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Failed
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Suckage.
I failed one of my january exams, the one I knew I had done badly in. Only, turns out, because it's a final year module I automatically fail my entire degree without the opportunity to resit regardless of all my other grades.
My supervisor wasn't pleased as she felt I was a good student, but said all I can do now is try to apply for mitigating circumstances on medical grounds (stress).
The other options open to me are:
- graduate with an ordinary degree (pass)
- take my credits to the OU and graduate with honours from there
TBH it's a bit shit really! So just thought I'd vent. What do you people think is my best option now?
I failed one of my january exams, the one I knew I had done badly in. Only, turns out, because it's a final year module I automatically fail my entire degree without the opportunity to resit regardless of all my other grades.
My supervisor wasn't pleased as she felt I was a good student, but said all I can do now is try to apply for mitigating circumstances on medical grounds (stress).
The other options open to me are:
- graduate with an ordinary degree (pass)
- take my credits to the OU and graduate with honours from there
TBH it's a bit shit really! So just thought I'd vent. What do you people think is my best option now?
Post edited by JustV on
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Comments
I got an ordinary degree and it really never held me back (from York no less
I know the OU is pretty good for splitting the cost of studying but it would mean longer before you graduate I guess.
You had more thoughts on a career direction and how those choices might be affected by the ordinary?
Oh and if you go the ordinary route - i'd recommend still going to the graduation - collect that ordinary with pride !
Xx
I dont get it
Definitely apply for mitigating circumstances if you think you have a good case and evidence to back it up. Otherwise I agree with everyone else, graduate now. Going through the OU will just prolong things and I don't think would make you any better off. Unless as Mist said you have something in mind that needs a specific degree classification.
a normal degree is a classifed degree or a 'degree with honours'
an ordinary degree is unclassified and so it doesnt say how well youve done it basically says you have completed the course.
however my module results are good so somewhere like the open university would be prepared to give me a clasified degree
im going to see where i can get claiming stress for the time being
I am just annoyed because I have a good average, and I've not failed any other modules (I've done bad in some, like 40%) - and that seems to be irrelevant now.
I've emailed my brothers who have lots of contacts in lots of different things and see if that throws anything up at all. I think if I graduated with an ordinary degree and got a nice job I would be perfectly happy. I am just worried if I get the ordinary and then can't get any jobs at all despite all the stuff I've done at University.
I'm getting my january exam results of Friday. Seriously dreading it, they all went pretty badly to be honest. I know everyone says that but these were seriously tricky for me. Also, similar to you, if i fail a core module (2 of the 4 exams were core modules) then i have to do those modules all over again.
Seriously shitting myself at the moment!
Unfortunately for me I don't have the choice to do them again, I just insta-fail. I can retake and get an ordinary degree though.
Hope your exams went ok!!
Firstly really sorry to hear about degree; a virtual hug is on its way through cyberspace as we speak.
Now for the advice, personally I think it’s really important that you take time out for yourself right now before making any decision regarding your future either way. As at this moment in time I think it would be all too easy for you to be governed by some raw emotion that you're feeling right now rather than your usual logic mind.
Still regarding the options that you have mentioned, as a number of other posters have already said I think any prospective avenue will depend largely on your chosen career. If you don’t have a set career in mind then as Jim and some of the others have already said I think taking the ‘ordinary degree’ and seeking some form of relevant employment could prove to be just as beneficial in the long run. There’s a lot to be said for gaining ‘life’ experience, I have so many friends who have degrees in subjects that are completely irrelevant to the careers that they now do. Personally I think this has a lot to do with the fact that during your early 20's you're still trying to find 'yourself'. There’s nothing stopping you from obtaining your ‘ordinary’ degree now, seeking employment and registering with the OU at a later date.
However on the subject of the OU although you’d be entitled to transfer some credit points over that wouldn’t automatically entitle you to an ‘honours degree’ and from my understanding your previous marks wouldn’t necessarily have that much of a bearing as you’d still be expected to meet the required threshold with the OU on at least 2 of their level 3 courses. Also how many credit points you’d carry over would depend largely on what degree you wanted to undertake through the OU. For instance I know that undertaking a named degree ‘with honours’ allows you to carry over less credit points than undertaking the ‘Open degree’. What's more it’s worth bearing in mind that unlike most brick universities the OU’s assessment isn’t averaged out but instead requires you to meet the threshold on both your continuous assessment and final exam. So the OU certainly isn’t a soft option.
One final thing though Shyboy, although failure of any sort right now is hard to take try not to think of it as a separate entity from success. Instead just view this failure now as ‘part’ of your future success. There are a lot of people in the world who will no doubt have success handed to them on a plate. However time and again it is shown that those that tend to succeed best in this ‘life’ are not those who have always had it easy but instead those who have experienced failure or disappointment and in the face of that adversity bounced back.
Anyway good luck with whatever you choose to do,
Girl_afraid
After thinking about it, I think I would rather the Ordinary from York - if nothing else just for my own personal pride. Because I've been here 4 years, I am a York graduate in my heart, and even if its only an ordinary degree at the end of the day I will get some job that will be ok, and I would rather not go endlessly chasing higher degree classifications when really I'd be better served proudly accepting my ordinary degree and getting out there and getting some experience.
I have to say I am feeling more positive in myself than I have done for months, which makes no sense at all
A degree is still a degree. At the end of the day you completed your course, that shows commitment. There are a lot of students who don't even complete their degrees 'ordinary' or not.
