DD Suspended from Uni

[Velvetlady]

My 17 year old DD has been asked to leave her halls of residence and has been suspended from her course. Last week, she had friends round for a drink and things got out of hand. Neighbours complained to the Police about noise and a window was broken! One of DD's friends invited boys round once DD had gone to bed & one of them stole food belonging to her flatmates! My DD apologized to all involved and replaced the food and paid for the window to be fixed. However, the other day DD got called out of class to speak to the head of her course and the Accommodation Officer. They had a letter from DD's flatmate reporting her for drinking alcohol under age. DD was asked to leave the halls by 5pm and has been suspended from classes until a disciplinary hearing. DD wasn't able to pack her in time and had about half her belongings thrown out by the security guard. I'm so angry at DD! However, I do feel she has been treated harshly for one episode of bad behaviour. Has anyone else had a child go through a disciplinary at uni?

[Thissameearth]

I went to one of the best law schools in Scotland, aged 17, with only 5 normal highers (4 As and a B). I have not heard of skipping first year if have A levels. The entrance requirements are just to do with ability to follow degree or popularity of degree. You don't go into second year of have excess of entrance requirements: if you're doing 4 years studying law, an extra year of maths and chemistry at school doesn't expedite law degree.

[Velvetlady]

All her friends and flat mates that were involved got a formal warning. DD has been suspended because of the party and not for being late or her phone going off.

[PigletWasPoohsFriend]

I would say that there is definitely more to it then.

[diddl]

" all got way out of hand the Dd went to bed drunk and chaos happened."

That would make sense.

If you hold a party, you're responsible for what happens, aren't you, & going to bed doesn't change that!

[ThatStewie]

Being late and a phone ringing wouldn't result in a suspension. It just wouldn't. An academic suspension is far more likely to involve plagiarism or non-attendance of classes. Eviction from halls is likely to mean that isn't a first offence (and campus security don't tend to involve police unless it's a serious incident).

[WankersHacksandThieves]

This that's why I said it depends. For example if you were going to study computing science and had AH Computing Science, Maths and Graphic Comms at grade A or something similar, you may be able to skip the first year, not so much if you had those subjects and wanted to skip the first year of History of Art.

[Maladicta]

I skipped first year of an English degree at a Scottish uni as I had an A at A Level and also an S Level in the subject, it used to be possible!

[PikachuSayBoo]

She's not on a nursing or midwifery course is she because they tend to be stricter about behaviour than other courses.

[Velvetlady]

Yes she is studying nursing.

[InformalRoman]

Thissameearth It is possible in some degrees - for instance at Glasgow you can go straight into second year in Civil Engineering, Economics and Geography, but not in Archaeology or English Lit. It depends on the uni and the course.

[PikachuSayBoo]

That'll be it then.

We got read the riot act on our first week. Any drugs, any fighting straight off the course.

Been seen drunk and disorderly in town off the course even without being in bother with the police.

Its all to do with the nmc code of conduct and having to be of good character.

I honestly know someone who was slung off the course for having a heated debate with someone on the local town's open FB page about the local hospital.

As a mentor now on our mentor update the uni tutors said they expect us to report any such incidents to them. They said if someone (a student) had a profile picture on FB of them looking drunk while swigging alcohol, or flashing their boobs, etc it would be an investigation.

[PikachuSayBoo]

And English unis accept nursing and midwifery students at 17yo. Used to be more common. Certainly ten years ago there were a few 17yos on my course. But I was talking to a NQ midwife today who is only 20yo so she must have started at 17.

[ByAndByTheWay]

Ah nursing. Well yes it can be very strict then and I'm sorry to say that the rules will have been spelled out at the start of the program. The point still holds though that there should be some form of support or representation for her avaliable through the student's Union. She will need to be proactive and do what she can to communicate with the uni. Good luck.

[PikachuSayBoo]

Are they letting her carry on with lectures and placements until the hearing? Because if not she will need to make all placement hours up. You can't just miss a month of a nursing diploma/degree. The nmc set a minimum number of hours.

