switch unis or courses or should I just quit and go home.
I really hate it here.
Original post by Anonymous
I'm at leeds conservatoire and I hate it. My flatmates blast music from the kitchen late in the night, and I don't like living in a city. I've been around the school and there are hardly any practice rooms and I need them because I'm studying classical piano with foundation year. I didn't want to do the foundation course but my a-level grades were really bad and I didn't get the grades to apply for the 3 year course.
I feel like I've made a massive mistake coming here, Is it possible to switch unis or courses or should I just quit and go home.
I really hate it here.
I feel like I've made a massive mistake coming here, Is it possible to switch unis or courses or should I just quit and go home.
I really hate it here.
swapping courses could be possible, switching unis isn't that likely you'd have to wait until next year. you're going to have to check what if any penalties there are for leaving your accommodation contract.
As @claireestelle says (PRSOM 
) changing courses at your current uni might be possible but you will need to speak with your current course provider. It is probably too late to change to a different university - you could look in clearing what is available still, but I imagine there won't be much and as above there may be penalties on leaving your current rental contract.
In terms of withdrawing from the university and course entirely, that is of course possible, however there are some things to be aware of. To begin with, you will be required to pay back any "surplus" maintenance loan you have received. SFE usually calculates this pro-rata dependent on how many days of the term you have studied (so if you withdrew halfway through term you would need to pay back half the maintenance loan). As it is at/near the beginning of term you would need to pay back most if not all of it. This, in combination with the aforementioned accommodation issue, may cause problems so you need to plan carefully.
You won't need to pay back the tuition fee loan, however your uni may or may not "charge" some or all of the tuition fee loan depending on when you are withdrawing. Usually after a certain amount of time once term has started the tuition fee liability kicks in and they expect that to get paid - in this case by SFE. However if it is paid by SFE, this can affect your entitlement for funding for a new course, as it may count as using up your "gift" year of funding, meaning that you will still be able to be funded for a full course but if you needed to repeat a year (or changed course again) you would have to self fund that year.
Regarding the living situation, some of this can be ameliorated either immediately or in future, and some is to some extent unavoidable. Obviously you can look to study in a smaller city or a campus based uni (although I think conservatoires are usually based in major cities) in future if you do withdraw from the course. If you decide to stay at your current uni, your immediate accommodation issues due to the noise from your flatmates may be something you can report as a noise complaint to your accommodation provider. This may cause tension with your current flatmates though. You could potentially discuss swapping to a different flat, maybe, as well (although that may be less likely).
However unfortunately to some extent such things are pretty hard to escape in halls...even if you do end up in a flat which is individually quieter, the adjacent flats may not me, and you may still have frequent fire alarms going off etc. So that may be something you need to manage your expectations about, and focus more on finding ways to cope with it (e.g. ear plugs/noise cancelling headphones, etc).
For the university facilities, this is something you need to check with them what is available (it may be there are practice rooms somewhere else on campus you weren't aware of), otherwise this is one of the thing you need(ed) to be checking when looking at universities and making decisions about where to apply. If you know you will need good access to practice rooms this is something you should prioritise when looking at different options for universities, if you do decide to withdraw from your current course and look for a new one.
Is your foundation year based on the main uni/conservatoire campus, or at a satellite campus or a partner education provider (e.g. a local college or different university)? If so, you may find that there are better facilities on the main campus that you can utilise once you progress from the foundation year into the main course, and you will probably have access to those facilities now (but you might need to travel a bit to a different location to get to them). This might be worth investigating if you did want to potentially stay at your current course provider (on the same or a different course).
There are a lot of things to consider essentially - but ultimately it is your decision whether you want to stay on your current course or leave. You aren't required to stay on the course if you don't want to! If leaving now and having to repay your maintenance loan, or having penalties from leaving your accommodation early or still being liable for rent would cause financial duress, talk to SFE and the accommodation provider, respectively, to discuss your options. For SFE they are usually happy to arrange payment plans if need be, and the accommodation provider may be happy if you can find a replacement tenant to take over your contract, or potentially amenable to arranging some kind of payment plan as well (typically if it's the uni providing the accom in the latter case, rather than a private accommodation provider).
) changing courses at your current uni might be possible but you will need to speak with your current course provider. It is probably too late to change to a different university - you could look in clearing what is available still, but I imagine there won't be much and as above there may be penalties on leaving your current rental contract. In terms of withdrawing from the university and course entirely, that is of course possible, however there are some things to be aware of. To begin with, you will be required to pay back any "surplus" maintenance loan you have received. SFE usually calculates this pro-rata dependent on how many days of the term you have studied (so if you withdrew halfway through term you would need to pay back half the maintenance loan). As it is at/near the beginning of term you would need to pay back most if not all of it. This, in combination with the aforementioned accommodation issue, may cause problems so you need to plan carefully.
You won't need to pay back the tuition fee loan, however your uni may or may not "charge" some or all of the tuition fee loan depending on when you are withdrawing. Usually after a certain amount of time once term has started the tuition fee liability kicks in and they expect that to get paid - in this case by SFE. However if it is paid by SFE, this can affect your entitlement for funding for a new course, as it may count as using up your "gift" year of funding, meaning that you will still be able to be funded for a full course but if you needed to repeat a year (or changed course again) you would have to self fund that year.
Regarding the living situation, some of this can be ameliorated either immediately or in future, and some is to some extent unavoidable. Obviously you can look to study in a smaller city or a campus based uni (although I think conservatoires are usually based in major cities) in future if you do withdraw from the course. If you decide to stay at your current uni, your immediate accommodation issues due to the noise from your flatmates may be something you can report as a noise complaint to your accommodation provider. This may cause tension with your current flatmates though. You could potentially discuss swapping to a different flat, maybe, as well (although that may be less likely).
However unfortunately to some extent such things are pretty hard to escape in halls...even if you do end up in a flat which is individually quieter, the adjacent flats may not me, and you may still have frequent fire alarms going off etc. So that may be something you need to manage your expectations about, and focus more on finding ways to cope with it (e.g. ear plugs/noise cancelling headphones, etc).
For the university facilities, this is something you need to check with them what is available (it may be there are practice rooms somewhere else on campus you weren't aware of), otherwise this is one of the thing you need(ed) to be checking when looking at universities and making decisions about where to apply. If you know you will need good access to practice rooms this is something you should prioritise when looking at different options for universities, if you do decide to withdraw from your current course and look for a new one.
Is your foundation year based on the main uni/conservatoire campus, or at a satellite campus or a partner education provider (e.g. a local college or different university)? If so, you may find that there are better facilities on the main campus that you can utilise once you progress from the foundation year into the main course, and you will probably have access to those facilities now (but you might need to travel a bit to a different location to get to them). This might be worth investigating if you did want to potentially stay at your current course provider (on the same or a different course).
There are a lot of things to consider essentially - but ultimately it is your decision whether you want to stay on your current course or leave. You aren't required to stay on the course if you don't want to! If leaving now and having to repay your maintenance loan, or having penalties from leaving your accommodation early or still being liable for rent would cause financial duress, talk to SFE and the accommodation provider, respectively, to discuss your options. For SFE they are usually happy to arrange payment plans if need be, and the accommodation provider may be happy if you can find a replacement tenant to take over your contract, or potentially amenable to arranging some kind of payment plan as well (typically if it's the uni providing the accom in the latter case, rather than a private accommodation provider).
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