First of all, thanks for all your answers, it has been really helpful so far!
About my law student character, some precision : he dropped school briefly in the 90's. let's say... I don't know, he had to drop uni in january 97 (random year here) but he went back in september 97, would he be able to resume his course? if he left his second year, could he come back and start over his second year?
His department would need to agree to it but if he dropped out for non-academic reasons they'd probably be fine with it.
(Meanwhile I'll note two things in passing: 1) The funding system changed enormously in September 1998 so the answers above about the modern system wouldn't apply to this character, and 2) you might have better luck searching for "English" not "UK", as Scotland has its own setup for both schools and universities.)
You couldn't drop out and then pick up at the same place again. There is potential, if you pass second year of a degree to take a partial degree and then maybe pick up for your third year at a later date, but if just dropping out, without prior arrangement (typically only medical/family issues) you can't pick it up again from where you left it.
Law is a subject (along with medicine) that there are specific requirements - so it's very unlikely he would be able to do it - he would have to start over to complete the course.
(There are also pre-course tests that you have to take prior to being accepted onto a law degree - and typically to study law at University, you are better off having done Law at A Level due to those tests (I studied it at A Level but didn't go on to degree, others did and I remember all the preparation for the tests - odds are, he might even have to have redone those to restart on the course.)
If he left his course in January 97, he would probably be expected to come back in January 98 to pick up where he left off, rather than repeating the first part of the year -- this kind of thing does happen, usually for medical reasons. It has to be arranged in advance but otherwise is unremarkable.
"without prior arrangement (typically only medical/family issues)"
=====> okay, but what if he told the uni, at the time, why he needed to drop off?
In my story, he got through serious personal issues, among them, being in an abusive relationship, being send in hospital several times by his boyfriend. What if he told the uni "Ok, I need some time to get better, physically and mentally?" (well, I gathered he wouldn't be saying it like that, but you see the general idea)
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It would probably be very dependent on the specific university, the student's personal tutor, and the doctor's advice. For instance, at the end of last year I suffered a mental breakdown, and I was advised by both my doctor and my personal tutor that the best thing to do would be to suspend the rest of the year in order to receive therapy. But I don't know if this is common in universities around the country NOW, let alone in the 90's, or if I just got lucky.
I did something similar, for similar reasons in 2008/09 - had severe depression in Nov 08, spoke to the doctors/personal tutor, got my course suspended and returned in Sept 09 to restart the year.
It wasn't treated as anything remarkable (and I do know someone who, a few years earlier, did something similar, except when it came to the next September, they couldn't face going back, and then dropped out completely.) however acceptance of mental health issues has greatly increased over the last few years, so possibly doing it for depression may have been something you had to work hard to convince people of in the '90s, but anything physical I can't see causing any trouble.
Once you've passed you A-levels (and indeed GCSEs), you've passed them, there's no time limit.
Normally in the UK you apply to university while studying for your last year of A-levels. This means that you don't have all your exam results when you make the application, so the university usually offers a place conditional on you achieving a certain set of grades. Hence lots of stress when the A-level results are published as you find out whether you've got into uni or not.
If you're applying a year later (not uncommon, if you take a year out to earn some money, go travelling, or whatever), you've already got your results, so the university will respond to your application with either an unconditional offer or outright rejection.
Retaking years at university (and changing course to another subject) can be done, but the specifics depend on the academic department, as well as funding issues. You can't keep retaking years indefinitely.
A levels once passed are passed forever. She would only have to do the again if she had failed (or passed, but not well enough) or if she wanted different subjects. You can take the exams without attending a school, but it's not easy to arrange
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First of all, thanks for all your answers, it has been really helpful so far!
About my law student character, some precision : he dropped school briefly in the 90's. let's say... I don't know, he had to drop uni in january 97 (random year here) but he went back in september 97, would he be able to resume his course? if he left his second year, could he come back and start over his second year?
Again, thanks a lot!
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(Meanwhile I'll note two things in passing: 1) The funding system changed enormously in September 1998 so the answers above about the modern system wouldn't apply to this character, and 2) you might have better luck searching for "English" not "UK", as Scotland has its own setup for both schools and universities.)
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Law is a subject (along with medicine) that there are specific requirements - so it's very unlikely he would be able to do it - he would have to start over to complete the course.
(There are also pre-course tests that you have to take prior to being accepted onto a law degree - and typically to study law at University, you are better off having done Law at A Level due to those tests (I studied it at A Level but didn't go on to degree, others did and I remember all the preparation for the tests - odds are, he might even have to have redone those to restart on the course.)
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=====> okay, but what if he told the uni, at the time, why he needed to drop off?
In my story, he got through serious personal issues, among them, being in an abusive relationship, being send in hospital several times by his boyfriend. What if he told the uni "Ok, I need some time to get better, physically and mentally?" (well, I gathered he wouldn't be saying it like that, but you see the general idea)
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It wasn't treated as anything remarkable (and I do know someone who, a few years earlier, did something similar, except when it came to the next September, they couldn't face going back, and then dropped out completely.) however acceptance of mental health issues has greatly increased over the last few years, so possibly doing it for depression may have been something you had to work hard to convince people of in the '90s, but anything physical I can't see causing any trouble.
Reply
Normally in the UK you apply to university while studying for your last year of A-levels. This means that you don't have all your exam results when you make the application, so the university usually offers a place conditional on you achieving a certain set of grades. Hence lots of stress when the A-level results are published as you find out whether you've got into uni or not.
If you're applying a year later (not uncommon, if you take a year out to earn some money, go travelling, or whatever), you've already got your results, so the university will respond to your application with either an unconditional offer or outright rejection.
Retaking years at university (and changing course to another subject) can be done, but the specifics depend on the academic department, as well as funding issues. You can't keep retaking years indefinitely.
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