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University of Glasgow

is it easy to get permission to repeat a year at Glasgow University?

I'm in 2nd year and I want to change my degree choice (not too drastically) however the subject I want to change to I did not take on until 2nd Year and I have realised this is what I want to major in. I would need a another year to take the level 2 courses for this subject before being allowed into Honours for it.

Is it something that you can speak to your advisor about and get going (I understand the costs and SAAS issues involved. I've juggled two part time jobs since 2010 and can cover the cost easily) - or is it something that is difficult to get without any good reason.

Please help me.

Thank you :smile:

The subjects I took as my original 'plan' were English, Economics and Philosophy. In second year I took up Maths first year level and now want to repeat second year and complete Maths level two and major in that. I have the grades to get into 3rd year but obviously not for a subject that I do not have level two credits for.

Reply 1

LSD

I'm in life sciences and if we make this mistake we're allowed to just redo second year and take the correct pre-requisite subjects for what ever honours we want to change to, it's totally our choice. I know a fair few people in my year who have done this. Your school should probably be the same, have a chat with your advisor, I don't see any reason why they should stop you. :P

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Reply 2

ArcadiaHouse

Original post by Cressida

You don't "major" in anything. :rolleyes:

Reply 3

Norton1

Original post by ArcadiaHouse

You don't "major" in anything. :rolleyes:

Awww maaaaaan. You mean my frat house application might not go through either?

Reply 4

ArcadiaHouse

Original post by Norton1

Awww maaaaaan. You mean my frat house application might not go through either?

You'd have to find out after "spring break"! :wink:

One of my tutors said she'd slap anyone she heard saying they were "majoring" in something at Glasgow. :facepalm2:

Reply 5

Cressida

Original post by ArcadiaHouse

You don't "major" in anything. :rolleyes:

I heard a posh west end person use the phrase so I assumed it was legit. :tongue:

Reply 6

munn

I've got a friend that changed to Chemical Engineering after doing physics in 1st-3rd year, and resat 3rd year.
I don't think it's too much of an issue, I've never really heard of it being done after 1st year outside that case - typically they allow it if you're struggling with your course (as he was), rather than making a mistake.

Only thing to do is ask your advisor and find out really

Reply 7

d123

I have a friend who's doing this, so it's certainly possible.

Reply 8

Cressida

Original post by LSD

Original post by munn

Original post by d123

I have a friend who's doing this, so it's certainly possible.

Thanks for all the advice. I'm unsure, I just got a few of my results back from my exams and so qualify for honours and it seems that is almost a 'bad' thing. I spoke to my advisor who said I would need 'exceptional circumstances' to repeat which I don't really have and I think it would be an insult to those that do if I were to spraff through it.

I'm going to go for a meeting again with him and see. Thanks so much for all your help!! Wish me luck, further advice would be appreciated!

Reply 9

munn

Original post by Cressida

i just re-read your post and to be honest, as a maths grad I should be pushing for you to try and resit, but I have to leave you with a word of warning, Level 1 Maths is nothing like Levels 2-4. Don't get me wrong, the jump in difficulty in 1st to 2nd year is small (2nd to 3rd was a bit of a different matter), but I would suggest that if you've made the grades to get into honours, you make sure it's ABSOLUTELY what you want to do, because it's nothing like the maths you did at school or in 1st year, and worst case scenario is you resit the 2nd year only to find you absolutely hate it, attempt to go back to sit honours of your original course and they say no, and you're trapped in a situation where you've lost a year just to study something you dislike even more than the original course.

Reply 10

Cressida

Original post by munn

You've scared the **** out of me now.

Reply 11

BostonLegal

Original post by Cressida

You've scared the **** out of me now.

I have to agree.

I know a very bright and hard-working girl who took Maths, and was determined to do it as joint honours with another subject. She did very well at Level 1, but really found a big difference, even at Level 2. She has since dropped it and is doing single honours. Level 2 Maths also took up an inordinate amount of her time, in relation to her other Level 2 subject, which was no breeze itself.

That said, only you can make your mind up, and know what you are capable of, but I would seriously just ask some current second and third year Maths students what is really involved first, and definitely not base your decision on your first year experience in the subject.

Best of luck!

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 12

munn

Original post by Cressida

You've scared the **** out of me now.

that was not my intention sorry
all i'm trying to do is make sure you are fully commited to it, if you enjoy your subject just now I would say stick with it - everyone gets those moments of "maybe i should have done this subject", but if you enjoy what you're doing, it's definitely a risk changing to a subject like maths.

Presumably you did 1R and 1S yes?
When I changed to Maths from Law (a move I made because I thoroughly detested Law, and Maths was my favoured and best subject at school, it was an easy choice), they gave me the option to study 1R/S or 1X/Y, and said that I could do either, but whilst X/Y is fully intended for students planning to study Maths as their main subject, and thus requires a B or greater at A-Level or Advanced Higher (probably A now, the requirements were much less in 2006), 1R/S is geared towards students who got a C at Higher basically - as it's mainly designed for students who need a Maths module as a prerequisite for another class such as you did. Because of that it's a hell of a lot easier.

I went for the latter because I had been out of mathswork for about 18 months and felt that jumping back in at the deep end was a recipe for disaster (and naturally cruised it, as I had already achieved an A at Higher and a B at Advanced Higher), but even I found 2nd and 3rd year quite the struggle to grasp initially (and in the end failed 3rd year, but more due to a lack of effort than course difficulty).

What I'm trying to say is do not take the decision lightly, if you absolutely think it's the right thing to do, then do it, you won't regret it because it's a fantastic, challenging course, with (mostly) great lecturers, a wide variety of course content, and great classmates too (contrary to stereotype). In addition, it's a great degree to have with fantastic employability at the end and develops a great number of key skills.
Just make sure it's what you want to do - remember, I changed from Law to Maths and don't regret it in the slightest, another friend I went to school with changed from Medicine and another from Music.
The real difference is we changed to go into first year knowing Maths is what we wanted to do, your situation is different because you've been given a taste of it and want more, but that taste is just the sugary coated shell and not what the whole thing is really like, I'm just trying to make sure you have that warning in mind when you make the decision.