Basically it was my last year of uni and I was in the trenches mentally, used to sleep all day, got into drugs, ghosted everyone including my friends and my uni ( bad decision ik ). Finally decided to not let it dictate my life and get back on track. Managed to quit everything and contacted my course leader who I guess clearly implied that it’s too late and there’s little to no chance that any of my appeals would be granted without substantive evidence of a reason of no contact which honestly I don’t have. They advised that I should re-enrol next year but I’m not in a position to pay for another year, this was supposed to be the last one. I’m totally gutted. Although, I mentioned that I have been registered with the uni’s inclusive support services but they said that’s not enough. Other than a prescription from my doctor I have nothing to show for it.
I’m in contact with the student support team but given what my tutor implied I’m thinking I really have no chance and I’m feeling lost. I haven’t started my appeal process yet so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I keep seeing this question, so thought id pipe in some unsolicited advice - cos going from never shopping/cooking/cleaning for yourself to doing it all for yourself all the time can just seem overwhelming.

Everyone can cook (with or without recipe) curry, spaghetti bolognaise, pasta dishes etc. BUT the problem is they are a shopping, cooking and cleanup time sink. It’s easy to do one of those, but all together, every day, week in week out each night of the week, can be exhausting. Yes you could just “be an adult” and get on with it, but one step at a time yo

Evening meals

You want two types of meals.

Easy, healthy but lazy meals where ingredients overlap to avoid waste and save money.

Overlapping meals

carbs (rice, potatoes, pasta, best to avoid chips)
Veg (no cook: leaves, cucumber, carrot, radish, celery) (cook: roast veg like mushrooms, peppers, onion, tomatoes etc.)
Protein (chicken, fish, steak, ribs)
Spices: Cajun spice, sauces etc

You want these to be stuff you can walk into a shop when you’re stressed, tired or running on empty and can sorta half-grab and know that’ll sort you for a few days-the week.

Packet rice is a godsend, all the veg and protein is interchangeable. It’s not a luxury meal, but you can do it in the oven in 30 mins with 1 or 2 trays. Or fry and do something in the oven.

Frozen veg, chicken, fish can save money but is again not the most ideal/healthy.

Example meals:

Chicken veg rice
Salmon veg rice
Ribs veg rice

Yeah, boring, but nearly as fast as frozen food and won’t make u feel like shit.

Effort meals:

The nights you’re back early, can put something on and leave or want something decent to eat.

Your curries, spaghetti bolognaise or anything that needs a few pots and pans and cutting of ingredients. This is a lifeline. You can cook 2+ portions (heck cook 7 portions). I used to cook a 8 servings chilli (with excessive veg) to have cba microwave meals. Can do tacos, chilli n rice, nachos etc.

Breakfast

Everyone does breakfast differently, pick one maybe 2, but:

Yoghurt and oats
Eggs on toast
Beans on toast
Smoothie

You want to be able to make these while you brew a coffee. If you can be arsed to make yourself a lunch too, cereal isn’t ideal but if necessary choose something that ain’t coco pops.

Lunch

There’s a lot about your lifestyle that decides this, maybe there’s a cheap cafe at uni, a co-op, whichever suits you.

Buying a bag of crisps and some fruit, and making a sandwich in the evening while you cook your tea can remove a lot of stress for the following day.

You can cook a pack of chicken and wrap individually in cling film.

If you have a microwave when you lunch: do some micro rice and chicken.

If you don’t: microwave the rice the night before, let it cool, unwrap and place frozen chicken on top, and let it defrost in the fridge over night. By time lunch comes, the chicken would have defrosted.

You’ll also have some spare meals from the effort meals. And some protein that serves 2 that u could cook and have for evening + lunch the next day.

The main thing to take from this

make your lazy meals manageable, healthy and easy to shop/cook/clean. If you’re eating shit you’ll feel like shit. If you’re putting same low effort in and eating healthy, you don’t need to put in effort to allow yourself to bounce back/recover. Plan for lazy you

You now now a norm, you can choose to cook better meals as u get accustomed to shopping/cooking/cleaning and ur ingredients/spice rack grows. You’ll find steak is actually a quick meal to cook, and other meals you enjoy will be muscle memory.

You can still have coco pops, frozen pizza, ready meals, donuts, snacks bits, beige foods, takeaway, but they’re not sustainable all the time, and you’ll feel it.

All da best ✌🏻

He's been on the toilet for a little while now. He called me over to study, so I'm patiently waiting. I think he said he had some bad pasta at the cafe. What should I do?

