Really struggling at the mo-want to pack it in

[Pawslikepaddington]

Have 6 essays this week-3 due today, 3 due tomorrow, am currently on no.2 (I only received them last week so am not stacking them up)! Have been up since 4 am every day this week and seem to be wading through mud-I haven't even had time to buy milk and bread this week. I can't bear this any more!!!!! I just don't enjoy doing this at all any more-it is too much and I want to cry!

that sounds like a massive and unrealistic amount of work that would stress anyone out! Could you get extensions on some? You need to sleep, shop and eat etc too fgs! How approachable is your course tutor?

My course tutor is lovely and very understanding, but the supervisors setting the work are of the mind that if you can't get the work done you don't deserve to be here, which I can understand, but at the same time I don't want to be here any more!! I keep waking up every hour, and then feeling guilty for going back to sleep as I feel like I should be working, but I get ill doing more than 18 hours a day (including housework, dd, etc).

As for not eating-just looked at my dining table and there is:-

1 empty pack of pom bears
1 empty pack of liquourice allsorts
1 empty pack of jelly babies
3 empty yoghurt pots
1 plate that did contain cheese and crackers
2 empty variety pack boxes of cereal
1 bowl that contained all bran at 8am
1 empty pack of chewing gum

All since 4am! No wonder I can't do my jeans up any more!

Paws - you're at C, right?

Go and see the Senior Tutor of your college. It's true that tutors adopt a 'sink or die' approach; BUT BUT BUT - it sounds like your DoS has screwed up: even at C, noone should have 3 essays due in one week: your DoS should've arranged for your supervisions and hence submission dates to be more spread out.

You need to notify your ST of this pile up, and ask what to do about it. It's not reasonable, even at C.

I was at, and supervised at, C, so this is not - I hope! - delusional advice.

PS. I would bet my savings on the fact that your fellow, childless, students are unlikely to be getting this much done. Chances are, they'll rock up to supervision without the work, because they are less conscientious than you.

God - sink or swim that should say! I'm a bit morbid today!

Thanks Pent-it is kind of my fault because dd was ill all week last week, so have 5 supervisions in 2 days this week, which is hell (today and tomorrow!). I should have done the work last week but was up with her all night every night will tummy bug or bed wetting or general crying through achy joints, so we both spent the days sleeping/watching dvds, and so I missed the lectures covering the stuff too. I hope the others aren't getting through it either-either I am too honest about how much I have done, or they are better at looking knowledgeable, or both!!

Please don't give up, Paws. The pastoral support structure at C can be amazing: you just have to access it.

It feels like sink and die tbh! It made me giggle!

Thanks again Pent-I do love it here REALLY (in the summer, or when I am actually on top of the work!!), but feel like I don't deserve the support as I'm not student no.1 if that makes sense? Please don't let them kick me out!! I really want to stay, but at the same time I like being sane!

I can tell you from experience - on both sides of the fence (student & supervisor): they are FAKING IT!

Even if it is 'your fault' (which, it isn't, you know), I'd still go and see the ST to discuss the matter. There's no way, I think, you can be expected to do that many essays in 2 weeks, so you need to seek advice about how to proceed.

I know too well that students with much less on their plate are tempted to run away from this kind of stress: don't hand in work; don't turn up to supervisions, etc.

Ask - really, ask - if you can hand in essay plans for a few of these. I've accepted that in the past because I'd rather see the student, and get a sense that they know what they're doing, than force an essay out of them at a vulnerable time.

Besides, it's the exams that count, so I never made essays the end of the world, IYSWIM.

Other students are bad organisers too aren't they Pent? In your experience? They all seem so together and smart in Law, and I hate them all, and want to secretly steal their plans and clever tricks!

You absolutely deserve the support. You are no different to student no.1. Really & truly.

Please ask for the support you need.

I swear: much better your college knows about problems, than they find out too late.

YOU CAN DO IT!