You should feel positive you still have a lot to feel positive about.
Experience is there to be lived :thumb:
http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/qualification/bd.htm
I need to speak to a careers advisor really or something. Still not submitted my 'stress' mitigating circumstances, kinda putting it off. Will do that this morning.
There is no age barrier to studying with the OU. You could legitimately graduate now with your ordinary degree from York, get yourself on the career ladder and come back to the OU for an honours degree in a couple of years' time.
Adding a couple of extra level 3 courses (or whatever is deemed necessary to gain Honours) can also offer a change of direction, if your chosen subject/career choice turns out not to be all it's cracked up to be. Girl_Afraid is spot on with her advice about credit transfer and honours degrees. However, you don't have to take a "named degree" to gain Honours. The OU only introduced named degrees about 10 years ago (just as I was finishing mine). All their degrees are modular, which is ideal if you want to add a slightly different emphasis to your qualification with some new subjects.
Many employers will sponsor your OU study. Mine, as it happens, didn't, but they did allow me extra study leave and a day off to take exams.
P.S. I met my OH at an OU summer school at York
I think phoning the OU and talking to them is definitely on my list of things to do.
For what it's worth, I'm not completely lazy (a little bit!) but I revised for 2 weeks solid prior to this exam, and just fucked it up completely. I told my supervisor immediately afterwards who said not to worry, that she had failed a module in her masters and it never affected her because they just let her retake, but this is an arbitrary rule for undergraduate students.
I am happy graduating from York, but people are warning me if I get an ordinary degree it looks worse almost than if I don't have a degree at all.
Then again, most of the people giving me advice haven't left university and gone out to get work...
Open University 0845 300 6090
*Overthehill I know you don't have to do a 'named' degree through the OU I was merely trying to point out the difference in credit transfer.
To gain a "Named Degree" from the OU, there are a certain number of level 2 and level 3 courses that are compulsory. Therefore, they only give you points for your ordinary degree courses at level 1 and level 2.
Here is a link to their website http://www3.open.ac.uk/credit-transfer/index.shtm.
Actually, I was a bit naughty saying that I was an OU Hons grad in IT & Computing, as I think there is now a Named Degree with that title or something similar. The correct title for my degree is BSc Hons (Open). I got a 2:1 and haven't looked back.
I started out as a florist after leaving school, but couldn't afford to live so took a secretarial course. Wasn't terribly successful. Took a better paid job as a receptionist. Then became a secretary ... Had been studying with the OU for a year when I landed a job as an Executive Assistant and went on to work in several increasingly IT-oriented (and better paid) roles before I graduated in 2000. By the time I quit work, I was working as a Project Manager.
Excuse me but at what point was any of my advice regarding the OU inaccurate? You seemed to have misinterpreted my previous post. You're not the only one with experience of the OU.
Really and truly, I didn't mean any offence. When I said it looked as though you knew what you were talking about, I meant to imply that you seemed to know about the OU. I didn't misinterpret your post. In fact, I said you were "spot on". I only meant to clarify that ShyBoy could get an "Open" honours degree using transferred points from his successful courses. But I am a slow typist and, by the time I had typed up my info and logged back in, I didn't notice that our posts duplicated some info. I am sorry.
No problem, sorry if I was a little harsh in my response. I just wanted to make sure that ShyBoy was fully aware of the Pros and Cons :thumb:
The stress of everything has kind of hit me today, been a bit shit. And I've had pinings for my ex and the way my life was when we were 'together'.
Shit shit shit.
But in practical matters:
a) I need to phone the OU again to ask about ordinary degree and whether I could top up. The lady on the phone was just a general advisor though and said for a lot of the stuff I'd have to ask the specialists.
b) Career advisor was helpful and not. She said lots of careers I would be interested in don't need degrees at all (for example, retail banking). She said she couldn't tell me what is better ordinary or OU degree as that's a personal decision I'll have to make for myself - but obviously some occupations will require a minimum 2.1 degree so that's a consideration.
I wish it was all over tbh.
Anyway I emailed the counsellor the other day after feeling particularly low and she has told me to go straight to my GP if I'm feeling depressed or suicidal, so I've done that. Then I went on NHS website to read about depression and it has a little 10 question thing which I filled in, which said based on my responses I probably have depression. Doctors appointment for next week is ready. My girlfriend also said to me yesterday that she thinks I need help as I'm not coping. Also today I rung my mum who said to see the doctor as she is worried I might be depressed too.
I emailed my head of department and basically outlined the whole timeline of last term, the break up, my feelings, falling behind, failing module, now feeling down and unable to cope - and he has really sympathetically said to come in and speak to him tomorrow and he will help talk through my options and stuff.
So sympathetic I almost cried lol.
Xxx
It helps as well that when things have been better I've worked directly with him representing the University and department in national competitions and so he knows me well, and should know I am motivated and so all this is out of character and stuff.
I guess I just feel like hopefully I will get a bit of support and confront some issues that have been bothering me. I am really worried about getting a bad rap and people think I'm faking for academic advantage as I'm really self concious about this - especially with something like depression that many people think can be faked.
But at the same time I hope that with some help I can work out some plan to still achieve my potential and get all the negative stuff going on to a manageable level. My chest feels quite tight though so I guess I am still quite anxious about it all.