Posted By Teresa Budworth Oh dear. Reading your posting took me right back to my first year at Uni (on a health and safety degree course). There were a couple of times when I seriously thought about leaving as I found it very difficult to settle to the new environment. I was also convinced that everyone knew more than me, was smarter than me, etc, etc. Obviously you have to do what's right for you. I found that I did settle down and really loved the course (well apart from chemical process safety) and the subject and I am still working in safety. Leaving is a drastic step. There are other options in between sticking out your course if you do really dislike it and quitting. You could ask to transfer to a different course or even a different uni. It will be easier to get a job with a degree level qualification than with a Certificate, and in my experience as a (previous) NEBOSH Course provider, most employers sponsoring staff through a Diploma do so on the basis that they are re-training an existing employee into a safety role. It is a big investment to make in a person who may then just leave and get another job. (I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but it can be reality) Good luck whatever you decide to do.

Posted By Teresa Budworth Mostafa, if you enrolled for a Diploma in the next few weeks you would need to spend a substantial period of time studying before being ready to sit the examinations. Realistically you would be looking at July for your first examination, Jan 09 for the next 2 and March 09 for submission of your Unit D assignment. Also bear in mind that it is set at level 6 which is the equivalent level to an honours degree. I cannot advise you on what is the right choice for you to make. The fact I can provide is that you would find it difficult to find an employer to pay for your Diploma at this stage in your career. You are concerned about the work at University and I can entirely sympathise with that; on my health and safety degrees there were people who went on to the course with science and maths A levels; they found the engineering aspects of the course a doddle, but may have struggled with the human factors side of the subject. There were others who went in with no formal qualifications as mature students, or who had done humanities A levels. They found different parts of the course easy. What I found helped me, and has helped other Diploma students I have taught, is to; a) talk to the tutor. They are there to help you and if you're having difficulty they should be able to explain it to you, and b)talk to your fellow students. People often, when they're not confident, exaggerate how "simple" something was, so not everyone may have found it straightforward and if they really did, ask them to explain it to you. As I said, I can't advise you - it has to be your choice, but it's very early in your course to decide that it isn't working for you. All the best

Posted By Mostafa Thank you for your replies and messages of encouragements, i am still not sure what to do, but will have a bit longer doing my current degree, thank you