Pros and cons of dropping out of year 12

Hey everyone, I’m thinking of dropping out of year 12, due to a number of reasons: mental health, unsure on courses, etc. I don’t want to drop any a levels, as I want to do them in a 2 year time space.
I got all 8/9s in gcse and if I go to uni, I would love to aim for one of the courses at Oxbridge in biochem or English. But due to my mental health I’ve really lost passion in my subjects so idk if uni is on the cards anymore.

These are the pros and cons I have created for “dropping out” Could anyone give advice or their opinion on it?

If I dropped out I could:
Improve my mental health before it affects me any more
Get a job and have money to pay for anything I need to
Go back to sport and things I enjoy
Explore my options- decide if sixth form is right or go down a different route

Then next September…
I could go back to sixth form if I realised i actually want to do it
Or do something different if I decide not
But overall I’ll be happier and likely to achieve more, instead of my mental health plummeting further.
And I would’ve took a gap year anyways before uni, if I went, so it would just be the same

Cons
A year behind my peers
Fear of wasting my academic potential
Oxbridge may look down on me

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Reply 1

Insouciant.

Original post

by Emilia Brown

Hey everyone, I’m thinking of dropping out of year 12, due to a number of reasons: mental health, unsure on courses, etc. I don’t want to drop any a levels, as I want to do them in a 2 year time space.
I got all 8/9s in gcse and if I go to uni, I would love to aim for one of the courses at Oxbridge in biochem or English. But due to my mental health I’ve really lost passion in my subjects so idk if uni is on the cards anymore.
These are the pros and cons I have created for “dropping out” Could anyone give advice or their opinion on it?
If I dropped out I could:
Improve my mental health before it affects me any more
Get a job and have money to pay for anything I need to
Go back to sport and things I enjoy
Explore my options- decide if sixth form is right or go down a different route
Then next September…
I could go back to sixth form if I realised i actually want to do it
Or do something different if I decide not
But overall I’ll be happier and likely to achieve more, instead of my mental health plummeting further.
And I would’ve took a gap year anyways before uni, if I went, so it would just be the same
Cons
A year behind my peers
Fear of wasting my academic potential
Oxbridge may look down on me

First, do what's best for your, but id strongly advise not dropping out, life is stressful and honestly year 12 is the least of it, its better to try and learn strategies for coping and building resilience or you risk burning out at university or worse at work where your financial livelihood is at risk,

Reach out to your pastoral support, find time to do sport, plan and organise what you need to do, be kind to yourself,

Also be weary dropping out may mean you have to pay for your a levels, it very much depends on circumstance but past 19 that education usually isn't government funding and a levels are expensive!

Oxbridge is one of the most stressful environments, it has the highest low mental health rates, if you dint build those strategies and resilience now you won't be able to handle the pressure that comes with Oxbridge

If you need support reach out, there's so many charities and apps and books that offer guidance for your situation, if you have any questions you can always reach out to me, but you've got this!

Reply 2

DerDracologe

Study Forum Helper

Unless you want to do med unis will be considerate of doing a levels outside of the traditional 2 year period if you have extenuating circumstances. Taking a gap year before a levels or another pathway could be the best thing you ever do… but it could also make returning to a levels even harder as youll have forgotten a lot of information, how to study, how to manage your time in school etc which could impact you negatively if your mental health doesn’t improve during the 9 or so months away from school.

Reply 3

Emilia Brown

Original post

by Insouciant.

First, do what's best for your, but id strongly advise not dropping out, life is stressful and honestly year 12 is the least of it, its better to try and learn strategies for coping and building resilience or you risk burning out at university or worse at work where your financial livelihood is at risk,
Reach out to your pastoral support, find time to do sport, plan and organise what you need to do, be kind to yourself,
Also be weary dropping out may mean you have to pay for your a levels, it very much depends on circumstance but past 19 that education usually isn't government funding and a levels are expensive!
Oxbridge is one of the most stressful environments, it has the highest low mental health rates, if you dint build those strategies and resilience now you won't be able to handle the pressure that comes with Oxbridge
If you need support reach out, there's so many charities and apps and books that offer guidance for your situation, if you have any questions you can always reach out to me, but you've got this!

