university , my daughter is beggining to think its a waste of money

[45nanny]

My daughter did really well at college and has just started uni in preston . Spoke to her this evening and she said she is so bored. She has no lessons this week apart from a talk on monday and a hour or so lesson on thurs . she is up to date on her studies and has a good social life too . She said she thinks the whole uni thing is such a waste of money and i,m so worried she'll throw it in and come home . she worked so hard to get a good place and just feels that there isnt enough to keep her focased.
i ,ve said to go chat to soemone in her department about how she feels , is this normal , no lessons . help .

she should get a part time job too, the hours will just fill up with studying, working and socializing

What is she studying?

Chat with tutor sounds like a good idea. University is about independent study - you don't get 'lessons' every day. Maybe she hasn't got her head round the big difference between school and university yet?

It sounds as if she doesn't feel stretched/challenged enough - could she transfer to another, better university?

One of my cousins did this.

what course is she doing? if i recall ,many moons ago, the first few weeks were a bit hit and miss, then you knuckle down to it

some courses are a few hours of lectures a week with time for independent study and reading, others are more full time lectures

give it time.. there is bound to be a settling in period and surely she is going as she has a career in mind she is working towards

preston is very handy , not too far away from liverpool and manchester, she could hop on the train and have days out

Even if she's not having lessons, she'll have work to be doing in her own time - I did a science-based course and was in university all the time, whereas my house-mates were Arts students and only had 6 hours of lectures a week, but they spent all their spare time reading or writing essays.

If she's just started, things will soon ramp up, so tell her to enjoy herself!

She should have been given the details of coursework submissions by this time.

She should try to get a head start on the preparation and reading for these, before all the books have disappeared from the library.

At a guess, in a few weeks' time she will be panicking about too many deadlines.

The terms hardly started has it? My boss is a p/t lecturer and she only went back last week.

I think most of being at Uni is self development rather than academia, especially in the first year. Alot of people are away from home for the first time, they have the opportunity to learn about themselves, try things they have never tried before because they don't have mum or dad there. There's often alot of self directed study time. I'm a first year radiography student and I'm in for 2 and a half days and am expected to study (which I try to do) for the rest of the time. I'm finishing another course off in my spare time. Maybe she could do some voluntary work? This would look good on her CV.

Thanks for the quick replies, she is doing fashion promotion and styling. she has tried to find part time work , but very little about . must admit thought she might be struggling with the difference between college and uni , she had so much work there, she never stopped.
She had a choice of four uni's and she felt this one gave her the best oppertunities. Hopefully she will go and chat to someone, she loves the life up in the north ( we are from the south) and has made loads of good freinds. was happy to go back last week when she came home for a visit, and she has already had friends go and visit. very worried mum

I would say she should chat to tutor and if still not challenged then get some work experience with someone relevant. That way it contributes towards long terms plans but is more flexible than formal job should course pick up and she needs to focus on that again. My part time work while I did my degree got me a job afterwards, not the qualification itself. Though I was an arts student and I had the grand total of 8 hours a week at one point - woohoo!

Try not to worry. She's still settling in.

I think also this is something she has to sort out for herself. She's an adult - she has to be in charge of her own life.

I think also this is something she has to sort out for herself. She's an adult - she has to be in charge of her own life.

all your advice sounds ,very sensible , i will have a chat later with her and suggest some of those things you have all suggested. thank you .

it's generally expected that for every 10 credit points you're studying, you should be doing 10 hours of work per week. So she could easily be having just 4 hours of classes a week - tbh I'd be surprised though; usually it's more like 8-12, especially in first year - but they would still expect her to be working full time.

(I mention this because there are students out there who don't realise they have to sign up for and go to tutorials as well as lectures!)

Of course 99% of students do 4 hours a week for the first 10 weeks of semester, then about 80 hours a week in the last two, when their assessment is due!

Alternatively, if she is too bright for that uni/course, she may not be being stretched. OR - and I'm sure you don't want to hear this - she may be on the wrong course for her. It's a tough thing, asking 17 year olds to choose their life's destiny. Both my dh and I did first degrees that were utterly irrelevant to our later lives. I stayed because my folks pressured me not to "throw it all away"; he stayed because he couldn't think of anything else to do. Both of us would've been better off going to work for a couple years and growing up - we did really well with our second degrees.

Sorry to "lecture" - bad habit but I've a fair bit of experience with struggling 1st years...

in fasion industry good work experience will make huge difference to long term career. And if with right person could well enrich coursework too.

DD1 found that there was not much work to do in the first year of uni although she did have coursework to do and had exams in the last term. By the second year she had a lot of work and several asignments to do.
The first year is really about geting used to living away from your parents,use to working on your own and genrally getting used to university life.
Is there any clubs she can join? my DD did kick boxing and canueing in the first year.

Is it possible that she hasn't really grasped what is expected of her? Fashion is often taught as a studio-based subject - you have a few hours of scheduled class/tutorial time, but basically you are expected to organise yourself to spend most of the working week in the studio, developing your own skills, ideas, and projects. e.g. that's what Fine Art students do at the uni where I teach. She should talk to a tutor to get a clear idea of how she ought to be spending her time.

About to be flamed... but unless you're doing a vocational course (teaching, nursing, that sort of thing) going to a lower ranked university is a complete waste of time and money.

She should check that she has really understood how much work she is expected to do outside of classes. We have exams in every unit at the end of every term and if you can't get above the 40% mark in you will fail. Relatively little teaching and lots of work to do on your own. No idea what your dd's uni is like, but I have come across students who have misunderstood the uni setting and thought they had masses of time when they didn't.

Your advice was right- she should speak to her tutor.

tbh it sounds like a crap course

you don't need a degree to be a fashion stylist

perhaps she'd be happier trying to work as a fashion stylist

i agree with jeee, sometimes, it truly is a waste of money.

sometimes, the best thing is to take a break from it.

i can't tell you how many people i have known personally who have dropped out or doing something else for a year or even several, some not going until they were in their mid- to late-20s and been far better for it.

two of my closest friends spent 8 years in teh navy and by the time they went to university they had the experience and maturity to know exactly what they wanted to study and have done quite well in life for it.

Remind her the first year is often a settling in year, allowing different people from different levels to catch up to the same level. I found my first year very similar to the a'level final year.

It will get more challenging in the second year.

Perhaps she could undertake some voluntary work in relation to the course she is studying? Get some experience, possibly the chance of part time work in the future, will look fab on her CV when she completes her course. Paid work is also a good idea, if she can do this, although bear in mind she might want to cut hours a little in the second year when work increases.

trouble is, the courses nowadays are so varied and they seem to offer degrees in subjects that have never traditionally needed a degree and yet arent academic enought to enjoy studying for the subject alone

you just DO NOT need a degree in fashion promotion and styling

you could do an interesting academic degree and then join a retailer as a buyer and be fast tracked