It sucks. I’m naturally shy and I am trying to talk to others but that kinda stuff reminds me of things I don’t wanna remember. Ofc idc when I see ppl smoking on the streets or going to clubs or wtv I just hate participating in it. Do I just suck it up if I wanna make friends? I feel so lost

有没有中国留子可以看到这条帖子！
最近在考虑申请英国的 Top-up，想咨询一些相关问题。
想问问有没有已经申请成功、正在申请，或者已经毕业的中国同学？想了解一下大家当初是怎么申请的，有没有推荐的学校或者中介～

Are they basically there so someone writes the references?

Resitting 1st year. My depression is starting to spiral somewhat, and this is the same shit that happened last year. I don't know what it is, why after managing to hold myself up somewhat for several weeks, that suddenly the mental shift occurs. Perhaps it's getting too settled in, and reverting to my default psychological state? I felt somewhat tolerable last morning, and then it hits me. Within several hours, I am staring into the abyss, and it stares back at me. Suddenly, everything becomes meaningless, and unreasonably difficult. To take a shower, to eat properly, the motivation even to live, is all gone. It's not a foreign feeling; rather I am quite used to it, since I suffered like this for most of last year, and quite frankly it was much worse then. Yet it does not make it any better; the pain does not become any more tolerable. I find it intriguing how I feel like a different person completely, all of a sudden. I completely derealise, my sense of reality shifts totally, and suddenly I am hollow. I yearn for salvation, only too aware that there is little hope of such a prospect.

I need to wash the dishes, and actually eat, but I won't. I feel so frustrated, for is this all that awaits me, every single time? Even when I was trying to rehabilitate myself over the past few weeks, I was still struggling somewhat to do work, but I was improving. Last sunday to monday, I pulled an all-nighter, actually caught up with all my maths, and felt okay. I felt I was making progress. Tuesday was slovenly, by Wednesday it was over. I don't really understand what specific switch causes me to enter this state. But, if it continues, it's over for me. I do maths and philosphy, and to be honest I haven't done any philosophy, and it's nearly the end of the fourth week. Granted, it's one unit, but it's hardly something to rejoice over. I only started to go to lectures in person last week, and even then hardly. How am I to catch up? I'm going to fail again at this rate, and at that point I'm truly finished.

I feel so fucked, especially when I basically roll over and mentally die spontaneously. Two days of rotting, and time passes fast. If I continue spiralling, it's genuinely over for me. In all honesty, I've hardly recovered from last year. It's not really true that "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger"; the intense episodes of anguish I've experienced over the past year or so have only crippled my ability to be mentally resilient. Instantly, my mind resigns upon facing difficulty, for I fundamentally see no purpose in suffering, in struggle. My main coping mechanism is to withdraw and hide from reality, to avoid going insane. It can be torture.

What reality is, what the objectively rational course of action is in life? The only relief can come from the belief that I do not share the fate of the drowning mouse; yet how can I conclude otherwise, for how realistic is the idea that I am chosen? Special? My basic ability to rationalise isn't hindered by the abyss; if anything, things only become clearer. I only wish that I did not suffer so. I envy those who do not suffer daily at the behest of their own mind. I am terribly predisposed to suffer mentally. Even at best, I experience little real joy.

It frustrates me greatly that I must be this way. I'll contact the SHS tomorrow, try to escape the abyss. Is there anybody who has been able to best their depressive tendencies, somehow? And actually complete uni? Because this is first year, and meant to be easy, and I'm quite frankly not coping well. I end up completely debilitated by these severe depressive episodes. Being alive itself requires willpower, of which hardly is remaining at this point. Always at the precipice. I wish I was better at making friends too, more socially integrated, but I'm indoors most the time anyway, and overall quite a withdrawn person. Always have been.

lowkey a rant but I'm irritated that I went to the tasters and they made it seem like "yeah we design clothes every week and film and do games" only for it to be like "buy the membership so you can get codes to this club we are going to from 1am to 4am and btw we are dressing up as shrimps so if you don't dress up as one you'll be banned for a week xo"

like just be transparent that its more of a clubbing discount society

I'm an international student who has just started my first year at a reputable UK university. My flat is mostly made up of British people, and they've kind of excluded me. It's pretty obvious, as another flatmate who doesn't really hang out with them pointed it out, and I'm really sad about it. I feel I've treated them very kindly and generously, so I don't know what went wrong. I have no problem making friends with international students, so I mostly hang out with them now. I understand that one shouldn't force oneself into a group one doesn't belong to, but I'm just very sad and lost that all my effort and energy has been in vain. My friends told me it's mostly because the people in my flat went to private school and are being snobbish (but I'm not poor, and I speak perfect English). Since they were my first experience with British people, I've developed a genuine fear of talking to them. I haven't told my parents about this because I don't want them to know they're paying such high tuition fees for me to be sad here. What should I do?

