undergraduate degree-finishing type advice question

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i'm in a weird kind of situation at my university at the moment where the administration wants me to take an extra year where i'm not officially doing anything related to my degree. (don't ask.) there's a possibility that if i can convince certain of the tutors to let me on their courses unofficially then i will actually graduate the year i'm meant to; on the other hand, i might do a lot of work that no one will be able to recognise and then have to do another lot next year.

the question is: should i try and get on whatever courses i can for the sake of getting it over with, even if there's a chance of wasting a lot of time? or should i do a year's work (like, actual, money-earning work) and do the courses i actually want to next year?

― t0m w3st (thomp), Saturday, 8 October 2005 21:58 (twenty years ago)

part of the question is "is anything i am going to learn on an undergraduate module ever actually going to be worth a year of my life". and i think the answer is "no", really.

― t0m w3st (thomp), Saturday, 8 October 2005 22:00 (twenty years ago)

Your question isn't exactly a model of clarity. It sounds like your choice is whether to gamble on a quick, but uncertain, escape hatch that may end up with you mired in futility and frustration or out the door one year early.

Let me ask a counter-question. If you do receive your degree and begin your post-graduation path a year early, would it be much different from or more attractive than the "actual, money-earning work" you'd do while your university hangs you out to dry?

If you think you'd suddenly be freed to pursue some attractive purpose once your degree is in hand, then it might be worth the gamble to get there by a risky shortcut. Just accept that it is a risk, so you don't feel cheated if it doesn't pan out.

OTOH, if you took this risk just to expedite your going out and getting some similar job to the one you'd do anyway while waiting for your degree, then what's the point?

― Aimless (Aimless), Saturday, 8 October 2005 23:34 (twenty years ago)

Isn't this when you would take things you find interesting but aren't relevant to your degree? I am not entirely understanding your situation.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 9 October 2005 01:48 (twenty years ago)

i am not and and have never aspired to be a model of clarity and i am unsure as to my situation myself. so there.

aimless: after i graduate i'm doing a teaching qualification which leads directly into work i want to do viz. teaching. whereas now i'd be looking at shelf-stacking.

― tom west (thomp), Sunday, 9 October 2005 18:44 (twenty years ago)

Since there seems to be a valuable reward for success, it all comes down to whether you want to accept the risk of failure. None of us can answer that.

― Aimless (Aimless), Sunday, 9 October 2005 18:52 (twenty years ago)

I think solving this dilemma depends on one vital question -- how much do you enjoy your time at said university?

It sounds like you want to move on. If that is the case, then take the risk. In the worst case scenario, it doesn't work out; you'll have attempted to change the situation. If it does work out, then you'll have achieved your goal, and you can move on -- and it sounds like there are more worthwhile pursuits you want to tackle, other than an additional year at your university.

Anyway, good luck!

― mj (robert blake), Sunday, 9 October 2005 23:35 (twenty years ago)

nine months pass...

haha oh god: i just got an email saying i haven't successfully finished the damn year: which APPEARS to be administrative error but fucking hell.

― tom west (thomp), Friday, 14 July 2006 21:02 (nineteen years ago)

i understand chris's question a bit better now, it being a lot less common in UK universities for people to take courses for, you know, the sake of learning and shit

― tom west (thomp), Friday, 14 July 2006 21:03 (nineteen years ago)

Learning for learning's sake is like fucking for fucking's sake but a million times better!

― Casuistry (Chris P), Friday, 14 July 2006 22:47 (nineteen years ago)

well you can't accidentally make a baby, that seems like a plus

― Josh (Josh), Saturday, 15 July 2006 07:37 (nineteen years ago)

i will graduate one day :(

― tom west (thomp), Saturday, 15 July 2006 11:30 (nineteen years ago)

We hereby declare you a graduate of ILBU. Diploma's in the mail.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Saturday, 15 July 2006 12:15 (nineteen years ago)

There are ways of fucking that guarantee you won't accidentally make a baby. Whole schools of fucking.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Saturday, 15 July 2006 13:56 (nineteen years ago)

You have to study very hard in those schools.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Saturday, 15 July 2006 21:25 (nineteen years ago)

my ILBU diploma can go with the poetic license this guy is always threatening to make me, i guess.

x-post, evidently.

― tom west (thomp), Sunday, 16 July 2006 00:48 (nineteen years ago)

http://depts.washington.edu/philweb/pictures/school.athens.jpg

― Josh (Josh), Sunday, 16 July 2006 03:20 (nineteen years ago)

I just don't think I could pull off a toga.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 16 July 2006 05:21 (nineteen years ago)

Although I suppose it would depend on who's wearing it.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 16 July 2006 05:22 (nineteen years ago)

OKAY so i found out it was an administrative error. bastards.

― tom west (thomp), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 19:23 (nineteen years ago)

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