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Original poster

UPDATE - DSS thinking of leaving Uni after one term

7 replies

buttons99 · 21/12/2011 10:59

Thanks you everyone who offered advise on my previous thread. We have had a long (very sensible thankfully!) chat with DSS. If anyone can offer further advice his Dad and I would be really grateful.

DSS says he is happy with Uni life in general, ie living arrangements, finances, etc etc but is struggling with the actual course. He is doing games design and feels I guess that he has put all his eggs in one basket and is questioning if this is what he wants to spend his whole life doing, therefore feels to do 3 years at Uni maybe a waste of time. He has not spoken to anyone at Uni about his feelings and we both feel this is probarbly the next step as surely the lecturers/pastoral team will have heard similar stories time and time again??

We have discussed in great detail that to leave and try to enter the jobs market at 21 is a really difficult thing to do at the moment. He agrees and really doesn't know what to do at the moment. We did suggest that maybe as his main hobby is gaming that maybe he is on a gaming overload and to do other things at weekend etc might mean the gaming doesn't seem to be his whole life and therefore the week time taken up with it may then be more of a novelty than a chore. Also that if he really really doesn't know what he would rather do instead then at the moment to stick with the course would be the better option.

If anyone can give us further advise please do, Neither his Dad or I went to Uni and as he is our eldest we are totally new to all this. Thanks so much.

OP posts:
Selks · 21/12/2011 11:03

He needs to talk to the Uni ASAP as it may be possible to transfer to another course within the Uni, which is what my son did.

SarkyWench · 21/12/2011 11:07

Agree he should talk to his course tutor.
His tutor may well not be around but will probably be on email.
I'd advise sending an email asking for an appt as early as possible in the new year.
The key is for him to be completely honest with his tutor. We don't bite!

RubberDuck · 21/12/2011 11:08

Definitely talk to the university as they'll be used to the issue and will be able to give him the best advice. Has he considered a more general computer science course which will give him more job flexibility at the end of it?

LydiaWickham · 21/12/2011 11:13

Could he transfer to a less specific course? Often first year courses they do the basic min for their course but also are doing modules that are the basics for other courses. At this time it's not too late to change, he could probably do that without having to repeat a year.

Few people know at 18 what they want to do with the rest of their lives, and a lot of people end up in careers that just need a degree, not a specific degree, so if he's liking the uni experience, a more general IT course might be better for him.

He wouldn't be the first person who found once their hobby became their career they lost their love of it, it's ok to make a completely different career/academic focus and just keep gaming for fun.

GrendelsMum · 21/12/2011 12:36

I think it sounds like a reasonable concern for him to have, and I'd agree with RubberDuck and LydiaWickham that he should have a chat with the University about moving to a more general computer science course.

I wonder whether the course 'games design' is a little bit of marketing on the University's part, and in fact it's based largely on a set of general computer science / programming / interface design / graphic design modules. So he may well be much better prepared to move to another course (or indeed find a job, ultimately) than he thinks.

funnyperson · 21/12/2011 19:25

Dear buttons I think you are doing well to be able to have sensible discussions. Lots of students who start at university get a bit disillusioned because they discover they have to do some work and some of it is dry. Hopefully though there will be interesting stuff so sticking with uni/perhaps changing modules is the way to go; discuss with tutor as tutor will know the local options but it is also a good idea to have thought through some alternatives for himself by looking on the uni website before the discussion.

sashh · 22/12/2011 02:17

He can probably trasfer to a different course, or he could pick up another subject as a joint major.

Not knowing his A Levels I have no idea of his other interests / abilities but programming is always useful.

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