Edit: if it helps I’m from Singapore 😭😭

I’m 18 (f) bi and a fresher, I’m pretty introverted and genuinely quiet until I’ve spoke to someone multiple times. I have a couple friends in my course who I get on with quite well. However I’ve never had a real relationship (I’ve kissed/made out with 2 people) and have found myself wanting to try one.

I know I’m not conventionally attractive and I’m a little chubby but I do go to the gym and I am active. Honestly sometimes I feel like it’s never gonna happen for me, thats not me being pick me it’s just factual I look at myself and can’t see myself as being wanted like that.

Basically I’ve been getting a bit down over it. I was just wondering for some advice. Is the best advice for it just to try being more confident? The only time I feel confident is when I’m drunk which is not healthy ha. Just wondered if anyone had any advice, even not about relationships, just how to settle in more socially?

Thanks! (:

I’ve just started third year and I’ve never really been worried about life after uni until now. I know I’m going to get a decent grade and I do have plans for what to do after uni, so that isn’t the problem.

This sounds stupid but just now I only just processed that this time next year I won’t be a student and it’s made me feel really sick and scared. That sounds pathetic of me, I know. To be fair it’s four in the morning so that’s probably contributing to it, but I’m kind of freaking out right now. I’ve had some serious mental health issues recently and I don’t know what I’ll do without the uni mental health services. And I’ve really struggled to make friends so there’s no one I can stay in contact with after graduation.
Nothing feels real.

I’m genuinely so torn about this and I feel like I need opinions from people who have actually been in this situation.
I’m from Scotland and I’m trying to decide whether to stay here for university or apply to universities in London. The thing is, part of me thinks I’d be stupid to leave Scotland when I could get a good degree here without taking on the same amount of student debt, but another part of me thinks I’m only young once and if I want to experience living in London, why shouldn’t I?
I’ve been looking at universities in both places, particularly for Law, and I know there are good options in Scotland. I’m not under the impression that you need to go to London to be successful or that Scottish universities aren’t good enough. That’s not the issue. It’s more that I can genuinely picture myself living in London, having that independence, meeting new people and building a life somewhere completely different.
At the same time, the financial side is what keeps putting me off. Studying in Scotland would obviously be the more sensible option financially, whereas moving to London would mean having to think much more carefully about accommodation, living costs and how much debt I’d end up with. I don’t want to make a decision based on romanticising London and then regret it when I’m actually struggling financially.
But I also don’t want to choose the safer option just because I’m scared. I feel like university is one of the few times in your life when you can move somewhere new, start again and properly experience living independently. If I stay in Scotland, I worry I’ll always wonder what would have happened if I’d gone to London instead.
My family would probably see staying in Scotland as the more sensible choice, and realistically they’re not wrong. I know debt isn’t something you should take lightly, especially when you’re starting your adult life. But I also think there’s more to university than just getting a degree. I want to enjoy these years, make friends, experience a different city and feel like I’m actually living rather than just making every decision based on what’s cheapest.
So for anyone who moved away for university, especially to London, was it worth the extra financial pressure? Did you find the experience made a genuine difference to your life, or do you think people overestimate how much better it is to move away?
And for anyone who stayed in Scotland, do you regret not moving away, or were you glad you saved the money?
Basically, would I be stupid to take on more debt for the experience of living in London, or is this one of those things where you should take the opportunity while you’re young because you only live once?

Ive only just started uni its my fourth week in and i’ve probably missed 2 weeks combined which i’m not proud of but its so hard for me to attend even though its close. It might be because I’ve still not made any friends or if i miss one i wont know what goes on in the next and that anxiety of not knowing anything in my seminar stops me i don’t know 😭 I think this is more of a rant tbh but yeah im just really struggling to attend most of them (currently debating on whether to go to todays or not) 🫠 AND ITS ONLY 3 DAYS A WEEK FOR ABOUT FOUR HOURSS WHY CANT I DO IT OMDSSS

im in second year and i really want to do a year studying in Australia or Canada, at a uni. however i kind of flunked year 1 (was kinda depressed the whole year icl) and my grade average is sitting at a sad 2:2. if i applied now to spend the 27/28 year abroad, would i be able to get in to anywhere?

