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?

Fingers crossed for her it's such a hard time

Oh for goodness sake! OP’s daughter is hardly the first student to miss their dissertation deadline, and she certainly won’t be the last. Let’s not forget pretend it’s a generational thing; at least one person on my course did it and that was 20 years ago! And DH failed his 2nd year because he didn’t submit work. He’s now a well paid professional in a senior position.

We know that “adolescent brain” - the stage in neurological development which can lead to poor decision making - can last into the 20s for some people. Universities are aware and will have experience with this, including the “head in the sand” attitude OP’s daughter is taking.

As everyone else has said OP, she really needs to face up to it. You sound lovely and supportive (without letting her off the hook) and I wish your daughter the best of luck.

Any people of good standing like doctors etc who will vouch for her

Seriously, don't do this.

If she needs to appeal any decision get the proper medical support from her registered medical providers etc., not from friends.

@Bin85

Sorry forgotten how to message If you message me I will reply with example of personal experience Thanks

Hi, thank you so much! I have messaged you! Thank you

As others have commented, your daughter needs to make contact with the tutor, and perhaps allude to stress/anxiety in her email. I’m an admin officer in a university and together with the tutors, we are using so much cotton wool, it’s like students must be floating on air while my eyes and fingers are wrecked with keying and checking changes. And I’ll be honest, some excuses are excessively flimsy (someone did refer to a dead goldfish). Unless she’s really been a PITA over her time there, tutors will try to be kind. If it’s gone pear shaped, it’s not lost and there will be a way forward. Either way, I expect she’ll read emails a little more carefully in the future but I’ll hope for the best.

It's not really in the University's interest to fail her for this.
I think the first thing to do is contact the tutor and explain the situation. There might not be any problem. Your daughter should really do this herself but if her mental health is that bad perhaps you could help her do this.

I managed to submit a fairly important piece of work during my first year of PhD an eye watering 9 hours late due to me putting the wrong date in my calendar...it was also a resub due to an examiner SNAFU.

DO NOT LEAVE IT. Email as many people as possible, make it clear she is freaking out and don't stop bothering all the people involved until you get responses.

She's technically in the wrong, yes. But people make mistakes and it was 58 minutes. If she has drafts that were sent to tutors etc before submission that prove the work was essentially done then that might help.

On the plus side, if she goes on to do post grad, this will have terrified her so much she'll never submit so close to a deadline ever again...

OP my son is 23 and was unable to complete his second year at university due to severe MH issues. It's such a worry and a lot of people don't understand just how hard it is to keep up with study when you are suffering. Your daughter is to be congratulated for keeping going and getting to the end! She has done so well in very difficult circumstances. If your daughter is too fragile to contact her tutor I would echo the PP and advise you to do it for her (with her consent). I can very clearly see how someone struggling with MH would get into this situation and the 'working to the last minute to make it as good as possible' rings a bell with me. I am sure that the university will be reasonable in the circumstances with an explanation. Good luck and well done to your daughter.

Depends, at the end of the day tutors are human and actually want their students to pass. Best option call the tutor and beg. Personally I would say something about internet connection rather than willfully handing it in 58 minutes late!

do not email everyone and their aunt about it. we have been told clearly to not do that, emails will be answered but repeatedly emailing different people about it will just get staffs backs up.

I don't think the university would be that petty. As others have said, universities want their students to pass.

When I was doing my MA, we all submitted some work at the start of the second term. Some weeks passed but our work did not reappear. The lecturer (who was Head of Department) had forgotten to mark it!

"Yes she read the email, but assumed the grace period still applied. I agree it was very stupid of her."

That's not what she has put in her Reddit post though?

That implies that see didn't see the email until after submitting late.

If she knew but ignored then why should there be any special allowance?

Also is it common knowledge that resubmissions must be in by the deadline & the email was just a courtesy reminder?

Some complete assholes on this thread.

Each university has its own policies and culture, but I suspect my dept would accept this, or perhaps apply a small penalty. As others have said, she should email her dissertation supervisor and a course director or personal tutor. We would definitely be more inclined to judge harshly where there was no communication from the student.

