Anna asks :
Hi Lucy,
How do I tell my parents I've failed my first year of university due to failing one essay? I'm feeling so devastated & ashamed so I haven’t told anyone about my result, and the worse thing is that the degree I'm studying isn't what I want to do in life, but I want to use it as a 'stepping stone' to get into what I want to do. Any advice would be wholly appreciated, thanks x
Hi Anna,
Agony Aunts on Female First
They will find out eventually once your degree is extended by a year, so it might be worth just being honest with them and talking through your options.
Perhaps the degree you are studying is not for you and this is a way of telling you to pursue something else. Is there something else you could apply for that is still a ‘stepping stone’? What do you want to do in life? Could you take a more direct route with a more specific degree tailored to your dream?
You could make an appointment with a careers advisor in University and talk to them about it. Perhaps do this first and make a decision of what you want to do before approaching your parents. You might not have achieved what you wanted in your first year, but they might look more favourably on it if you have an alternative plan.
Time could be running out if you want to enrol in something different or on the first year of your existing course again so it might be worth getting something underway sooner rather than later.
Could you resubmit the essay? Maybe talk to your tutor and see if this is possible; it might be capped at a pass mark, however at least it could mean that you can move into your second year with all of the familiar faces from your first.
tagged in Parents University yin and yang agony aunt
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