I submitted application for bsc nursing 2027 jan intake. But still haven’t received any mails. Did anyone receive anything from edge hill????

After a really stressful year of my mum being diagnosed with cancer and sadly passing away just a few months later, I really struggled 💀. I did badly in one of my modules and ended up having to defer my dissertation, which I then initially received a fail mark for.
I finally got my resit result back and I’ve passed my dissertation and all of my modules! :) I’m honestly just so relieved and glad that, after everything that happened, it wasn’t all for nothing.
I was wondering though, would graduating with a Pass be viewed negatively by employers or look bad on my CV?

Hi everyone,

I’m Yifeng Xie, a PhD student in the Department of Education at the University of Bath. I’m running the UK part of a UK–Japan–China study on information literacy among first-year university students. The project has a favourable ethics opinion from the University of Bath(reference: 12244-15412)..

Who can take part: first-year undergraduates aged 18 or over who started at a UK university in 2026. Please don’t take part if this doesn’t apply to you.

What it involves: an online survey on Microsoft Forms, about 25–30 minutes. It asks about your digital skills, your secondary school computer education and information literacy. You can do it on any device, at any time.

Voucher: everyone who completes the survey with valid responses gets a £10 voucher (most likely Amazon, depending on stock), sent within one month after data collection ends. To receive it, you need to give your university email address. This is optional, but without it we can’t send you the voucher. Your email is collected separately from your answers, used only to send the voucher, and deleted once it has been delivered.

How your data is stored, kept and published: only the research team (and University governance staff where needed) can access your data. It is kept safe and secure, following University of Bath rules and UK data protection law, for at least 10 years, and then destroyed. Results may be published in academic journals, reports and conferences. All published data is anonymised, so nobody can tell whose answers are whose. The only exception to confidentiality is if you tell us something that makes us worried about your safety or someone else’s.

Withdrawal: you can stop at any time without giving a reason. If you close the survey before submitting, no data is saved. If you have already submitted, you can ask us to delete your data by emailing us within two weeks of submission. After that your data is anonymised and can’t be removed. Withdrawing has no effect on your studies.

Consent: at the start of the survey you will read the full Participant Information Sheet and tick a consent form, including confirming that you are 18 or over and taking part voluntarily. You only take part if you tick every box.

Survey link: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/H0W0qUxrni?origin=lprLink

Contact
Researcher: Yifeng Xie, [yx2214@bath.ac.uk](mailto:yx2214@bath.ac.uk)
Supervisor: Prof Andres Sandoval-Hernandez, [ash22@bath.ac.uk](mailto:ash22@bath.ac.uk)

Happy to answer any questions in the comments. Thank you!

I'm a UK student although I have Irish, British, and German citizenship, meet most of the minority criteria (FSM, 16-18 bursary, <£15000 per annum, parental bereavement, first in my family to attend uni hopefully, female in stem lol). I want to do a bachelors in computer systems engineering or similar. My top pick is bath and I would automatically get the 3000 bursary per year. However, uni just isn't feasible for me at all without going into incredible debt. I'd honestly rather go straight into work if it came down to it. I'll apply to the gold bursary offered by bath (5000 per year), and external scholarships such as the one from Amazon or IET, but I know how unlikely it is to get them. My UCAS grades were A+A+A Maths, CS, FM last year and might have gone up this year but we haven't been told them yet. My GCSEs were 999977666M (9s in sciences & maths, M in extended maths). I know they put me at a disadvantage when applying to higher universities but id still like to try, plus I can always just decline.

I'm also looking into apprenticeships (which haven't opened applications yet) since they would be awesome. I got work experience at ARM (only one day) and a local tech company (1 week, set up another week during half term) which both offer apprenticeships but only 2/1 per year. I realise how incredibly competitive everything is and it's quite frustrating trying to keep everything under wraps and apply for all the opportunities I can. I've just sat the TMUA for the chance to get into Warwick even though I know I did shite in it. This is basically a vent post because I'm so overwhelmed with my options and everything and just need some advice on what's best for me. Embarrassingly, one of the main reasons I want to go to university is to make friends and experience life since I've been pretty lonely with no close friends and only being close with my sister who lives in another country.

