Advice please on failed degree options

[anotherglass]

This is a follow on from my post earlier this week about son not passing his engineering degree. I had some very supportive comments about the situation, given the shock and despair we had at finding out he had not passed.

He is doing resits in August but even if he passes his degree will be capped at a Pass, with no honours.

I am looking for advice on options from here, which include:

• resitting the year but the exam marks will be capped at 40%
• applying for extenuating circumstances and resitting the modules with the possibility of an Honours degree. Not sure what happens if he does not pass the resit, but all being well this will be good
• The backstop is a Diploma of Higher Education if the worst happens and no degree awarded.

He is being assessed for ADHD. I have always suspected there were issues with his focus and concentration but never went down the assessment route earlier but he has struggled at times with organisation. His exam results were a mixed bag of very good to poor. He is capable but has challenges.

Any advice on routes out of this would be much appreciated. I am trying to keep positive for him and hide my heartbreak. Thank you

How was he at studying and handling exams before, A levels etc? I would probably encourage the resits in Aug but maybe avoid the whole year resit if his grade is still capped. Lots of his friends will have left and it might feel really demoralising. If they offer Hons,.with support and extenuating circs I would consider it.
Most important is what he wants to do and which of the options feels most suitable.

Are there jobs in the industry that let you start at level 3 then work up? He may be interesting to an employer for them as he will be more experienced but not demanding the pay an honours graduate would.

He is a capable and bright lad but has been disorganised and at times lack focus, and is easily distracted. This all come to a head in third year, when the pressure cranked up. His passed a very technical 8000 word dissertation but bombed out on 3 exams, while doing very well in the rest. I am getting him assessed for ADHD as this might be at the root of the issues. Right now he is exhausted and demotivated but wants to resit. We need to keep his motivation up to get over the line.

This could be an option. It all seems a bit of backward and demoralising step at the moment but we need to recover from this setback and feel motivated about the way forward. It is hard but I am reinforcing that you can reach the stars through hardship.

If the diploma of higher education can be awarded right away then this is a good option. If he resits is he likely to pass? If not go for the Diploma and get work experience instead of revision.

Yes the Diploma is an option. What are the advantage of taking this over resitting? If he resits he has the chance to achieve a degree, albeit with a Pass. If he gets extenuating circs he could resit and potential achieving a degree with Honours. We are trying to work out what the best route is.

IME applying for extenuating circumstances after the exam is unlikely to succeed. Does the uni have a "fit to sit" policy? By all means give it a try, but I wouldn't count on this.

If he is being assessed for ADHD (and it ends up being "given") then he can apply to have Mitigating Cirumstances (also called Extenuating Circumstances) approved retrospectively for the whole academic year. This would likely mean that he would get first attempts (ie: uncapped) at the summer exams and likely extra time and/or anything else that was recommended by the edpsych. Typically these include being in a smaller or own room, use of a laptop etc but it varies.

In terms of next steps, he needs to let his programme administration team know that he's being assessed for ADHD and provide the relevant paperwork. Is this through the uni? If so it will make it more straightforward as the programme and/or exams team will liaise directly with the edpsych assigned to his case, but if it's external then that should be OK although there are some unis where everyone still has to be assessed by the university team too so he should still let his programme team know now. Presumably he is already in contact with them if they have let him know his options? How does he get on with them? Was he a "known" entity before these exams if he's being assessed for ADHD?

Then, if/when his ADHD paperwork comes through he will likely be able to decide when he wants to resit the exams, but again, he will need to speak with his programme team about the specifics because all programmes/unis have slightly different rules even if the principle is the same. At my university, if he was granted first attempts then he could resit the exams either all during the resit period or spread out across the next academic year too with the "new" cohort. He'd need to be really on it though with the programme team and teaching staff because at my uni students who are resitting technically can't access the lectures/teaching content again, but there is wriggle room.

I haven't read your other thread (sorry, I drop in and out) but in my experience of 10+ years of this sort of thing it's rarely all doom and gloom even if that's what it appears right now. Universities (and staff) want their students to be successful - on a selfish level it impacts us too if we have to report fails, and on a personal level it is also really tough on the staff involved given most students in this situation have some sort of MCs (like your son) and just need an extra bit of support.

But years of study didn’t work to get the result so it might not be possible to achieve a pass in a month of revision. Extenuating circumstances - surely these should have been noted during the years at university?

OP follow @examadmin’s advice - it’s spot on.

Thank you so much with this great advice. When my son failed two exams in the Autumn he did not tell us, nor did the University seemingly offer him extra support for issues. What should they have done here? What is the best way to approach finding out what help was offered to him and how much effort was put in to helping him?

