- 07 Apr, 2021
- 0 Comments
- 4 Mins Read
Education Interruption Guide
Interrupting your studies
An interruption of studies means taking a temporary break from your studies. The break is usually for the remainder of the academic year or a full calendar year and most often is needed for health-related, financial or other personal / work-related reasons. Use this site to understand what you need to think about and how to apply for an interruption.
If you decide to pause your studies your student status will change (you will still be registered but not enrolled). This may affect things like your funding, your right to remain in the UK or services that depend on being a current student. It is important that you understand the implications so use the information here and speak to someone like your Senior Tutor, supervisor, or Programme Director to make sure you are well-informed. They will be able to advise you and support you along the process of taking a break from your studies.
This page provides guidance and information on how pausing your studies may affect your student status.
Taking a break from your studies – Things to consider before applying
Before you apply to take a break from your studies you should discuss your circumstances with a member of your programme team, ideally your Senior Tutor, supervisor, or Programme Director. They can provide you with the best possible guidance. You can discuss any impact on your future plans, including when you can re-join the programme, as it is not normally possible to interrupt and pick your studies back up in the same academic year. Please note that PhD students can interrupt and come back at any point during the year. Some of the things you need to consider will depend on the reason for your interruption:
Health reasons – you may be required to provide medical evidence, such as a medical certificate or letter from your doctor, hospital admission note or letter from your counsellor.
Financial reasons – you may need to provide evidence that you have financial difficulties.
Other personal or employment-related reasons – you may need to provide evidence about your personal circumstances to support your application to pause your studies. The information required will vary according to your situation.
Whatever reason you have for interrupting your studies, it is really important to think about what you will do during the interruption and what will be different or better about your situation when you return.
Students studying on a visa – a break in your studies may affect your student visa. For more information read our guidance below. Alternatively, you can contact the International Student Support team to discuss your options.
Students receiving funding – if you receive funding from the Student Loan Company or a sponsor you will also need to let them know your student status will temporarily change once you interrupt. For PhD students in receipt of a College or departmental scholarship please contact your department for more information.
Prompt: If your education was interrupted, explain the circumstances.
Below I attached what I wrote, and If you could please help me make it sound better and not make me sound like im emotioanlly unstable but rather how I overcame it and went back the next semester and did so much better than any of my previous semesters in college. I want it to be about how I turned the loss into something positive. I guess I want the theme to be how my mindset changed and how I overcame this and became stronger and more resilient !
I took my sophomore year spring semester off because of some loss I faced and it became too difficult for me to continue so I withdrew. I came back the next semester and made deans list every semester since then (just so u have a little idea about me).
Here’s a good example:
As an active duty military service member 1 year into your B.S. program, you receive orders for a 6 month overseas deployment. Your transcript shows steady coursework up until your 6 month gap, followed by continued coursework upon your return. For this particular person, this might occur 1-3 times over the course of a bachelors degree program.
Other examples might be a student who, after 2 years of coursework, decides to do an overseas internship, research, or volunteer work for 3-6 months, before returning and continuing coursework; or a full-time student who, in the wake of an unfortunate family tragedy, needed to leave school for a period of time in order to take on the role of primary care provider for younger brothers, sisters, or children.
I think the majority of high school graduates have a natural gap between high school graduation and college. If the question was intended for this, it likely wouldn’t exist, because it would apply to almost everyone. All this to say, if you check the box and your justification doesn’t really apply, it’ll probably simply be disregarded.