Year 2 uni course and unhappy

[BanburyBun]

DS is in the second year of his uni course and home for the weekend looking very miserable. Managed to get him talking and he's not enjoying his course anymore, feels he's "mediocre" and worries he'll be able to get into his chosen field as he's not good enough. He feels he is now saddled with his student loan debt for no good reason and that he should have just got a job.
I don't know what to advise him...has anyone else been through a similar experience with their DC? Did they stick with the course anyway or leave?
Thanks

[UptheChimney]

Sometimes the adjustment from 1st to 2nd year is as topugh as the adjustment from school to university.

The marks start to count in 2nd year; most undergrads are over their A Level induced "I know everything" and are on the way to the wisdom that the more you know, the more you realise you have to learn; and the workload ramps up.

It's quite normal really.

[AlphaBravoHenryFoxtons]

Aww. Poor chap. What course is he studying and what is he hoping to go on to do?

[wtffgs]

Has he spoken to his tutor? (I know some academics are arrogant arseholes with their heads in the clouds but my uni dept were great when I basically fell apart in my 3rd year). The other thing is seeing if he can access support via Student Services - counselling, group therapy etc.

[BanburyBun]

Thank you for your comments (and reassurance that it's normal to for students to feel unsettled in the second year as well as the first!) he's on a creative course (rather than academic) and I think that's why he worries about future propects. He wants to get into computer games design, it is a competitive industry where talent is needed. He's very creative and imaginative and obviously I think his work is fab, although I do realise I am biased!

I have suggested he speaks to his tutor who he gets on well with and will also look at student support services I know he handed an assignment in this week so have fingers crossed that he gets some positive feedback from his tutors on it which will hopefully boost his confidence. He's a hard worker and it's heart breaking to see him so down on himself.

Thanks again x

[Kez100]

I can fully understand. My daughter is doing the same (different creative course but same potential problem). We spent a lot of time discussing Uni before she went and the decision was made not because it came with a clear "job opportunity", despite being a practical commercial course, but for everything else an academic course gives you in addition - deeper understanding, greater thinking and writing skills, time to discover yourself and indulge your passions. I could go on! There is so much more than it being simply "training".

I am sure that many courses nationwide are probably producing far too many graduates for the particular industry need, so to look at the other skills he has (or is) gaining and look at graduate destinations for his course to give an idea of the wide ranging (or not) possibilities.

These fees really are causing all sorts of skewed thinking. In some ways, I think its absolutely right to "pay your way" once you can afford it but, to a 18 year old seeing the actual bills rack up, makes them naturally quantify and experience that, perhaps, is unquantifiable.

I suppose much comes down to how much the student feels they are getting out of the course.

[UptheChimney]

The only good thing about fees is that they show young people just how much time at university costs (although the £9k doesn't actually cover all of a university's costs). So they don't fritter their time, and they learn all those things that Kez100 mentions.

One way to look at the costs of university is to see it as an investment in your future. With a likely working life of around 40 years, and another twenty years of life after that, £60k is £1k per year. Pretty good value really.

[MillyMollyMama]

I think the real problem here is that maybe he is seeing that other students are better than he is and he now knows what the competition looks like! It is also not just from his university either!

It is probably sensible to try and look at more employment ideas if plan A is looking a bit suspect. It is all very well a Mum being biased, but that is hardly an objective assessment of his employment potential. I don't think we are world leaders in producing video games in this country so realistically how many jobs are there? Maybe attending a few careers fairs to get some other ideas might help him be positive about the future.

[itsaknockout]

DS1 is finding the 2nd year much harder.Bothe the quantity and level of the work and living in a house where people are always in and out of his room , which isn't really conducive to studying

[MillyMollyMama]

My DD worked in the library, itsaknockout. Your DS might find this is a much better solution to his need to work quietly and then go to his accommodation for meals and relaxation. This appeared to be a very popular way of doing things at DDs university. So much so, there were endless debates about which students could use which libraries due to accommodating everyone who wanted to work! Also year 3/4 gets worse for workload so best to sort out how to work interrupted now.