I get this but I don’t see why it would be bad if I can improve my mental health and perform better in my a levels and just deal with life better in general: university.

Reply 4

Insouciant.

Original post

by Emilia Brown

I get this but I don’t see why it would be bad if I can improve my mental health and perform better in my a levels and just deal with life better in general: university.

Its not bad, but if you feel year12 is the root of your stress, year 13 and university will be 100x worse, its better to build coping strategies at your hardest points so it doesn't hit as hard in the future, there will be points in life- mostly when you're working where you can't always take a break and a step back to better yourself, so its beneficial to be able to do this in a stressful environment to prepare you earlier for the future

Reply 5

LittleFire10

Original post

by Emilia Brown

Hey everyone, I’m thinking of dropping out of year 12, due to a number of reasons: mental health, unsure on courses, etc. I don’t want to drop any a levels, as I want to do them in a 2 year time space.
I got all 8/9s in gcse and if I go to uni, I would love to aim for one of the courses at Oxbridge in biochem or English. But due to my mental health I’ve really lost passion in my subjects so idk if uni is on the cards anymore.
These are the pros and cons I have created for “dropping out” Could anyone give advice or their opinion on it?
If I dropped out I could:
Improve my mental health before it affects me any more
Get a job and have money to pay for anything I need to
Go back to sport and things I enjoy
Explore my options- decide if sixth form is right or go down a different route
Then next September…
I could go back to sixth form if I realised i actually want to do it
Or do something different if I decide not
But overall I’ll be happier and likely to achieve more, instead of my mental health plummeting further.
And I would’ve took a gap year anyways before uni, if I went, so it would just be the same
Cons
A year behind my peers
Fear of wasting my academic potential
Oxbridge may look down on me

I’m sorry you’re not doing well. However I’d caution against assuming that taking a year out will somehow “fix” your mental health. I know several people who did that, and found that the lack of structure made it worse and they were unable to return.

Reply 6

Muttley79

Original post

by Emilia Brown

I get this but I don’t see why it would be bad if I can improve my mental health and perform better in my a levels and just deal with life better in general: university.

Remember you must be in education or training until you are 18.

https://www.gov.uk/know-when-you-can-leave-school

Reply 7

Insouciant.

Original post

by Muttley79

Remember you must be in education or training until you are 18.
https://www.gov.uk/know-when-you-can-leave-school

tbh there's so many loopholes to this, I dropped out of secondary school at 13 for like 3 years, they discouraged me from going back

Reply 8

Muttley79

Original post

by Insouciant.

tbh there's so many loopholes to this, I dropped out of secondary school at 13 for like 3 years, they discouraged me from going back

You can be 'educated elsewhere' [home ed] but this 'rule' is enforced more between 16 and 18. These students are called NEET and data is collected on how many there are.

(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 9

Insouciant.

Original post

by Muttley79

You can be 'educated elsewhere' [home ed] but this 'rule' is enforced more between 16 and 18. These students are called NEET and data is collected on how many there are.

I know I work in it, I was not educated anywhere I was completely out of education, think it depends on your LA as in mine they care less for NEET 16-18 than secondary school school refusers

Reply 10

blackbirdterry

first, i'm very sorry you're going through this. mental health is tricky to navigate and individual to each person - nobody can know what's going on in your head just from looking at you, which means it can be very easy to hide. it's a little tonedeaf that some of these replies expect you to build resilience when your resources are probably at their lowest. it's a dangerous mentality that mentally ill persons should just "shape up" and it's a stigma that still lurks around today despite all the positive changes to social perceptions of mental health (read: toxic positivity regarding depression and other health issues)

a warm hello, from your friendly neighbourhood drop-out 👋 i won't go into specifics because no one wants a trauma dump, but i've been dealing with poor mental health ever i was little. when your childhood is touched by it, you don't really know any different - and the only way that i can see it for what it is now is because i'm on the other side of it and i know what happiness looks & feels like. so i understand some of the weight you're buried under but, because i'm not you, i won't ever know exactly how you feel. that's important to establish.