No, they are pretending, and are as freaked out and worried as you. Besides, you didn't read their essays, did you? I bet they were a load of tosh, hammered out after some student ent., and thrown at the P'lodge just before the supervisor came in...

Oh you are my new best friend-I adore you! (Am also secretly smug that someone on here knows who I am and has read posts I have been on).

Am cheating at the mo and reading an intro book to sling one of the essays together, have sent another off, have asked the supervisor that three of them are for (the one already sent and the one I am doing) to let me have until the weekend for the third. One supervisor tomorrow needs it tomorrow really as she let me off one over the hols, and the other one has given me until next Friday, as long as I hand the next one in at the same time, phew!

I would never DREAM of missing a supervision-lectures yes, but supervisions, NO! I can't believe they would do that!!

Where are you P: are you serious about milk & bread? I will bring you some, or drop it off for you at your P'lodge, if you need.

I am going to start the Penthesileia appreciation society, for calmness in times of need! You are fabbylicious!

Oh, I've spent many happy hours chasing students and re-arranging supervisions. [walkover emoticon]

Sorry - yes - lurked on a thread (can't remember what - oh yes, your astonishing leccy bill!!! ) and noticed you were at C.

The thing is, everyone feels like a small fish in a big pond at C. All but the very few go from being top dogs at their schools, to being one of many here. Everyone feels scrutinised and inadequate at some point.

You are not alone!!!

I have 45 mins after supervision to get some before getting dd from after school club, as have to cycle past Sainsbury's-yay! We're off to Newnham for dinner tonight too with one of dd's friends and his mummy (one of my friends) so are all set for tea too. You are so lovely-I'll give some of your students a boot camp if they aren't turning in work-they could sit for me for 2 hours while I go to the library, and by the time they leave they will say "I must work hard so that I never have to do that again!" He he!

Awww.

Look. You cannot be as bad as me, ok?...

I did not hand in - at all - my second ever essay... My supervisor said it was a record: "Everyone breaks down eventually,", he said, "but never in week 2 of their first term!"!!!

I went on to get a 1st, and am now an academic... So it wasn't the end of the world...

Oh I got that bill knocked in half in the end, and then paid it as the bills were coming in with mega red ink on! SO much cheaper in college though-£40 a month, hurrah!

Really boosted now Pent, thank you! Would love to be an academic, but a 2.1 is elluding (sp!) me at the mo, but love my supervisors so much that it spurs me on, which is great! However, 60 days until exams, so there is still (with much better organisation and no more pandering to dd's illnesses) time!

Thank goodness! Glad you're in college accomm. now. Much better.

Really, the super thing about C is that - if necessary - the college can really take care of you - and wants to as well. It's just much more personal than non-collegiate unis.

Good luck with your work.

Am off now, as DD has just woken from her nap.

Have a good time at your friend's.

We will, am racing through a skeleton draft that I can send in if needs be-you are fab!

wow...that sounds like a lot....my friend was over here at new years, and I couldnt believe how many essays/assignments she has to do...my course is a walk in teh park compared to that...I was truely ...
I wonder why courses/Universities vary so much in this...surely there should be some sort of protocol countrywide that establishes how many assignments are actually necessary...
I am now in my 2. Semester (Practice Placement) of Occupational Therapy and we only had 2 proper assgnments....and one non marked one to just give us feedback on where we stand...obvioulsy Placement itself is a assignment, as you have to pass it, I suppose...but still...my friend had like loads...possibly to many, because she was blagging it a lot, which surely isn't the point...but I understand why she had to go to that extend...would have been impossible otherwise...

I must admit-you spend more time blagging it than not! Non of the essays go towards your final mark either-that all rests on the exam, so it is all basically determining whether you understand the material or not.

Dd has been at her dad's this weekend-I slept from 11pm Fri night until 6.30pm Sat night without waking once, then went back to bed at 11pm and woke up at 11am! . Am only halfway through term! I am so lazy!!