I want to drop out, what do I do?

Hi all,

I'm a second year autistic broadcast Journalism student and I've been struggling with wanting to drop out of my course and I'm not sure what to do.

I'm struggling from extreme stress with some of the practical work. I like putting my packages together but I get so stressed an anxious both find stories and getting interviews, each which I struggle with.
I feel I'm getting no support from my lecturers despite them knowing I'm disabled and they seem to act like because I'm a second year I should be fine doing it. I don't know how to get across that passing a year at uni doesn't make me any less disabled.
I don't know if it's because I get good grades, I turn up and work hard is why they seem to not understand. Or don't understand I'm currently just doing the same topics over and over because they bring me some comfort in what is otherwise an extremely stressful situation.

Both my mental and physical health has taken a turn for the worse because of this and I'm struggling more and more to cope. It's getting so bad I'm looking into putting a fall back plan in place in case I don’t make it to next semester.

Everyone around me tells me not to drop out or switch courses. They think I'm too far in to start again but I don't know how I can manage so much stress. I'm consider taking up a more tech based course on camera, lights, sound and mic for film and TV as another way into the news industry.

But I'm so lost and don't know what to do, any advice?

Hello,

I am so sorry that you are struggling with this..

I would recommend talking to your Personal Tutor at university as they will be able to advise you not the Support Services available within the university. You will have a support team within the university who will be able to support you but it may be that your lecturers possibly aren't aware or aren't aware of how much it is affecting you. So, I would firstly contact your Personal Tutor, or is there a support help desk at your university? Perhaps there is also an option to book an appointment online to book? Your university should have all these things in place to support you and I am so sorry that you down feel its not been accessible to you.

Hopefully you are also to contact the disability support team to help you. They will be able to give you support for things like planning and strategies for placement. You should also have access to wellbeing team who I would really recommend to talk to about this. They will be able to support you with your mental health and signpost you to other support services available within the university. If you don't know how to access these I would search online for your university and the services you need, for example, 'Edge Hill Disability Support'.

I hope this helps and you are able to access the support you need!

Good luck,

Katie - Third year Psychology student

Hi all,

I'm a second year autistic broadcast Journalism student and I've been struggling with wanting to drop out of my course and I'm not sure what to do.

I'm struggling from extreme stress with some of the practical work. I like putting my packages together but I get so stressed an anxious both find stories and getting interviews, each which I struggle with.
I feel I'm getting no support from my lecturers despite them knowing I'm disabled and they seem to act like because I'm a second year I should be fine doing it. I don't know how to get across that passing a year at uni doesn't make me any less disabled.
I don't know if it's because I get good grades, I turn up and work hard is why they seem to not understand. Or don't understand I'm currently just doing the same topics over and over because they bring me some comfort in what is otherwise an extremely stressful situation.

Both my mental and physical health has taken a turn for the worse because of this and I'm struggling more and more to cope. It's getting so bad I'm looking into putting a fall back plan in place in case I don’t make it to next semester.

Everyone around me tells me not to drop out or switch courses. They think I'm too far in to start again but I don't know how I can manage so much stress. I'm consider taking up a more tech based course on camera, lights, sound and mic for film and TV as another way into the news industry.

But I'm so lost and don't know what to do, any advice?

@MeowMeowSuperCat

Second year is a step up when it comes to work and workload, so it's understandable that you feel overwhelmed at this point in time.

Unfortunately, journalism is by nature stressful (as it is about working to deadlines and being able to cope under pressure).

It may be that you need to look at strategies for handling stress better rather than dropping out as you are getting good grades and you are nearly halfway through your degree.

If however you feel that journalism in the long term is not for you, do take time to consider what you might like to do instead, but rather than trying to avoid stress think about how you can manage it.

All the best,

Oluwatosin – 3rd year student – University of Huddersfield

I think you completely missed my point. I'm a disabled student with lifelong mental health conditions and I'm in therapy for it, what more can I do.

Based on your response it's better to stay on a course where I'm becoming so physically and mentally ill that I'm now struggling to be happy and all I do is sleep outside of lectures. It's better to stay like this just because I can work hard and get good grades and therefore I should ignore my own health?

It feels like you're negating how I'm feeling to just something small, yet it's absolutely starting to affect my whole life outside of univetsity