Case Study One
I came to the University of Brighton to pursue my interest in design having recently completed a foundation diploma in art & design. I chose architecture as I felt that this would draw on design elements but also felt that i could adopt my course, learning into all elements of design without being restricted to just graphic or 3d design etc.
In the first year we studied a lot of spatial design, but this was naturally, in an architectural sense, rather than the design that i had previously been interested. Mostly however i really enjoyed my first year, i had made lots of friends and liked living in Brighton, and since i was passing my course work, i carried on into the second year. This was when my problems started.
I was working very hard but not enjoying it as before, my grades were suffering and after Christmas i was told that I had failed part of my coursework. I spoke to my friends and it seemed that they were finding it hard too and that i just had to get on with it, my family too thought everything would turn out in the end.
I was unconvinced though that the stress and worry were worth it, so i sought a second opinion, having realised that there was support available within the university. Initially I spoke to a careers counsellor who suggested a number of options - leave the university, change course, study different modules. This advice, combined with looking at the on the right path website, was very empowering as at that time i hadn’t realised that changing course was even an option, and that it was ok to feel like this.
I spoke to someone from welfare and the student loans company who advised me about some of the financial consequences. Staying on the course and completing the year made more financial sense as leaving without telling anyone would have resulted in my student loan being withdrawn for that year, and me having to start under the new loans scheme this year, meaning more owed, and less paid to me.
I saw another university counsellor and submitted mitigating circumstances to my course leader – this allowed me to be considered for re-takes on the course and gave me a bit of breathing space while i decided what to do. Meanwhile i attended university open days, spoke to admissions tutors and looked through the prospectus for other courses. I had hoped that I would be able to transfer onto the second year of another design based course but unfortunately since the first year of my course was so specific this wasn’t going to be possible and i would have to start from the first year.
As it turned out this was quite refreshing news as it meant that i was not restricted to design courses and could in fact go for something completely new – that turned out to be environmental sciences. Fortunately i had a good science a level in physics and when i spoke to the course admissions tutor, they were happy for me to apply direct, and so i made an internal switch within the university.
I’m now coming to the end of my first year on my new course and I have really enjoyed it. The modular nature of the course and the assessment methods suit me so much better, I have a great personal tutor who gives the students lots of support. We had a talk from the careers centre at the start of the course and it seems that there are loads of career options for this kind of course.
There are a quite a few ‘mature’ students on this course so I don’t feel I stand out for being a bit older, and we get to mix with other courses in the school so i meet people with different interests.
One of my part time jobs is to work as a student ambassador so I get to meet lots of people thinking of coming to university and it’s a great opportunity to talk to them, and advise them of the many options you can take to get the degree you want, whilst making sure that you are happy.
Top tips
- Get a second opinion – its good to get an outsiders perspective
- Keep your course leader informed of what is going on seek out student services, you don’t need to be referred by a course tutors/leader
- Write down your reasons for leaving and reasons for staying – this will help balance up the arguments do what is best for you – it can be really tough going through the process but after a bit of research, things get clearer and for me it was obvious what i should do.