dropping out of uni with a year to go!

[cantmakesenseofthis]

My DS is in his third year of a 4 year course. At the end of the second year he informed me that he had found his passion and he wanted to be a script writer. I managed to persuade him to start his third year which is a year abroad and to continue writing as a hobby. Since then he has been writing, writing, writing. For his Easter break he went to the US to stay with friends one of who has similar aspirations albeit directing. He is still there now and he tells me that he has made connections and does wants to leave uni even if he has only one year to go. He says he knows life will be very tough and he is prepared for that. He also says that you should grab opportunities as you see them and see where they take you. I am struggling with what to advise when all my instincts are saying what a waste!- complete your degree and then go ahead and pursue a career as a writer

Can he ask the Uni for a 1 year leave of absence?

Yeah. Tell him to defer for a year. Then if it doesn't work out he can go back to uni.

Thanks for the advise all. It was my understanding that unis were very reluctant to do this unless there were strong medical reasons?

No not at all - being pragmatic it looks a bit crap on our statistics if they drop out. At least interrupting for a year gives them a chance to comeback and finish.

Does he have a work permit visa for the USA? I don't think you can just stay there. You only have 90 days in the USA on the ESTA anyway so maybe a talk about reality might help.

THANK YOU! this is incredibly reassuring. When he skypes me tonight I will put the option of deferring to him. He is discussing work permits/visas etc with his mates at the moment. He says that script writers do not need degrees just great ideas/plots and writing ability.

If he can get a visa/permit for more than 90 days I will be impressed.

If he had started to make money I could see his point, otherwise surely, if he can't defer, he could do both....do script writers have to actually be living in LA?

We're in a similar situation OP (in fact I was considering coming on her to post about it when I saw yours)

DS2 is just coming to the end of his second year and wants to drop out. His is a vocational degree (a programming course) and he is now having a complete change of heart about his future.

His circumstances are a little different in that he is struggling with one of the modules in his course and unfortunately it is the subject of this is module which forms a large part of the final year's content. The faculty are apparently aware that there are problems with the way this module has been taught and that they need to revise the content of the final year, but this would be too late for him and his contemporaries.

I have also been advised that he tries taking a year out but at the moment he is convinced that he wouldn't pass his final year so it would be a waste of time.

At the moment, the most logical thing (as it appears to me) would be to see if there was an alternate course he could switch to within the faculty - even if he is now convinced he doesn't want to programme as a career, if he could complete a degree, there would be so many more options open to him than without. I've no idea how practical this would be but there are certainly some courses within the IT department which don't involve such intense programming and I'm sure, as titchy says, the university would rather they didn't have students drop out.

Than you Green for your input. I wish the problem was just his course. He is currently averaging a 2:1. He has just fallen out of love with the whole uni thing. He is no longer convinced that a degree will necessarily mean that much. I have tried to present an alternative view point. He says he is an or nothing person and he intends to throw himself into script writing. even if it means a crap job whilst he writes. I think he has this rather romantic idea of being a penniless writer and then making it to the top!
The deferred yera is definately a good compromiseif he is still hell bent on pursuing this.

DD has also had this dilemma. We wanted to know how she would get a green card work permit. The USA is now a very hard place to get into for work. We wanted to know who was going to pay her (vast) expenses before she actually made any money? You can do a lot of things in the UK and work with people on line. My DD is forever going on about contacts. She went to the USA for 2.5 months as part of her degree and feels she belongs there. She might, but she has agreed to finish her degree (at the moment) and we have explained we are not an endless pot of money which she can tap into while she pursues her dreams in NY. She does not actually have any offer of employment there. Unfortunately it is just chasing a dream and people who should know better are egging her on! We find it very difficult to deal with and there is now a rift between DD and us because she is not happy about the fact that we doubt her ability to succeed in this venture.

Milly I have spoken to my DS. He too is seduced by the US and living the dream. He thinks that with a group of mates from his school days he will write scripts. He too feels that I do not believe in him in this venture as after all I have always encouraged individuality and creativity and that I should (bankroll) support him.I refuse to do this. I need to get him home and talk this through in the cold light of day rather than the giddy lights of California. He too is egged on I feel. Maybe if he is lucky he can have the best of both worlds. A year out of uni whilst he writes and sees what happens with the opportunity to finish his degree if all goes pear shaped which I fear it will. I need to play this carefully!

Second or third the advice re taking a year's leave of absence. Also, what sort of degree is he doing? Is he involved in his university's student drama group? Could he finish his degree and sign up for a playwriting MA. The one at Birmingham or the one at UEA are the 2 best in the country, with Royal Holloway a distant third.

He needs to be working in the fringe theatre and film-making sectors and getting scripts read eg Paines Plough is a company with a strong record for helping to develop new scripts. Also The Bush, and the Royal Court.

If these names mean nothing to him, then he has no idea really.

Has he taken a show to Edinburgh? Is he involved with performance in some way?

These are all questions to ask him. Although (experience here with my DS) I doubt you'll get sensible answers

Sometimes, it's really difficult, but we have to stand back and let them fall over. So damage limitation might be to insist he explores the possibility and then applies for a year's LoA. Good lucK!

Update.
DS going back for final year but BOY what a struggle! We finally decided not to try and persuade him to return, however rightly or wrongly we withdrew all financial support. After a crap holiday job and feeling too exhausted to write, he has relunctantly decided to complete his course. I really hope that he does do this!

Well living off your parents for the rest of your life isn't an option is it!!!

Fingers crossed he gets on with it.

Ohh, thanks for updating

That sounds a hopeful outcome. I hope it all works out for him. Update us again when he becomes a famous scriptwriter

Hi Cant. Nice of you to update.

I posted a similar story up thread. DS was also thinking of dropping out but has, after much discussion with Student advisers, Course tutors and us, now decide to retake his second year. He is only taking about half the modules so is negotiating a reduction in fees. The university has acknowledged that there were issues with the course and so were OK about him doing this. It's still not ideal (won't look good on his CV and of course additional student loans) but at least he'll hopefully come out of it with a degree.

Good Luck to your DS Green. I just wish that my DS believed a bit more in the benefits of a degree. What would have been the point of continuing if he failed to pass or just scraped through?!