However, it will likely be decided on at the exam board which may not be held for several weeks so she shouldn't expect to hear anything concrete any time soon.

Best of luck to her OP, I suspect and hope all will be ok.

I teach at university and would suggest that she emails the module leader explaining what happened and offering her apologies, while also copying in the central admin (depending on how the uni is structured, possibly the exams team), and her personal tutor/ advisor as well as the welfare tutor (if they have one). If she has previously had any mental health issues and has informed the uni, the disabilities office can be contacted too.
We are all trying our best to support the students at the moment and understand how stressful the current environment is for them, I hope someone will champion her case. Also hope that she learns from this mistake.

@Nomorepies

Why would she do that?! Golden rule is don't leave something that important to the last minute nevermind an hour over.

Because sometimes even those of us with our shit together fuck up, never mind a young woman with mental health problems up against a stressful deadline.

Hopefully it's not necessary and an apology and explanation is sufficient, but if not I would look at getting a print out of any GP records that refer to anxiety, mental health issues that could be used to appeal. Has she had contact with student support services for mental health? They might also be able to help in this respect.

If you can persuade her to, get her to get in touch with Student Services who may be able to offer advice and support. If she has mental health issues that have been exacerbated by current circumstances then she might have been able to have ECs or an ILP that would have allowed her a bit longer to submit her work. Sometimes it is possible to get these things applied retrospectively, which might mean her submission would be accepted. I’d also suggest she contact the Student’s Union who will have support officers who will almost certainly have experience of this kind of thing happening before and may be able to help her appeal. In addition to contacting the person marking the work, she should contact her Programme/Course Leader and/or her Personal Academic Tutor (if she has one) to keep them in the loop. She should explain that she has mental health difficulties at the moment which mean she doesn’t always process/retain information and so she got confused about the deadline. If her GP is aware of her difficulties already, then a letter of support saying that her need to check things has likely been exacerbated by the pandemic may also be useful. Regulations are there to ensure parity for students, but there are also things in place to support students who are struggling. Particularly at the moment, there is leniency around many things in recognition of the challenges that students are facing. Basically the message is that she needs to alert people to her circumstances and ask for help and support. At least then she is giving herself the best chance of rectifying the situation. No-one wants students to fail at the last hurdle and most universities will do everything they can to support someone with genuine difficulties.

@ZolaGrey 9 month transfer report?

(You are not the only one who has done that)

I think a lot of the people reacting with total horror and an insistence that there is nothing to be done have never taught/worked in a university. Students do this all the time - your daughter isn't some total aberration and while obviously there is a point where rules have to be enforced I think it's very unlikely that she won't be treated with sympathy and given the benefit of the doubt, especially since the usual policy allows an hour. It's not really in anyone's interest to fail students for the sake of 58 minutes.

op if you are worried about your daughters mental health get in touch with the well-being team at the uni and also see if you can speak to a student adviser and be very frank with them about her mental health.

Another university employee - are her mental health problems on record with the Uni? That will definitely help and support her more than suddenly disclosing after an error but yes, contact the supervisor for the dissertation, explaining asap and copy in any personal tutors or contact with wellbeing/mental health services she might have. I'd suspect they won't fail her outright though her marks might be capped if they are feeling strict.

Unfortunately the university I worked and studied in would fail her. Otherwise you would have everyone putting it in late. If you need an extension you arrange it in advance. Best thing to do is contact them and see if there is any leeway.

@HopelessatHousework very true. One of the advantages of the old Cambridge degree system was that it was 100% exam based so I have never faced such a predicament. We did write essays each week for each of our supervisors, but none of these counted towards anything and, because we had to turn up at the supervision on time and read the essay aloud, it simply wasn't possible to push the deadline. When you do that much writing by hand on a regular basis you become skilled at planning and writing once because you can't push paragraphs around later. I think it is good preparation for working efficiently under pressure.

Hi OP
I haven’t read the full thread but noticed you mention your daughter’s mental health issues. I would suggest she is open about this when speaking with them. Good luck.