He’s an adult so it’s up to him to sort out his medical care. I don’t see what the university should have done about him not passing exams.

@buttercrackers do you think that people who are suffering a mental illness, or disability, are always in best placed to advocate for themselves. What if they are unaware of their condition, or in denial about how it affects them. Those around them who would notice, or step in to advocate, ie the family, are hundreds of miles away, so they are left to their own devices, struggling in silence. He had a personal tutor who asked what happened to the two exams and he said he 'had a bad day'. This wasn't taken any further. The University does have a duty of care to students in terms of health and well being and two failed exams are a red flag in my book.

As he’s an adult you’ll need a medical assessment to say he’s not able to look after his own health so that his next of kin, carers can step up. Failed exams can mean not enough studying was done through choice rather than mental health. From what you write in reply here you imply you knew he had mental health issues so why didn’t you act earlier rather than expecting the university to guess on the situation and somehow let him pass?

Didn't he fail the first year? I'd this is the thread I'm thinking of, then take the resit and move on. The first year doesn't count towards the degree grade.

They didn’t know he was ND or suffering from a MH issue though tbf. We’re not mind readers.

Two failed exams are not indicative of any issues at all - it’s really common, and if anything is indicative of a student partying rather than studying. And I say that as a parent of a dc who failed three out of six Masters exams. —and still managed a distinction—

@buttercrackers Universities do the bare minimum with students who are struggling, and not because they are partying but with stress / anxiety. He did not tell us because he did not want to worry us. His teachers didn't probe either. Your lack of concern for a young person facing difficulty seems rooted in a very defensive positions for the university sector. I am guessing you may work in higher education.

No he didn't fail his first year. He has progressed all the way to Year 4 from Foundation year and passed an 8000 word dissertation on a highly technical topic related to aerospace engineering. He was dedicated and wanted to do v well but really struggled with his organisation around exam scheduling and timing. This affected his mental health and snowballed into huge anxiety and stress. I think the underlying issue is ND or ADHD, which has made it more challenging for him to manage workload. He is being assessed now and hopefully mitigations in place for resits. He is bright but confidence now hugely knocked. I am only finding out the full extent of his struggles just now, which is something I have to deal with, but focussed on supporting him out of the situation and rebuilding his confidence.

Why did he not act earlier? I know he definitely didn't want to worry us. Secondly, he may not have wanted to own up to his issues, and be seen as a failure. How many people here have tried to push male partners to get help with a GP? This is like victim blaming. People who are unwell and not always best placed to seek help. They need help getting help.

The Unis dont engage. I had an issue with my DS where he bombed in 2nd year, had a bit of a breakdown and failed exams. Luckily he confessed all to us and I stepped in and helped him to sort it out with the Uni. He ended up with a 2.1 by skin of his teeth.

This group is campaigning for change as some students sadly take another way out

ForThe100

@anotherglass I think the academics here will concentrate on his university studies. DH employed engineers for over 40 years. A pass degree isn’t really an employable degree. Assuming he wants engineering? Does he? It was a BEng and not MEng so I would look at what he could do well. What was it? Is he numerate? What did he fail at? Avoid any jobs which require expertise in his failed modules.

I think I would leave with what he has to be honest. Take resits in April but most engineering employers would see him as working towards technician level.

He must now think about what employer. What job. Being brutally honest, he’s going to struggle at engineering as a profession. So what else? I’d start exploring level 3 jobs based on what he can do well.

I’m well aware of the problem getting adults medical help when it is refused by the adult in need.

That is not wholly evident in your posts which seems to be about defending the university. I came to this thread for support on options going forward. Your posts are derailing this.

He could take his diploma or pass to the Open University and do top up modules to raise the degree to BSc Hons. And get some work experience while doing the top up part-time.

Try to reassure him that although it feels like a big shock right now, over the course of a long lifetime, no one will really care how long it took to get his degree. What matters is that he uses this experience to learn the valuable life skills of self-forgiveness, resilience and coming back from a major set-back with his self-respect in tact, which are worth SO much more than any degree.

Honestly, when I look back over more than 60 years of life, the things I am most proud of are definitely the things I failed at first and tried and tried again to achieve, or the things I thought I was screwing up which turned out to be keeping afloat in almost impossible circumstances I wasn't aware were abnormally hard at the time.

Derailing? - it’s a difficult fact but you need an assessment to get an adult in need (not assessed before) medical care. How that’s derailing I don’t know. You might be in denial that he’s an adult and not a child. I have not defended the university at all.