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Reasons to change college.

I have seen a few threads on here by people wanting to change the college they have an offer from, for one reason or another. However I have not really seen any convincing reasons as to why they would want or need to change. Can anyone think of any valid or reasonable reasons for wanting or needing to change college?

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Reply 1

eleri

Well, you can't do it anyway, can you? So it's a bit of a moot point.

Reply 2

ReallyReal

I know, but there is no harm in asking. I was just curious. So any ideas?

Reply 3

Joshworkinghard

Seems like a pefectly reasonable question to me. Maybe if your college or parents made you apply to the original college but there was another college that you would rather have applied to but weren't allowed to.

Reply 4

Alexander

There are virtually no circumstances under which you are normally allowed to change college. I only know of one person who's done it.

Reply 5

Chewwy

Joshworkinghard

that's not a good enough reason.

why on earth are you advertising waitrose in your sig?

Reply 6

ReallyReal

Alexander

There are virtually no circumstances under which you are normally allowed to change college. I only know of one person who's done it.

Why were they allowed to change?

Reply 7

kalen

Alexander

There are virtually no circumstances under which you are normally allowed to change college. I only know of one person who's done it.

Yes, you can if you want to change course and it's not offered by your college.

Reply 8

Gravastar

Hypothetically, if you knew somebody who was doing the exact same course as you at another college, they'd probably let you swap.

Reply 9

OldMan

kalen

Yes, you can if you want to change course and it's not offered by your college.

richardrox

I thought that was only at Cambridge though?

It sounds more like Oxford to me. Most Cambridge colleges (generally being rather larger than the Oxford ones) offer all the courses except Architecture and Education (I know of one or two that don't do History of Art). There is far more variety of offered courses at Oxford.

Reply 10

kalen

richardrox

I thought that was only at Cambridge though?

Nope, I'm sure it's Oxford because I read it somewhere, might be the student handbook or the examination regulations... and I think I read some story of some dude who was allowed to change college because of that on these boards some time ago... Dunno anything about Cambridge :p:

Reply 11

Isaiah Berlin

You can change at Oxford. It's called migration. I'd guesstimate maybe 10 people a year do it. Circumstances do have to be very extreme though, just preferring another college really won't cut it.

Reply 12

ReallyReal

What sort of reasons do you think would "cut it"?

Reply 13

Isaiah Berlin

You'd've to be unhappy to the point where you can't do your degree, AND show that your unhappiness is directly attributable to your college, and will be resolved at another one.

I really wouldn't worry about it. If you're just having second thoughts about your college, this really isn't relevant. Most people worry about a thing or two before coming up, and settle in fine once they get here.

Reply 14

_TG_

And those that make claims of unhappiness are given the room under the stairs and only allowed out to hand in essays and cook the breakfast.

Reply 15

kalen

Isaiah Berlin

You'd've to be unhappy to the point where you can't do your degree, AND show that your unhappiness is directly attributable to your college, and will be resolved at another one.

But even that would be amazingly difficult to prove, anyway.

I really wouldn't worry about it. If you're just having second thoughts about your college, this really isn't relevant. Most people worry about a thing or two before coming up, and settle in fine once they get here.

ITA, I was pretty upset when I got pooled and spent time worrying about colleges, but since I got here I actually quite like it and I've met some really great people. It's not something worth losing sleep over, you can't really judge a college until you're actually here...

Reply 16

sjuthani

I've heard of it happening in extreme cases, like when a student was raped in their college room... Just rumours though, I don't know of any definite cases.

Reply 17

thomasjtl

http://www.ousu.org/main/advice/academic/college

Reply 18

MatthewH

To be honest starting out at Oxford is so complicated and stressful that changing college just might not be worth the hassle.

Reply 19

kalen

thomasjtl

http://www.ousu.org/main/advice/academic/college

The last point about undergrad/grad switching is not true, though. I know plenty of people who have changed colleges between courses, a couple have changed up to three colleges for three different courses (BA, Masters, DPhil). And most of them did not move to a grad college...