Missed a lot of college.... Worried

karen29070

As the title says, I've missed a lot of college recently including one practical exam I was scheduled for, the tutor has rescheduled me to complete it next week.
I'm extremely anxious about it. I told tutor when I started I was seeing a cbt therapist due to my anxiety/depression. However I've noticed she doesn't really seem to accept absences with the other students. She always seems to be trying to catch them out. What makes me more nervous is the other students have been laughing about me, & they have told me tutor has made comments about me the last few eg, I don't even know who she is etc
Has anyone else been in this situation?
I'm going to try my best to go in & face the exam. I'm thinking of asking my cbt therapist for a note to give to tutor to explain why I haven't been in but I'm fairly sure she won't accept it.

I don't like the tutor at all & always feel on edge around her tbh... She kinda makes anyone who's shy/nervous the centre of attention, which is tough for me eg. There's two other students who are painfully shy. She was speaking to them one day & pointed out in front of the whole class how there faces were bright red. Also did an impression of them hunched over (shoulders up to there ears)

is_that_so

Is there any scope for you to defer what you need to do this year? It sounds to me like there are more important things to focus on.

Thoie

It's a long, long time ago now, but when I was in college there was a kind of "administrative head" of each department. They weren't the actual head of department, but used manage things like timetables. They weren't the department secretary either. I had to miss quite a bit of college at one stage, and that was the person I spoke to (not an individual tutor or lecturer), and they were very helpful. They ensured that lecturers and tutors knew that I was out for a valid reason (but didn't share that reason with the whole world), and helped coordinate making up any tests/practicals that I missed.

Alternatively, is there something like a disabilities support office in your college? They may be able to help, or at least point you in the right direction of who to talk to. Definitely get a note from your doctor/therapist anyway (or both, ideally) and have it ready to give to the "right" person.

As is_that_so says, if there's any scope to defer, it might be useful.

karen29070

Thank you for you're replies. I am thinking I could maybe speak to the course co ordinator

wakka12

Hi OP,

Yes I find myself in many situations like you do.Im in Architecture course and it involves a lot of public speaking so I avoid it as much as I possibly can without sacrficing my grades. And sometimes even I just cant face up to presenting because of my anxiety no matter how important the examination in question may be and find myself having to negotiate with tutors to try and make them understand why I might have missed it, thankfully theyre generally quite accomodating and undertstanding.

At the end of the day she is just a teacher doing her job. You dont really mean that much to her, so dont sacrifice your mental health to please her, do what you can, youre paying to college to get an education from these people, you dont owe them anything. Any decent educator will accept and appreciate an anxiety condition and try to help you get the most out of your education and managing your anxiety. Dont kill yourself for college, your health is so much more important

And as for saying 'who even is she' and that kind of childish BS, yes Ive experienced it too, just try to ignore it, shes very unprofessional