i got bad gcses, school refused to keep me on. went to another college for a levels where my mental health degraded further (lost my few friends and was unable to make new ones - big up high functioning autism). i ended up having another psoriasis flare-up from the stress and i was pulling out chunks of my scalp in the disabled toilet where i hid at lunch. i think i got a C in my spanish AS level and failed everything else, college refused to keep me on to finish the quals.

my issue is that i didn't know how to communicate what was happening. i didn't have the language to say all the things that were whirring around in my dead mind, and i didn't know any of it was wrong either. i figured everyone had those problems and they just got on with life better than i did.

you seem to have an understanding that what you're going through is wrong, and i can't understate how much of an advantage that gives you. you have an awareness a lot of people don't have - you need to use it. please, please speak to somebody safe about the issues you're facing. family, school, support charity/worker, anyone safe that you can get your hands on while you have this lucidity. communication is key - it's the only way we survive in this world. you have to tell people, even if they can't do anything about it. you're releasing a part of the burden that way and someone knows your mind a little better then. steps can be taken in the right direction.

as for the actual dropping out - nobody can make this decision but yourself. it's complicated. i left formal education at 16, got a crappy job and then went to work properly at 18 (where my mental health hit its lowest low because i hadn't expected to make it that far and thus had no plan post-18). i'm now 27, feeling one million percent better and happier: i've cut off the family members who made my life hell, worked on my social skills and have actual friends & found family now. i own my own business and have published some poetry, working on a stageplay. creativity is why i'm alive and being depressed, paranoid and all manners of ill suppresses that muscle, so i genuinely had nothing "good" to live for in those years of my life. losing your passion is an unforgivable trait of depression, don't let it win.

however, none of it was easy. when you leave school you depend entirely on making money to survive, which means working as much as you can. as in my case, my early jobs twisted the knife so considerably that my failures at school were just the tip of the iceberg. for me, the problem wasn't school or work, it was the world occurring inside my head which was affecting my perception of the world outside, the stage we perform on.

and that now leads me to this: personally, i'm ready to continue education but as a mature student almost a decade later wanting to get back into it with little to no qualifications... it's difficult. however, from the sounds of your situation, you again have an extremely good springboard (good grades, self awareness, a plan to return, etc). being one, two years or even fifteen years behind your peers' journeys is not what you should be worrying about. your own journey is most vital and nobody else can explore it but yourself.

i'm telling you all of this so you have something to compare to. as a kid still in school, as much as you may hate to hear it - please don't take offense - but you truly don't have enough experience from your peers to wholly understand what is waiting for you out there, so i hope this account helps you to measure yourself against something from "outside".

if any university shames itself for not considering a top student just because they had the nouse to take a break, it probably isn't a university you want to be attending anyhow. don't break yourself before you're even out the gate - a horse disappears for breaking a leg on the track.

tldr; speak to somebody safe, weigh up your options which are individual to you and nobody else, follow the plan and keep it flexible. no education is worth your life or your happiness. whichever way you choose, do it with strength and conviction. you will get there one day and i'm rooting for you 👍

Reply 11

intoxicating-sli

Original post

by Insouciant.

First, do what's best for your, but id strongly advise not dropping out, life is stressful and honestly year 12 is the least of it, its better to try and learn strategies for coping and building resilience or you risk burning out at university or worse at work where your financial livelihood is at risk,
Reach out to your pastoral support, find time to do sport, plan and organise what you need to do, be kind to yourself,
Also be weary dropping out may mean you have to pay for your a levels, it very much depends on circumstance but past 19 that education usually isn't government funding and a levels are expensive!
Oxbridge is one of the most stressful environments, it has the highest low mental health rates, if you dint build those strategies and resilience now you won't be able to handle the pressure that comes with Oxbridge
If you need support reach out, there's so many charities and apps and books that offer guidance for your situation, if you have any questions you can always reach out to me, but you've got this!

Don’t you only pay if you started at 18? If you start alevels at 17 and end at 19, you still don’t pay. My friend did that and she didn’t need to pay

Reply 12

Insouciant.

