I could cry on behalf of my adult dd

[Theirishwan]

in 2016 my dd completed year 2 of her social care degree. She deferred year 3 to move to France to improve her French language skills. She spent over 4 years there and then returned home.

She applied to the college (in February this year) to continue her studies and was accepted into year 3 of the course and started it 2 weeks ago. At the end of her first week she got a call from the course director to say that she cannot continue on the course as the modules she did in year 1 & year 2 no longer comply with module standards approved by CORU (the social care regulatory board here in Ireland). The only option they are offering her is start year 1 again. She is devastated

She has decided that starting again would be soul destroying as it would be repeated modules but with the updates in them. She has decided to do an arts degree with French and Geography as her subject. But it’s too bloody late for this academic year. Had her application been rejected in February whe could have applied for the arts degree but it’s too late now.

oh I’m so upset for her and did have a cry with her last week. I know that at 27 she’s an adult but she’s still my child 😭

Social care degree though what can she really do with that? Better to do a nursing degree.

Savage…. ^

She still put the work in- I agree it’s a long time to take out, but time goes fast. It would be soul destroying as she wasted two years.
Could be a good thing OP, if she’s now dong something she wants.

Agree. Presume her French is very good (fluent?) now. Doing a degree that incorporates French would seem like a good move to me.

It’s a pity the college accepted her back on the course. When they did she presumed that her previous years/modules were ok . Had they not then she wouldn’t have missed the cao deadline for another course/college.

they had only planned to take a year out but herself and her partner got really good jobs so stayed for 4 years. But France was never a long term move as she wanted to settle in Ireland.

Luckily she hasn’t paid any fees yet as the first part wasn’t due till October. She was commuting so no accommodation costs to worry about.

Shes accepted the situation now and has to wait till next year to start. She has a job so that’s no problem.

I agree with most.
In an ideal world, the university should have spotted it, but the onus on her was to have been really clear with them and get something in writing, agreeing there wouldn't be an issue with her not having studied for 6 years.
She should have been aware in the first instance that it would be unlikely you could just pick up after a gap of 6 years. That's just common sense.

COVID? my DS went abroad for year and ended up staying 4 as he simply couldn't get home. He got a job and has stayed to end of the project he was hired onto. coming home this xmas.

Surely she can do a degree from year 2 entry as year 1 modules don't actually count towards any credits.

She might ask if the two years she did complete qualify her for anything. In some courses that might count as an HNC/HND so at least she would have something to show for the effort.

she left in 2016 so no

Why does she need a degree? It sounds like she's getting a degree for the sake of it (changing to completely different subjects), when she'd probably be better just getting a job. I'm surprised she's not found her fellow students to be unworldly and immature to be honest due to the age gap and differences in lifestyle.

It’s very common for some courses to have a large proportion of mature students. I studied Law as a mature student and my specific course entry was geared to take mature students and about 50% of the students in my cohort were already graduates from other disciplines or senior Police officers. It made the tutorials a million times more interesting than if we’d been amongst a bunch of 18yr olds.

I'm a university lecturer and you can undertake an MSc without a full degree, it depends on your study history, experience and willingness.

The fact you have empathy for your daughter and feel for her like this warms my heart. I’m sure she’s very lucky to have a mum like you.

My mum stopped seeing me as her child once I’d individuated. By a teenager she treated me like an adult and doesn’t give me any empathy or compassion because I’m grown up now.

I hope all works out for her. I’m sure it will ❤️

It is the regiatration with CORU that is ultimately the issue rather than the University. If they require a degree in Social Work as part of their requirements then doing a Master may not be enough. They are very strict and sometimes slightly illogical in there requiremwnts

Its very frustrating that neither your dd or the uni considered the time lapse might be an issue.

I do think your dd should take the opportunity to work out what she really wants to do. Your dd obviously isn't committed to the social care degree. What is her career plan to use the French and Geography degree.

After such a long break in her studies she will be entering the workplace far less experienced than her piers.

What did she do in France ? Could she persue that career path?

I'm interested in why you speak with such authority about this! My years of admin at a university counseling mature students, many of whom were accepted into pre masters and masters without a degree, says otherwise! It's well known that as a mature student you don't often need a degree.

Was that in Ireland? I'm going to guess no.
And even in the UK, its rare enough, "you don't often need a degree" is an out and out lie.

I would speak to the course director face to face. It could be that they could let her sit the assessments but not have to go to all the lectures. It might be that she can so some form of top up assessment. Worth speaking to them properly.

I do masters admissions on a vocational course. We accept mature students without undergraduate degrees quite often if they will bring a solid knowledge of the field into the classroom. It benefits all the students.

You can't go AWOL from a degree and then slot back on after 6 years, and the college should not have wasted her time by accepting her without noticing this.

do they not have an end date? When I completed my midwifery degree you had to have finished within 5 years of the start.
I had a baby at the end of year 2 and had to go back quicker then I would have liked so that I could finish before my 5 years of the start of the course.

Again, was that Ireland?

Social work is not a vocational course, and you cannot do a Masters in it without having a degree, and OP's DD does not have a solid knowledge of or experience in the field.

The dd here can absolutely not under any circumstances do the Masters without the degree, so stop derailing

Could she try the open university and see if her previous study credits can be used towards a degree on there, she might be able to get into the third year of study.

I can imagine she was gutted but I can't think of many situations where a gap of that length would have then enabled her to complete. If it was that important to her as an eventual profession then redoing it wouldn't be a waste of time even if it was a bit tiresome. Most careers require employees to keep up to date with the most recent knowledge on the subject. Better than than to opt for something unrelated for the sake of it.

It's a shame that it's taken her by surprise and that it wasn't what she had planned but it sounds as though she has plenty of options available to her, a supportive family etc, it could be an awful lot worse.

I don't think she should throw it in without exploring her options a lot further first. Given that the college has messed her around by accepting her back and only now completing the checks they should have done, it would be reasonable for her to challenge them to examine more creative solutions.

If the course modules are similar but updated, is there a possibility she could retake 1st and 2nd year concurrently to get the updates? That might work?

I'm assuming she'd initially planned to seek readmission a couple of years ago and covid got in the way, has she been doing anything to "keep her hand in" so far as studying is concerned?

(I deferred a 6 yr medical course for 3 years to complete a different course; when I sought to return the first thing they wanted to know was whether I'd been studying throughout my break - I got the impression it might have been trickier if I'd been doing something different on that 3rd year away)