If you failed the semester, that means you were not successful in at least one of the obligatory courses of the semester. As the exam period comes to an end, I’m sure more students are finding themselves in this situation, hopefully much less than I imagine. If you are in this group, I want you to know that you are not the first and won’t be the last. I personally know what that’s like.
You are probably feeling a lot of things. Stress, disappointment, anger, sadness, despair. Allow yourself to be upset about it. Feel all the feelings. Then let’s get to work.
You can do one of 2 things and we will explore these options together.
- You can take a passive semester: Taking a passive semester basically means that you are taking an official break from your studies for the duration of the semester. You are not obliged to pay any school fees if you are a fee-paying student, and you can use this period to go home and spend some much needed time with your family and people that love and support you and your dreams. If you are a student from a “third-world country”, this can complicate things with your residence permit. If your residence permit is a permit for study, you will not be allowed to stay in the country while passive, so if you do go for this option, you should know that you will have to go home and might have to re-apply for a visa, depending on when your travel document expires. Discuss this with your sponsors and ensure they are aware of it as going with this option can incur unexpected fees.
- You can activate your semester and continue: If you take this route, that means you will continue with whatever courses you can take until the next year when you can retake the course that you were unsuccessful in. You will need to pay your fees if you are a fee-paying student. You can take whatever course the other successful exams make you eligible for and then use the opportunity to pick up the elective and optional courses so you can reach the credits you need. One thing to note: typically you should be able to qualify for the tuition fee reduction based on credits taken (if you take 18 credits or less in the following semester). Unfortunately, the deadline was on the 12th of January, 2024 (a bit of a weird deadline if you ask me), so you will be paying the full tuition fee for this. You can reach out to your registrar and confirm if this can still be an option. I’ve learnt that in PTE it’s always better to ask and get a “no” than assume. For students who are on scholarship, it is important to reach out to the scholarship board and clarify the terms of your scholarship and how this affects your financial privileges.
You have until the 3rd of February 2024, 24:00 to make this decision.
If you do make a decision and realise you want to change it, you have to officially apply for a late activation/late passivation on NEPTUN.
Find the relevant link here.
If you are still unsure of what to do, I suggest you make an appointment with the registrar’s office to seek personal academic advice. You can book an appointment here. Scroll down on this page to find a bit more information about this kind of appointment here.
Take Care of Your Mental Health
I am aware of the toll this can take mentally on a student, especially one that tried their best not to be in this situation and still ended up here. In this time, I ask that you prioritise your mental health. That can look like you taking a step back and asking if you are in the right study programme for you or in the right university for you. It can also look like actively seeking the company of friends and family- people that can give you support and keep your spirits up.
Take advantage of the university’s resources. Please reach out to Psychology Counselling here. This is only a temporary phase and it will be in the past sooner than later. You just have a little more time to get it right.
That’s it for this post. If you have any further questions or comments, you can leave them in the comments and I will get back to you. You can send an email here. If you have advice for fellow students in this situation, please leave it in the comments.