Yes but if you drop out in year 12 and try and go back in most likely you'll be 18 or almost 18, also no guarantee in the time you have left until September you'd be ready and may need utilities 18 going on 19 to start again in which you'd have to self fund off depending on individual circumstance but still expensive

Reply 13

momotori_xx

I think that taking care of your mental health is very important. It depends whether you can get support staying on in year 12 . You could speak to your head of year and teachers and ask if it is possible to come in to sixth form for less days. Eg once or twice a week. Just please look after your mental health! Don’t worry about being looked down on by oxbridge. That’s a hypothetical. They have exceptions due to extenuating circumstances.

Reply 14

Emilia Brown

Original post

by momotori_xx

I’ve spoke to my careers advisor and she said the best thing would be to drop out in face she was sort of encouraging me. I know it would be good for me, but I just feel like I’m failing myself and it will all go wrong

Reply 15

momotori_xx

Original post

by Emilia Brown

I think that taking a break from your education is very brave. You may not see it now , but later on you will look back and see that putting yourself first was the best decision you could ever do. From my perspective (someone who carried on studying and neglected their mental health) , there is a big difference in my goals and ambitions because I was forced to take a break from education and focused on my own hobbies, interests, reconnecting with my inner child etc. Life is a marathon, not a sprint. I encourage you to get know yourself eg find out your likes, dislikes , passions. And , when you’re ready to go back to education, you’ll be more confident!

Reply 16

Insouciant.

Original post

by momotori_xx

I feel like its very subjective, I did drop out and while ive made up for it, it was the worst thing to do

Reply 17

momotori_xx

Original post

by Insouciant.

I feel like its very subjective, I did drop out and while ive made up for it, it was the worst thing to do

Yes it does depends on different factors and everyone has a unique experience. Has the OP spoken to pastoral care in your sixth form yet?

Reply 18

Emilia Brown

Original post

by momotori_xx

Yes it does depends on different factors and everyone has a unique experience. Has the OP spoken to pastoral care in your sixth form yet?

I have. They told me several people from
My year have already dropped out and my pastoral support also told me that they dropped out and still got into uni. Also they told me someone who dropped out and graduated last year came out with 4 A*s. It’s defo gave me more reassurance, the only thing pulling me back is feeling out of touch when I come back, not being with people my age making it even more difficult to make friends and also potentially losing academic skills since it would’ve been almost a year.

Reply 19

laaceymay

Original post

by Emilia Brown

Hey everyone, I’m thinking of dropping out of year 12, due to a number of reasons: mental health, unsure on courses, etc. I don’t want to drop any a levels, as I want to do them in a 2 year time space.
I got all 8/9s in gcse and if I go to uni, I would love to aim for one of the courses at Oxbridge in biochem or English. But due to my mental health I’ve really lost passion in my subjects so idk if uni is on the cards anymore.
These are the pros and cons I have created for “dropping out” Could anyone give advice or their opinion on it?
If I dropped out I could:
Improve my mental health before it affects me any more
Get a job and have money to pay for anything I need to
Go back to sport and things I enjoy
Explore my options- decide if sixth form is right or go down a different route
Then next September…
I could go back to sixth form if I realised i actually want to do it
Or do something different if I decide not
But overall I’ll be happier and likely to achieve more, instead of my mental health plummeting further.
And I would’ve took a gap year anyways before uni, if I went, so it would just be the same
Cons
A year behind my peers
Fear of wasting my academic potential
Oxbridge may look down on me

hello, late reply lol but i was in exactly the same situation as you when i was in year 12. i completed my alevels in august this year. the majority of year 12, my mental health was so bad. my teacher put me forward to our college counsellor and started sessions. throughout the sessions, i was considering dropping out and starting again next year, but i also didnt want to be a year behind my peers. with luck (from my college) i was able to negotiate coming out of lessons from april-september (the start of year 13), as long as i could complete the scheduled work at home. i worked on myself and was able to get myself mentally to a postion where i could attend my lessons and my alevels.

i know that my situation may not be possible for you, college wise, however please reach out to your college/teachers and let them know how your feeling. it can be scary to admit it but you may find they can offer good recourses.

i hope whatever decision you make, things get better for you :smile: