Does my daughter stand a chance at all?

[triff123]

This is a copy of her reddit post:

My dissertation was due today at 12 and the university’s policy is that any work submitted 1 hour after the deadline will not receive any penalties, so I submitted my work at 12:58. After which I went on my email to let the course leader know that I’ve submitted it and saw the email she sent 6 weeks ago that said because this is a resubmission, work must be submitted by the deadline or they won’t be marked and the assignment failed. I don’t know what to do, I’ve not emailed anything to the course leader because I’m panicked, scared, angry, sad and can’t think straight, and I’ve also not received an email form anyone. This was my last piece of work. I don’t know what to do

Is there anything she can do?

In our university this would not be handled by the course leader but by central administration, and I would throw themselves on their mercy, explaining that due to mental health during corona times, a slight error was made in the submission time, but can they confirm in writing that the dissertation has been accepted.

There's no point in going over why this was a really bad idea, our uni tells students to submit 2 hours early and then email if they can't submit on time so there's plenty of room for leeway.

@Brefugee

the advice my tutors gave (i studied with the OU - deadline was usually 12:00 but there were 12 hours grace, so up to midnight) was that you should submit whatever you have ready on the actual deadline, just in case. Then upload the one you want to be marked when it's ready but within the margin for error.

Frankly, after 3 years it was rather daft to take that extra 58 minutes. But it is what it is.

I agree

Have no advice but just wanted to wish you luck, we've all made mistakes at some point.

@Ihopeyourcakeisshit

Have no advice but just wanted to wish you luck, we've all made mistakes at some point.

Thank you for this.

@Illdealwithitinaminute

In our university this would not be handled by the course leader but by central administration, and I would throw themselves on their mercy, explaining that due to mental health during corona times, a slight error was made in the submission time, but can they confirm in writing that the dissertation has been accepted.

There's no point in going over why this was a really bad idea, our uni tells students to submit 2 hours early and then email if they can't submit on time so there's plenty of room for leeway.

Thank you, I will check if the university has a central administration.

@stayathomer

Jesus people, have a heart. Exactly, my god there's some uppity people in here, well done if you got everything done and in early throughout your whole entire life. OP says her daughter is crying over this, it's not like she said 'eff it, who cares' or is days late. Hope you talk to someone who can help (make sure she tries to make contact as much as she can by phone preferably) and hope your dd feels better soon

Thank you for this.

You're sounding a bit 'I've had enough of this shit' about her - calling her stupid (I am assuming you aren't actually saying this to her) and then her being depressed and suicidal almost as an afterthought.

That sounds like a major extenuating factor.

And, in any case, won't she just do what anybody else does when they don't get it together in the 3rd year - stay on? DP did.

I've no advice either, other than to say that I think it would be better if you could get her to contact the right person at her university about it and give her explanation and apology and ask for leniency, marks deducted rather than her whole degree being thrown away as a result.
Best of luck to you and her, I do hope it works out well for her in the end.

Exactly, my god there's some uppity people in here

Yeah, its hard to avoid the feeling that some people enjoy any chance to feel superior - even if its over a distraught student whose sunk into a depressive state at the fear of failing her degree.

It’s unsurprising that she hasn’t been contacted - the lecturer may not even have looked at the work yet. If they have several to mark it could be days or even a couple of weeks until they get around to checking your daughter’s work. Sitting there panicking isn’t going to help. The best approach is to email the lecturer immediately to explain the mistake and apologise. Be clear that it was a misunderstanding that arose due to Covid - if she had been in class as normal the lecturer would have mentioned this instead of the information getting buried in an email. As this is so important I’d also offer a telephone meeting so she can apologise personally (the lecturer will probably decline but it shows remorse and willingness to discuss). I greatly doubt that the lecturer will fail her entire dissertation because it was an hour late.

I’ve worked in fe and he for years. We really really want people to pass. We will do almost anything to get them through. If she just gets in touch and apologises they will accept it. If I have students that don’t achieve I have to justify it- I would much prefer to be accommodating and accept it. It’ll be fine- but it would be polite to call and let her tutor know what’s gone on.

All the best for her, OP. I hope they accept it. It sounds as though the scare itself will be a hard lesson for her even without them rejecting it.

OP, it would be awful if your dd lost her efforts of the last three years for this one mistake. Please do encourage her to communicate with the department about this. I used to work for a university and I think they would have shown some leniency in these circumstances.

In the meantime, I hope that you can find a way of helping her to stay positive. She definitely shouldn't assume the worst yet. Hopefully it will get resolved soon.

Oh, and please ignore all of the posters who revel in telling you that it was her own stupid fault. Yeah, she was obviously wrong not to read her emails properly and to submit after the deadline, but who hasn't done something really stupid at some point in their lives?! Most of us are just lucky that our stupid mistakes don't cost us too dearly. People should have a little heart!

Realistically hey should just take off like 5% off her percentage. But if she fails her degree due to her stupidity then that's a valuable lesson in itself

I will check if the university has a central administration
I would try the lecturer and course leader first before formally dobbing herself in to the admin people. They may be able to informally overlook the late submission without taking it any further or putting it on record. Once the admin people know about it they won’t let it go.

Yeah, its hard to avoid the feeling that some people enjoy any chance to feel superior

I truly hope they will accept it but I can’t help wondering why she took the risk of pushing it out until there were just two minutest to spare. You’ve said she read the email yet still assumed the grace period applied, for whatever reason. To deliberately leave it so late at the end point of three years work is concerning and I’d be worried there’s an element of self sabotage going on.

[quote whereverwhenevernone]@EvenMoreFuriousVexation

Are you the Titania McGrawth of Mumsnet? A spoof character?[/quote]
No idea who that is, love, but perhaps you could explain how allowing students to disregard deadlines improves their career prospects for the future?

@MitziK

You're sounding a bit 'I've had enough of this shit' about her - calling her stupid (I am assuming you aren't actually saying this to her) and then her being depressed and suicidal almost as an afterthought.

That sounds like a major extenuating factor.

And, in any case, won't she just do what anybody else does when they don't get it together in the 3rd year - stay on? DP did.

You are right. I am very angry and upset at her, I believe she should have known better. But of course I wouldn't say this to her knowing that she suffers with mental health. She's suffered with it for a long time ( for example she drank bleach and tried to kill herself at 13, has been severely anorexic before..) but me and my daughter are not close, I didn't know a out the bleach incident until about 2 years ago, I assume there's plenty more I don't know. Me and my husband realise we made a lot of mistakes in raising our first two children, which are a year appart.

@Jaichangecentfoisdenom

I've no advice either, other than to say that I think it would be better if you could get her to contact the right person at her university about it and give her explanation and apology and ask for leniency, marks deducted rather than her whole degree being thrown away as a result. Best of luck to you and her, I do hope it works out well for her in the end.

Than you for this.

@Glamazoni

It’s unsurprising that she hasn’t been contacted - the lecturer may not even have looked at the work yet. If they have several to mark it could be days or even a couple of weeks until they get around to checking your daughter’s work. Sitting there panicking isn’t going to help. The best approach is to email the lecturer immediately to explain the mistake and apologise. Be clear that it was a misunderstanding that arose due to Covid - if she had been in class as normal the lecturer would have mentioned this instead of the information getting buried in an email. As this is so important I’d also offer a telephone meeting so she can apologise personally (the lecturer will probably decline but it shows remorse and willingness to discuss). I greatly doubt that the lecturer will fail her entire dissertation because it was an hour late.

Thank you for this. I will try this.

She really needs to contact her tutor if there's any hope, leaving it won't help at all. I appreciate that can be quite a nerve wracking thing to do, but even if she emails and then shuts her computer down for the rest of the day until she feels more able to face it.

@Paperyfish

I’ve worked in fe and he for years. We really really want people to pass. We will do almost anything to get them through. If she just gets in touch and apologises they will accept it. If I have students that don’t achieve I have to justify it- I would much prefer to be accommodating and accept it. It’ll be fine- but it would be polite to call and let her tutor know what’s gone on.

Thank you for this! You give me a little hope.

Really hope this works out ok for your daughter OP!

@MacavityTheDentistsCat

All the best for her, OP. I hope they accept it. It sounds as though the scare itself will be a hard lesson for her even without them rejecting it.

Thank yo