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Higher education

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Son is spiralling and thinking he won’t get his dissertation done in time

32 replies

Itsabr33ze · 24/02/2025 19:47

Really don’t know what to do. He says he’ll fail if that’s the case. I know in the scheme of things it’s not the end of the world but could really do with some advice.

OP posts:
Itsabr33ze · 26/02/2025 08:40

PicturePlace · 26/02/2025 06:36

He will be fine. These are normal feelings that every student has.

He really isn’t sure he will be fine so it’s very difficult to reassure him. He is ND so his struggles are enhanced. There is ADHD( and all that brings), autism, severe ocd etc in the mix.

OP posts:
EBoo80 · 26/02/2025 08:46

I can’t tell you how many students just disappear (from the point of view of their dissertation supervisor) when they feel stressed like this. As someone who works on being approachable and kind it is so frustrating, and then we end up marking the nonsense that students produce in a 24 hour panic, without any of the support they should have had from their supervisor.
It is so worth him reaching out and being honest about these feelings. He may need extra support from disability services given his needs, but it is also a VERY common situation.
also an excellent transferable skill to follow appropriate channels when there’s a problem,which will serve him well in future workplaces.

Chemenger · 26/02/2025 08:57

Former engineering lecturer here. Firstly many students go through this and end up getting the dissertation done, he’s not unusual. My best advice is to look at the marking scheme and work out just how little needs to be done to get a pass. My guess is that he is concentrating on how much he needs to do to get a first. He needs to pick off the low lying fruit first - write a good introduction and a decent lit survey, he should have the gist of those already. Reference properly and have a bibliography, set things out in the correct format even if some sections are pretty empty. If it is experimental do some analysis and error calculations. Our marking schemes were designed to make failing hard, only students who had done nothing at all failed. We looked for marks we could give not for things we could penalise. Once he’s done the minimum everything else he can add is a bonus. Finally, when the due date comes HAND IT IN, no matter what state it is in. The worst thing is to hand in late thinking you can make up for late penalties in an extra day - very unlikely to work.

Chemenger · 26/02/2025 09:00

Also he should speak to his supervisor, they will help him prioritise.

LittleBigHead · 26/02/2025 11:28

EBoo80 · 26/02/2025 08:46

I can’t tell you how many students just disappear (from the point of view of their dissertation supervisor) when they feel stressed like this. As someone who works on being approachable and kind it is so frustrating, and then we end up marking the nonsense that students produce in a 24 hour panic, without any of the support they should have had from their supervisor.
It is so worth him reaching out and being honest about these feelings. He may need extra support from disability services given his needs, but it is also a VERY common situation.
also an excellent transferable skill to follow appropriate channels when there’s a problem,which will serve him well in future workplaces.

Agree 💯

There is very little that dissertation tutors haven’t seen (parental abuse, drugs use, break ups, assault etc etc etc). We are used to walking students through the step by step process of getting the work done, in spite of life.

And we can direct them to support services for their lives and life events.

phyllidafosset · 28/02/2025 00:09

Itsabr33ze · 26/02/2025 08:40

He really isn’t sure he will be fine so it’s very difficult to reassure him. He is ND so his struggles are enhanced. There is ADHD( and all that brings), autism, severe ocd etc in the mix.

At my uni he would absolutely meet the criteria for Mitigating Circumstances (mcs). These require evidence from a professional (the therapist would count). He could also get Reasonable adjustments for mental health, as required. However at this stage I would suggest focusing on MCs. For students who are suffering from severe anxiety/stress, which he sounds like his, it is possible to defer coursework/exams and/or his final project. This can mean some modules are dealt with in the expected time, and others are postponed to the refer/defer period (for us it is July but for others it is end of the summer).

That can enable some students who are struggling with their mental health to spread out the assessment requirements.

The key thing to know is that universities will normally have a ‘fit to sit’ policy, which means if you submit something, it is assumed to be representative of what the student can do. We want our students to be submitting the best work they can. The majority will be in that position and if your DS isn’t because he is trying to manage issues others don’t have (stress/anxiety/mental health), then it is absolutely fair and reasonable that he takes that extra time. Sometimes students worry that it is cheating or an unfair advantage and it is absolutely not, if he is trying to manage his mental health and his studies all at once. Do also tell him that he has gotten this far, and if he needs to spread out his final assessments in order to perform at his best, then that extra time makes no difference in the grand scale of life, and he should allow himself that additional time.

If you are highly concerned, and you think he needs to suspend, then that is also likely to be possible.

It is so hard to seek help when you are feeling in a bad place, but I 100% reiterate what others have said, get him to talk to his personal tutor or the senior tutor in his department, because they can help guide him on what he needs to do.

PieonaBarm · 28/02/2025 14:03

I failed my dissertation. Was given a resit for it, over the summer months, just included what was in the feedback and passed. I got a 2:2 in the end and graduated with the rest of my course at the same ceremony.

It felt HUGE at the time, and my parents reaction wasn't great (had always flown through everything until then) but now, 25 years later, it was just one of those things.

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