[Velvetlady]

No she's not allowed to attend til after her hearing. I didnt know that nursing was so strict!

[Velvetlady]

Her personal tutor told her she may need to go in to uni or placement over the summer holiday to make up hours.

[BertrandRussell]

Ah, nursing- that will be it then. My dd shared a flat with a student midwife in first year and she had to be sooo careful- there was a much higher standard of behaviour expected of her than the other students. Fortunately they all got on really well, and actually it was good for all of them-it stopped them doing anything really stupid.

But your dd needs to be doing everything she possibly can to show she's learned her lesson- finding somewhere else to live, keeping up with what she can of the work-and preparing to grovel like crazy at the hearing.

[APlaceOnTheCouch]

I know when my DSIS was living in nursing accommodation, the rules were very strict regarding guests,etc. Much stricter than other halls of residence rules.

[PikachuSayBoo]

My advice to your dd would be to go in as apologetic as possible. There should be a course rep she can take for support if she wants.

She could write a letter before the date and take it with her so if she forgets what she wants to say it's all in the letter. Saying how she got carried away with leaving home for the first time and she realises now that things got out of hand. It's fine to say there's been a personality clash which hadn't helped. However she does not want to go in saying that it's not her fault, so and so did this, so and so did that.......it won't be received well.

She needs to say she regrets anything that happened but that she hadn't realised this person would take food and that she had gone to bed by then but ultimately she realises that she shouldn't have left these people in the house/flat and gone to bed. Nursing is hot on accountability and responsibility and they will be looking for recognition of this.

She needs to say that she's learnt from it, has reflected what happened and regrets it. That she's very keen to prove that this incident is not typical of her. She just wants to move forward, keep her head down, work hard.

Preparing for the hearing in such a manner will score her a lot of brownie points. If she goes in with a shit attitude they will quite probably boot her off. Hope it's good news for her.

[OutDamnedWind]

Ah, that explains it. Healthcare courses generally come under fit need to practice. Basically expectations are high and tolerance is minimal.

[TheFairyCaravan]

Her personal tutor told her she may need to go in to uni or placement over the summer holiday to make up hours.

Yes she will. She has to do a certain amount of hours to be able to progress on to the next year.

DS2 is a 2nd year student nurse. It's very, very strict. They do try put the nurse/HCP students in one halls at the uni he's at, however DS2 was stuck in a different one with one other nurse and student paramedic. It wasn't an easy first year.

[P1nkP0ppy]

Your dd would have had everything spelled out to her at the beginning of the course so she has absolutely no excuse especially when it comes to the NMC Code of Conduct and being of good character. All nursing students are given a copy of the Code too.
If she takes a gap year I'd be surprised if any other University would accept her after this debacle, particularly because of the pressure on places and the fact they expect a high calibre of student.

[Kr1stina]

That makes sense now. My nephew has just started first year medicine and on their first day they were told that if they got in trouble with the police they would probably be out the course . Even for things that might have been considered minor, such a breach of the peace or drunk and disorderly.


He was told this was because the GMC might refuse to register them with such a conviction , so there was no point in the university continuing to teach them .

They were also warned about their use of social media, as a PP said.

[Lucked]

Hope it all gets sorted and she doesn't miss too much of her course. She has made huge errors but she is still a 17yo newly away from home dealing with this, she must be pretty scared and upset.

Unis are much stricter now on underage drinking, often unders are not allowed in the uni liscenced premises at all even if not drinking so that would put unions etc out.

Although relatively trivial this is one of the reasons I have deferred my sons school start as he would be 17 when finishing school, if I could guarantee he would do a gap year it wouldn't matter but at 17 it would be his choice.

[Tuktuktaker]

Velvet, I hope you can persuade her to take Pikachu's advice - it sounds as if it comes from a wealth of experience, which your DD should be able to put to good use. I didn't realise how strict the rules were for students in the health professions nowadays. The medics I knew (OK, more than 40 years ago) were acknowledged as the wildest of us all and got up to all sorts.. It was "traditional", then, apparently.