I really like the idea of making a portfolio of projects across a degree which is another reason id like to go. I have so many choices I'm just so unsure of what to do with my time right now.

Idk how much longer I (20F) can wait for my meds. This year has been the absolute worst for me I recently got diagnosed after dealing with worsening symptoms every few months for the last 5 or 6 years.
This year I can’t even engage in hobbies or talk to my closest friends. I don’t even care about my studies anymore I just want to be able to brush my teeth and shower. I haven’t showered in the past 5 days. I feel so so crippled. I’m so sick and tired of this.
Idk if waiting for my meds is even worth it anymore and I just want to idk drop out and do fuck all and just disappear.

Not to mention I absolutely love the subject I study, and to think that I can’t even engage in my course is just so disheartening. I was so excited to study this degree. I was also so excited to dive back into my
Hobbies and I can’t even do that.

Honestly who decided to nerf me up so fucking bad with ADHD.

In short, I have read many example PSs and everyone always answers the first question by outlining their fascination with the academic side of psychology (my course), basically stating which aspects they desire to learn more about (eg. human behavior, abnormal psych, etc.).

This obviously makes sense because that's exactly what they're going to uni to learn, and while I agree with the sentiment and feel similarly, my love for psychology is largely because of how I can apply it (as a victims counselor). I enjoy psychology a lot, but I am mainly interested in diving into it for the mere reason that it means I can use that education to help the people I aim to aid in my career, if that makes sense?

So, should I mention this in the PS or would it be more productive to just specifically focus on psychology as an area of study first and foremost, as this does still apply to me?

yes I know it seems everyone here goes to a top 5 uni studying maths or physics…but what about the vast majority of the country who is at a bang average non target?

I know every company pretends they are inclusive of hiring but we all know a lot of firms are really elitist about which university you attend and will reject you just because you aren’t from a certain background

so for the average folks out there, did any of you secure a decent internship?

Hi everyone,

I’m a bit lost and could use some advice.
I’m Danish and have been considering doing my master’s in the UK. I have a bachelor’s degree in finance from Denmark and have been working part-time in corporate banking here for three years. I’ve also studied abroad in NYC.

I’ve used ChatGPT quite a lot to research my options, but haven’t found it particularly helpful. My grades are decent, and I have a fair amount of relevant work experience.

I’ve been looking at Bayes, Warwick, and, to a lesser extent, King’s College London and Manchester.
Does anyone have recommendations for good universities or master’s programmes for a career in banking? I’m looking for realistic options beyond Oxford and LSE.

Thank you, appreciate it

I've always struggled with taking notes. A while back I got access to MindView through an employment accessibility grant and it has been so helpful when note taking at uni on my MSc.

Instead of trying to write everything down, I'd just map out the key concepts, references and points as they came up so i can focus and stay engaged, rather than trying to listen and write at the same time.

Now that license has run out, I needed a new mindmapping tool, but when I went looking the original software was £250 a year, and so many of the apps focused on mindmapping were paywalled behind monthly subscriptions or really harsh limits. Things like $6-$10 per month.

So I made my own, just for my personal use. Then I thought, sharing is caring, so for anyone else who loves a mind map I'll drop this free forever tool in the comments below :)

Here is an example of how I have been doing it:

Features that it has so far:

• Free forever, currently no account needed. It runs in your browser and your maps stay on your device.
• Lots of ways to view a map: mind map, radial, outline, timeline (Gantt), kanban board, year wheel, task checklist and step-by-step view.
• Comfort settings for dyslexia, ADHD and autism: themes, fonts, text size, spacing, colour modes, less text on screen and reduced motion.
• Focus mode, so you can zoom in on one branch and hide everything else.
• Notes, tasks, dates, links and colours on any box.
• Templates and worked examples to get you started, including lecture notes.
• “Turn into…”, which turns a map into a Word doc, email, task list or notes.
• Import and export: Markdown, OPML, or paste in an indented outline.
• Works offline - can use in browser or download it like an app.
• Optional Encryption online sync across your devices, plus editing a map together with other people - invite someone to collab. (requires an account sign up)
• No AI, no subscription.

If anyone has any questions or comments, please ask! :) My goal with this is making a helpful tool accessible and not stuck behind expensive paywalls or tedious grant applications.

Ta!

Even my life. I met so many horrible people at uni that treated it like a way of hurting people. Me. Mainly. They were all so evil but had each other to cover each other and their love of using jesus to kill people.