[morrissey]

Hi, basically, when applying for university I spent a lot of time debating between both American Studies and English Literature. I eventually decided to go with American Studies as it combined a lot of what I’m interested in (History/Literature), with a more general focus as opposed to English Literature. I was also really not enjoying AS English Literature and lost a sense of confidence I previously had in the subject, completely putting me off the idea of doing it at uni. However, A2 was much much better and I sort of ‘rekindled’ my love for it, moreover my grades improved. By this time it was far too late to change my courses and I thought that I should probably just stick with my original choice. The thing is, I really want to do English Literature now and I’m pretty anxious at the prospect of studying something I don’t really want to do for 3 years.

My question is: is it too late to change? I’ve heard universities are reasonably lenient about changing courses when they’re both under the same area of study, but is it recommended I send the course leader an e-mail now asking about the possibility to change or just wait till I’m there? (if I do get in that is!).

Thank you.

[TheSownRose]

It's never a good idea to go somewhere banking that you'll be able to change. To that end, I would recommend that you ask the university now whether you can change. If they come back with yes, all well and good. If they come back with no, you then have the possibility of entering Clearing, but you may not find the course you want to do there and might be better off reapplying for 2013 entry.

[tdkr]

(Original post by morrissey)
Hi, basically, when applying for university I spent a lot of time debating between both American Studies and English Literature. I eventually decided to go with American Studies as it combined a lot of what I’m interested in (History/Literature), with a more general focus as opposed to English Literature. I was also really not enjoying AS English Literature and lost a sense of confidence I previously had in the subject, completely putting me off the idea of doing it at uni. However, A2 was much much better and I sort of ‘rekindled’ my love for it, moreover my grades improved. By this time it was far too late to change my courses and I thought that I should probably just stick with my original choice. The thing is, I really want to do English Literature now and I’m pretty anxious at the prospect of studying something I don’t really want to do for 3 years.

My question is: is it too late to change? I’ve heard universities are reasonably lenient about changing courses when they’re both under the same area of study, but is it recommended I send the course leader an e-mail now asking about the possibility to change or just wait till I’m there? (if I do get in that is!).

Thank you.

i'm quite sure that is possible, my friend applied for Business at uni but then asked the relevent admissions tutors/course leaders if he could switch to economics (which is relatively in the same field as business) and was allowed as both business and economics required the same grades. however i'm not absolutely certain that this can be applied to literature but it's worth a shot; just try a lot of convincing/persuading etc..

[metro2610]

(Original post by morrissey)
...

If you are truly having doubts about your course, then maybe going this year isn't the best idea? If you're not going to enjoy studying then there's a chance that you'll soon drop out, which you will come to regret even more.
As has been said, you can't bank on going to uni believing that you can change your course as this may not be the case. I'd still call the course administrator and check but you need to start weighing up your options, OP.

[Dukeofwembley]

english literature is just as useless

u will be stuck in at best a supermarket grad scheme or hr staff
do something like accounting and actually give a damn about the next 50 years of your life!!!

[roh]

(Original post by Dukeofwembley)
english literature is just as useless

u will be stuck in at best a supermarket grad scheme or hr staff
do something like accounting and actually give a damn about the next 50 years of your life!!!

Yeah, 40k and an Audi, that'd be an absolute disaster. Dunno how I'd live like that.

[miniteen]

(Original post by Dukeofwembley)
english literature is just as useless

u will be stuck in at best a supermarket grad scheme or hr staff
do something like accounting and actually give a damn about the next 50 years of your life!!!

Well. I think that before you even think of university, you had better think of improving your language skills. And the best remedy for bad English is through literature. Have fun!

[Dukeofwembley]

(Original post by miniteen)
Well. I think that before you even think of university, you had better think of improving your language skills. And the best remedy for bad English is through literature. Have fun!

oh wow, you must be really dumb to think i write like this in real life, but i guess thats how you got onto your english egree lol

to the person who said audi a4 and 40k

they are 10x more likely to give it to a person who studied buisness or management due to the fact that it is relevant

micheal gove needs to sort the humanities scam out before too many people get hurt

only the elite , ie top 5 uni should be doing humanities as the brand will protect them from the uselessness of their degree

i

[Beckiix]

(Original post by Dukeofwembley)
oh wow, you must be really dumb to think i write like this in real life, but i guess thats how you got onto your english egree lol

to the person who said audi a4 and 40k

they are 10x more likely to give it to a person who studied buisness or management due to the fact that it is relevant

micheal gove needs to sort the humanities scam out before too many people get hurt

only the elite , ie top 5 uni should be doing humanities as the brand will protect them from the uselessness of their degree

i

This might be shocking for you: Not every person studies something at university with the sole aim of getting a job out of it. Try intellectual curiosity and genuine subject interest.

[rjm101]

Its never too late to change although its advisable that you do it now rather than later. I must add though that both are terrible in terms of career prospects.

[Dukeofwembley]

(Original post by Beckiix)
This might be shocking for you: Not every person studies something at university with the sole aim of getting a job out of it. Try intellectual curiosity and genuine subject interest.

everyone needs a job, why would you pay 45k to make your life worse( in debt, three years w/o income).

and wikipedia is good for intellectual curiosity

[pheonix254]

(Original post by Dukeofwembley)
to the person who said audi a4 and 40k

they are 10x more likely to give it to a person who studied buisness or management due to the fact that it is relevant

micheal gove needs to sort the humanities scam out before too many people get hurt

Business or management, yeah right. They want people who can analyse, understand complex systems, and are good at strategy. Their last intake had physicists, engineers and philosophers. But I digress...

