Why I Left University: shedding the leaves of denial & anxiety

Part III: Moving on and taking forward, what tried to drag me back…

Taking back control and moving on…

The decision to leave university allowed my inner self to celebrate the release of anxiety and the denial which has contaminated my system for so long. The denial began, I guess, during the first Summer break and I began looking for other courses to take while at university- so I guess this course was never really my priority in life and why leaving my course was choice. I understand that for many students, their degree is everything and a main contributing factor to them achieving their dreams.

“To me, I guess I won, as I was able to walk away and achieve something more important to me…”

I received an interview and job offer in the same week I made this decision, which I suppose, just confirms everything. The job was full time and would secure my living, this was all I wanted to achieve at this point in life.

I still had not received word of my appeal. I was unable to attend the meeting due to my full time job and the university had learned of my official withdrawal from my course. I did not receive the letter until mid January, even though they supposedly sent it out in December. You may or may not be surprised to discover that the Disciplinary Panel rejected my appeal. They basically ignored all the evidence and all I had stressed due to the fact that I did not make an effort to take the support they suggested in the original letter- isn’t that the point of an appeal?

Perhaps, on some level, I knew I was never going to win, because they didn’t really care what they put me through or how we were influenced by each other on the course, I had broken a rule and that was that. Perhaps they didn’t think I would care, now that I have left the course. My tutors were the ones that I worked with and knew me and they knew me as a student whom achieved 82% on that paper. To me, I guess I won, as I was able to walk away and achieve something more important to me- creating a foundation for my future family life and moving on. The picture within my imagination of my future was clear once again and I felt the freedom to chase it with no painful bit holding me back.

Share this message…

“Plagiarism is a crime and universities should be treating students as artists/ authors, not partners in crime for simply providing their work for academic reference to other students.”

I know, since sharing with my peers, that I am not the only student to go through this. Students continue to share work out of the goodness of their own heart and are dragged down by disrespectful morons whom take advantage of hard workers.

Others have approached me and said the same thing has happened to them and that they have had to use their own valuable time, to redo a perfectly acceptable paper because of the stupidity and thoughtlessness of a plagiarist, dragging down successful students for their own selfish crime. I admire the determination of these students and I know that they will be successful no matter what the obstacles.

If you would like to share your experience, please feel free to comment or email me directly. I feel for you and the system should be protecting good students and original artists- not dragging them down with the criminals stealing their work. Plagiarism is a crime and universities should be treating students as artists/ authors, not partners in crime for simply providing their work for academic reference to other students. Plagiarists should not be allowed a chance to resit the year or retake a paper- they should be dismissed. This just proves the university is more interested in another year’s worth of tuition fees from said individual than justice for the original author and risk this happening to other students in future.

So, there you have it. This is my experience and an insight into the crescendo of a reason for me to decide to leave university at the time that I did. I would never phrase this as dropping out as this is such a negative term and implies failure. I decided to leave my course because I wanted to achieve other things…

Thank you for taking time to read this post. I also wish to thank my close friends and other students on my course for their supportive feedback when I shared this with them.

Feel free to share, comment and follow my blog. Stay positive and listen to yourself.

Previous Part II: The appeal, more anxiety and trusting myself with a major decision