Missing uni for Florida

[Shifu]

We have this December booked as my son has a gap year - if we don’t get to go though we’ve thought long and hard about this and, although Christmas has always been a dream visit, we won’t be comfortable moving it on a year and going at Christmas during uni time due to the January exams. He’ll need to study during those weeks. For us it’s Xmas 21 during gap or Aug/Sept 22 before term starts. That way he’s on a level footing with his peers.

Only you and your son can make the decision. It depends a lot on the subject and type of course he is taking too I guess, re exams etc.

[raven45678]

I'm a lecturer and can only say about my own University, and I am in a social science not a lab based subject, but missing out on Induction and the first weeks of term is in my opinion a bad idea, from both a social and an academic perspective. Friendships are made, societies joined etc at the start and there will be important information to soak up about how Uni works and his place in this. Students need to find their niche, their groups, at the start and it can be harder later. Academically, basic underpinning concepts in the field are explored to start with, which are then built on later, so they are important.

In terms of the end of term this is when in teaching sessions lecturers tend to look forward to the semester 1 exams, which we have from mid-end January. Students often use the Christmas break to prepare for these exams. However lectures and other teaching sessions can usually be caught up on - at my Uni we record these and make then available later. At the moment it is not clear how much teaching will be online or in person, which I suspect is the case at many Unis - as we all know the situation changes all the time. But there are often assessment deadlines at the end of term, which would need to be factored in.

It has to be your choice, and your son's, and it depends on the Uni and the course. But the expectation is that students are available and attending Uni during term time. If anything important is missed then he would need to deal with the consequences.

[mazworld15]

I honestly can't thank you all enough for taking the time to comment we really appreciate it Going to move it to going out on 11th Dec (his last day in uni is the 10th) it means we'll fly back Christmas day (any later prices jump up) but not worried about that. But who knows if any of us will be going this year, we can but hope

[andyhaz]

how many uni days have they been in over the last 18 months? will it be any different when you are booked to go?

[CrazyBaby]

I think OP has probably made the right decision to go out on 11th Dec. I am a mature student at Uni, going into 2nd year in Sept. I wouldn't like to miss the first few days at start of term and personally for me my last couple of days before finishing for Christmas is my exam period. Obv completely depends on what they are studying etc? I would definitely aim to go in the term holidays. I am very lucky for uni and I get quite a lot of holidays 1 month at Christmas, 2 weeks for Easter and once my exams finish in May I am not back in until Sept. Hope this helps.

[sam7]

Congratulations to your son. If he is doing a purely lecture based degree then these are usually posed on-line so from a lessons point of view missing 2 days is not the end of the world, but from a social point of view - lots of nights out, get togethers etc happen just before terms end (my daughters flat mates got together and cooked a full Christmas dinner - turkey, Christmas pudding the works, a total first for all of them. An experience she still talks about years later.

[TigerLily8]

Sorry but I have to laugh at some of the responses concerned about missing two days of term - I missed more than that being hungover during my time at university (now I'm a lecturer)

On a serious note I think you have made the right decision on moving the holiday from early in the term to Christmas. Here's hoping that we are back in Florida come then

[duchy]

Realistically it might be your last family holiday with him for a while with studying and travelling with uni friends (or even just working in the vacations ) so enjoy x

[Karababe]

I’ve had two children who just finished their third years and based on that I wouldn’t be so worried about missing last two days at uni, especially as I think they will continue to record lectures and put up online. However it is worth noting that both of mine always had lots of revision (for jan exams) and essays to write over the holidays.

Congratulations to your son on getting a place xx