But to add to the discussion, personally, I'd wait, and transfer once you're there. Once you're in, they're not going to kick you out - you're paying them what, £9k a year? See if you like american studies if you want - the differences between university and A-Level can be very stark, and often come as a shock, but if you'll get in with American studies, then get in. Once you're in, change, it's a lot easier that way around than messing about with UCAS and clearing, where in all likelihood, depending on the popularity of the courses, you'll be told to withdraw and reapply next year. I didn't change my degree, but I did change my specialisation and course, and that was a single form and 2 signatures once I was there.

You can try asking first - who knows, you might get somewhere, but make sure you can back out and keep your place if it all starts going wrong. What is more likely though, is that you'll make yourself an annoyance at their busiest time of year - it depends how far you want to go.

I also had friends who changed course entirely, not sure what it involved, but if they wanted it badly enough, then they tended to get it. Do it in your first term, where possible in the first 3 weeks- you'll miss very little of the first subject if you do so, but give your initial course a chance for a week or two- they'll give you a hearing and be accommodating if you say "I've tried it but it just isn't what I was expecting, and the modules don't look as if it will improve." Coming straight to university and demanding to change immediately isn't going to do you any favours.

But I'll echo what all the others have said about the courses. It's a very large investment (particularly with the new fees) for some very unclear returns, so I hope you're sure about what you're letting yourself in for. If you're reasonably well off and can afford it, then fine. If it is to get a job at the end of it, have a good hard look at what career plan it fulfils, and what you need to do in addition to the degree to enhance your prospects - the piece of paper by itself, categorically, will not be enough with a degree like this. Sorry, but that is the harsh reality of the situation, as many of my friends found out when they graduated with me last year.

Best of luck,

Stu Haynes MEng MIET MIEEE

[Floy]

Are you in first year now? If so, I am pretty sure you can change your marjor. In my experience, I used to study Public Relations in the first month of Uni, however i did not enjoy and did not feel confortable with that marjor, then I just arranged an appointment with the new subject course leader, got his permittion and signiture, submitt a form to the related office and I think thats everything you need to do...now I've changed my marjor from PR to IB...It is pretty easy thing about changing subject at Uni, especially the first year student...

[ilovecatsforlife]

(Original post by Dukeofwembley)
oh wow, you must be really dumb to think i write like this in real life, but i guess thats how you got onto your english egree lol

to the person who said audi a4 and 40k

they are 10x more likely to give it to a person who studied buisness or management due to the fact that it is relevant

micheal gove needs to sort the humanities scam out before too many people get hurt

only the elite , ie top 5 uni should be doing humanities as the brand will protect them from the uselessness of their degree

i

you clearly don't know how accountancy works... You need ANY first degree to get an ACA training contract. It doesn't matter if you studied AF at uni, you'll still need to sit the exams. Even if you did AF at uni, good firms will make sure you do mock tests on the exemptions you received and some will get you to do the professional exams.

[brendonbackflip]

(Original post by Dukeofwembley)
english literature is just as useless

u will be stuck in at best a supermarket grad scheme or hr staff
do something like accounting and actually give a damn about the next 50 years of your life!!!

If everyone went and did 'proper' degrees, it would be a lot harder for people to actually get into university anyway, as there'd be more applicants on less courses. Why do you want to compete with more people for your university place?

I don't really see why you bothered commenting on this thread anyway; it's not relevant, helpful, or correct.

[Joinedup]

(Original post by TheSownRose)
It's never a good idea to go somewhere banking that you'll be able to change. To that end, I would recommend that you ask the university now whether you can change. If they come back with yes, all well and good. If they come back with no, you then have the possibility of entering Clearing, but you may not find the course you want to do there and might be better off reapplying for 2013 entry.

aren't they quite likely to come back with 'possibly' though?
It's not really a very big job for them to change if they're on a joint honours type of framework, just changing some module enrollments on the computer, though imo they can be slightly discouraging because it's still a bit of work and they don't want people constantly flip-flopping.

[Dukeofwembley]

(Original post by brendonbackflip)
If everyone went and did 'proper' degrees, it would be a lot harder for people to actually get into university anyway, as there'd be more applicants on less courses. Why do you want to compete with more people for your university place?

I don't really see why you bothered commenting on this thread anyway; it's not relevant, helpful, or correct.

LOL LOL LOL, how is helping someone to best spend their 27k not useful

id go in so far as to say ur posts are utterly useless

[brendonbackflip]

(Original post by Dukeofwembley)
LOL LOL LOL, how is helping someone to best spend their 27k not useful

id go in so far as to say ur posts are utterly useless

Because the OP didn't ask for an opinion on his/her degree, they didn't ask you for the best way to spend their own money. They were asking about changing their degree. You can read, can't you?

At least I don't go spreading bull**** 'advice'.

[RoryRorrzShikari]

Apparently when you get accepted to university you have an interview where you sort out a timetable. At that point you can change your degree. I think if you applied to a BA you should be able to switch to another BA. One of my friends applied for BSc Geography and successfully changed their offer to BSc Zoology by contacting the university before they firmed. Good luck

[rjm101]

In my uni you were allowed to change your degree on the first year as long as the degree had some sort of relation to the degree your studying. If not you have start at the first year again.