Going to fail 3rd year

[cartedorwhore]

I'm currently in my last year of a psychology degree and finding almost everything difficult.

Firstly, my research project idea is crap. I'm replicating something with well known effects except that I'm manipulating something else based on my own assumptions that I cannot back up. It's not going well.

Secondly, I'm not motivated! DD is at school from 9am-3pm, but I've got so much housework to do that I can't concentrate on my course. I'm making notes and keeping up, but not taking much in and I'm feeling disengaged.

I'm thinking of dropping out, and I would have if my fees hadn't already been paid to the university.

I'm not sure what to do. I hate studying from home as it just reminds me that I have other duties.

Would this be a good idea? Not sure what I'll do with my life, and competition must be fierce in the job market.

From what you’ve said, no I wouldn’t drop out. You have one year to go and you’ve paid the fees. I’m assuming that deferring a year isn’t an option?
It sounds tough and I sympathise. But it’s one year: you need to push through.

Things you can do that may help are:

Speak to your supervisor about modifying your research project or changing it completely. There’s no point you continuing with it if you think it’s crap. Get help.

Choose a room or area in the house that is your workspace and get yourself some office hours. Stick to these. Easier said than done but right now in lockdown everyone is having to work from home so you’re not alone.

Do the housework after your daughter gets home from school ideally or in the evenings. If you gave to do it during the school day, allocate an hour or two to it abs stick to that.

Oh and Carte D’or as a reward for any progress you make

Look at your project - a negative result can be as useful as a positive one in research. Maybe psychology's different, but in most fields you start with the evidence rather than the result you want. Talk to your tutor/supervisor about it. Can you adjust your question?

Don't give up now. There is plenty time to clean properly after you have finished. Can you book space in your uni library to work there? It doesn't matter if you can't back up your project work. You can talk a lot about why it went wrong and how it could have been done better. You can do it!

I did my psychology degree when I had primary school age children and it was very hard work. However, I didn't worry about the housework at all. You have less than a year to do, and if you can carry on it will be so worth it.
If you really feel you can't carry on, see if you can take time out after Christmas and start your third year again next September. You can get student loans for 4 years, so you should be able to get it again next year.
If you can continue though, I would. Do you have a personal tutor you can talk to? Don't worry about the direction your project is going in, just try and work out why that's happening and talk about that.
Very good luck with it all.

I supervise and mark research projects in a different (science-based) degree and honestly, so many students end up with absolute rubbish for results (experiments didn’t work, equipment faulty, difficulty getting ethical approval until the last minute etc.) and still pass with good marks. It’s more about the research methodology - can you review the current literature and give a rationale as to where your work fits in, then give an accurate account of what you did and the results (however bad/irrelevant). The main issue is you not enjoying it, which makes it harder to complete. Please persevere, I can’t imagine how much you must already have sacrificed already and you are so close.

Thank you all for the replies.

I guess I'll have to keep going now, as it's far too late to change my supervisor.

I'll think about adjusting my question. Not quite sure of my supervisor can help, as it seems like he is ok'ing my ideas despite me knowing that they are crap. Maybe he is not really bothered about my project because it's not directly related to his work. I'm not directly using his current research in my project.

I'm not enjoying it at all @CupcakesK. I did a rush job in making my project choices.

It it's any consolation I didn't enjoy my final project either cartedorwhore but persevered and completed my degree.
Good luck with it.

Is it possible to choose another project? It sounds like you really want to engage. I've done a master's and the supervisor was 'away' a lot, so l struggled on. Looking back if l could have found a PhD student or someone successful in the master's, l would have paid for about 6 private tutoring sessions to get me on track.

@mygrandchildrenrock

Thank you.

@Seatime

I wish I could change and I tried to last week, but my supervisor said that I should stick with what I've got.

It is a bloody rough experience trying to do all of this online when you've got a house to deal with and kids - I'm there myself and it's doing my head in and I'm losing motivation at a terrifying speed.

Pressed send too soon - I've found that using a pomodoro timer does help - even if I reluctantly eek out the 15 minute blocks - it gets me started and once I'm started I get into the zone much easier a lot of the time.

What is your topic ?

I'm a psychology lecturer and mark projects. Don't give up, the fact you care and are worried enough to post speaks volumes. Speak to your supervisor about refining your hypotheses and supporting literature.

Also speak to your university' student support team. Childcare is a very important issue unis will be supportive of this year and you may well get extensions on your work to help you with the extra load of covid-life.

Also speak to your tutor or equivalent. So many students just don't come to see us and we are there to help for this kind of thing.