Advice for son whose just failed 3rd year at University

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This is his re sit exam year ie he failed last academic year but they let him bank his great project and lab results and redo only the exams this year. He failed all but 1 of the 4 re sits. They say he can have an ordinary degree in Engineering just not an honours degree in Aerospace systems he had been reading.

My son hated remote learning which he did from semester 2 of Y1 , all the way through Y2 and into semester 1 of Y3. During brief periods at University he did well in projects or in Labs.

Not sure what advice to give him. We are in America, he is is Glasgow. Really at a loss how to parent on this one.

Do you think he tried hard and did his best? If so I think all you can do is tell him you love him and help him to identify his strengths and what made it difficult for him to manage the exams. Then help him to think about possible careers that play to those strengths and ways he could cope better with his challenges in future. A liberal sprinkling of successful people who didn't do well in traditional academic settings might also be useful. I wouldn't offer to fund further studies, or at least not at this juncture.

That's great advice. We have reassured him (he's a bit shocked) . No he didn't try his best. He's hated remote learning and just been miserable redoing the exams this year. He said it has been the most unhappy 3 years he can remember. We were here and he was there (with his brother) during 2020 and 2021 then we could see each other but he hid the problems until they resulted in re sitting . I really like the idea of bringing up successful people who didn't do well in academia. Thank you .

I'm sorry your son's in this situation, it's rotten. If he's in Glasgow for an Engineering related degree then I'm guessing probably either the University of Glasgow or Strathclyde - both are very rigorous for their engineering courses and it's not an uncommon situation for students.

An ordinary Engineering degree from one of those universities is still going to be marketable in engineering jobs, and he could still use it as a starting point for going into aerospace as a field if he wants. There'll be opportunities to do more studying or training, and he can work on getting a solid portfolio of work experience to make any job applications look more competitive. Quite a few firms would rather have someone who has practical experience and a less good degree than someone who has a top academic degree but can't apply it in the real world.

Thank you . I put this thread on Higher education and have got other suggestions for him too. We are speaking today so hopefully he will feel a bit more hopeful as I do :-)