Image may contain: Suitcase, Luggage, Person, People, Human

Everything you’ll know if you’ve dropped out and re-applied to uni

An step-by-step guide to ruining (and eventually salvaging) your life


You've all heard of a gap yah, right? Well this is kind of like that, except you didn't plan it and you spent £9250 on nothing but emotional trauma and wasted time. Welcome to dropping out of, and eventually crawling back to, university.

There's that moment when you realise something is wrong

Despite your best intentions, sometimes things just don't work out. Apparently, there's a limit on the amount of tearful phone calls you can make to your mum before she gets sick of it. You won't want to admit it to yourself. You'll pretend everything is fine, you might even write a Tab article about it. But, sometimes things just aren't meant to be.

Telling your family that you want to drop out

This is, unquestionably, the worst part about dropping out of uni. Going into higher education offers a thin veneer of stability to your life. Yes, you might be chundering up last night's jägerbombs before your 9ams, but to your parents, you're a saint, who's off to bigger and better things. Now imagine that illusion shattering. Not so nice.

Image may contain: Party, Person, People, Human

Realising that you won't be coming back after Christmas

There's something poetic about falling into a complete mental collapse during the season of joy. But hey, at least you'll miss those January exams.

The embarrassment of making ANOTHER UCAS

It was horrible enough the first time, but at least you knew you weren't the only one. There's something different about trying to rustle up 4000 characters on how amazing you are, alone in your dressing gown at 3AM, knowing you would've saved a lot of time if you had just got it right the first time round.

Image may contain: Glasses, Pc, Laptop, Electronics, Computer, Person, People, Human

The guilt of letting your parents down

You'll have just about crawled out from under your rock of self pity when it'll hit you – you're not the only one affected by this whole ordeal. Your parents were invested in this too.

They'll say that all the wasted time and money is no problem, but as a grown adult with a modicum of intelligence you'll still feel guilty anyway. The best thing you can do is bury this feeling deep, deep down and think about how much money you'll be making at Waitrose this year anyway. Since all your mates will be at uni, you'll definitely have enough money to pay your parents back*.

*You will spend you wages on ASOS and look good feeling bad about it.

Dealing with the waking nightmare that is student finance

Like standing on the left-hand-side of the escalators during rush hour, or jumping into a puddle with socks on, student finance is one of the worst things that can happen to you. They will smell your existential despair like blood in the water, and promptly send you a forests worth of letters demanding money that you pissed away on Ubers and Deliveroos three months ago.

This, incidentally, will be the only time they are prompt, as you are left on hold for three hours at a time, desperately trying to get through to them. Just because they're the only system doesn't mean that that system isn't a flaming pile of shit.

Image may contain: Person, People, Human

It's like that letter scene from Harry Potter but less magical and more fundamentally terrifying

Crawling back to your shitty part-time job

Goodbye tertiary education, hello fish counter! Working the same job you had at sixteen is a uniquely humbling experience. Yes, it might seem like a fall from grace but when the money comes in, it's not all that bad. Plus, you can sneak back into your mum's good books with that sweet, sweet discount card.

Not being able to relate to literally anything your friends are talking about

There will be a brief period of time when your friends will step on eggshells around you, consciously muting their university experiences to make you feel better about your own life. But that will quickly come to an end and you'll be forced to listen to Olivia's WILD night out story over and over again. I'm not bitter, but when your idea of a crazy Friday night is a glass of wine with your takeaway, it does begin to grate.

Realising that there is light at the end of the tunnel

Image may contain: Drink, Beverage, Alcohol, Pub, Person, People, Human

One year later, one year wiser

Dropping out of university is one of the hardest things you can do. Talking about it is even harder. Moving to a different country, making new friends AND keeping up with a demanding course is a big ask. It's natural that not everyone will enjoy that transition. Yes, dropping out was hard for a long time. It has a way of making everything uncertain. But from that uncertainty springs growth.

Having everything you know stripped away isn't all doom and gloom. It's actually an opportunity to start again. You can always re-apply to university, or pack it all in and pursue something else. Everyone is different, but one thing remains true for us all; if it doesn't make you happy, don't do it. I know I could have saved a lot of time and a lot of energy if I'd lived by that earlier.

Image may contain: Tarmac, Asphalt