Joint Honours at Leeds

I emailed the secretary the other day to see about swapping my English Lit & History to Lit and Philosophy, and I was told to either go in and talk to them as soon as we start, or to take philosophy as my electives, and then apply come next April when they start to reconsider the next year's course.

Reply 4

Pennster

Emailed the JH secretary or subject specific? I'm after switching the Philosophy out of my Economics and Philosophy course, was just going to wait until registration to plead my case.

Reply 5

ArpeggiateTHIS

Emailed the JH secretary or subject specific? I'm after switching the Philosophy out of my Economics and Philosophy course, was just going to wait until registration to plead my case.

It was to Hilary Steele, the Admissions Secretary for Centre for Joint Honours Arts and Social Sciences. They're not going to make it easy via any route, I think =/

Reply 6

shadyshady

My course is French and Management JH and I took 40 credits of German in first year too. At the end of first year, I was told that I could drop either French or Management and finish my degree as either a French and German student or German and Management student, if I wanted to. Leeds are very flexible in helping students to make the most of themselves.

Reply 7

Just thought I'd give you an update if you're curious: I emailed Hilary today about changing Economics and Philosophy to Economics and Politics. Long story short, the course was full. She did, however, mention that I could take Politics modules in my first year and possibly swap at the end of my first year too, if spaces were available.

Reply 8

ArpeggiateTHIS

Are you going to do that then? I was planning to, but I've got 'recommended electives' from history along with the compulsory ones, so that's my chance for the Philosophy electives effectively gone. :s-smilie:

Reply 9

Pennster

I think I've got 40 credits left, which I'll invest in Politics unless advised otherwise. Just hope that at the end of year 1 I can remove the Philosophy, I love it but I'd rather do the Politics.

Reply 10

ArpeggiateTHIS

I think I've got 40 credits left, which I'll invest in Politics unless advised otherwise. Just hope that at the end of year 1 I can remove the Philosophy, I love it but I'd rather do the Politics.

I'm only taking 20 in the philosophy, so I'm studying it for the sake of it rather than to study it at the end of the year now. Hohum. When do you have to apply?

Reply 11

Yes, you can change before the First Term, actually. It depends on your subject and the entry requirements and most importantly the 'admissions tutors' who can make things very hassley. At the beginning of the year most of your teachers will tell you 'its so easy to change course at the end of the first year if you decide you want to do something different/ change from elective to joint honours in your elective subject'. However, this isnt really true, the sooner you inform them you want to change the better. For example if you study BA English and take electives in Japanese and decide at the end of the year you want to change to English+ Japnese BA, you will not be entered straight into the second year Japanese year abroad (even if you completed first year Japanese degrees as your elective) , because there just isnt time to sort out your travel plans etc.

If you realise early on you want to change from Single- Joint or change subject degree, you should first talk it over with your subject teachers, the departmental office staff, (possibly your personal tutor) and the staff of the subject you wish to change to. You will need to contact JH for Joint degree and SH for single degrees. Once you contact them they will assess whether you are suitable for the subject change and you will have to get signatures from the subject department, check to make sure your lessons fit into the timetable and choose new modules etc. They will then process your request but it may take a week or so and you may possibly have missed several weeks of lessons so you will have to try and catch up.

If you leave it late, the admissions people will tell you that they will decide the outcome in August at a summer meeting. This means if you want to change from English and French to English and Japanese and have already done Japanese electives, you cant be sure you will be allowed to change until the admissions people contact you the following summer and they will tell you to register for Second Year French and English just in case you are rejected for studying Japanese.

Basically, my advice is get in there as quickly as possible. If you realise quite late on that you want to change your course be prepared to start your new degree from the beginning again, or as the admissions staff at JH say (although I dont believe them) you may have to take a year out after your first year and resume studies a year later in your new subject choice (personally I think this is OTT).

Reply 12

Pennster

Dont leave it till April! They will tell you they will decide at a summer meeting if you leave it that late! If you know for sure you want to do Philosophy, tell the philosophy teachers after the first week or so of lessons/ during elective fairs and tell Joint Honours and JH will inform you of what is the best thing to do. They will probably tell you to take philosophy electives then they will assess whether you are suitable for English and Philosophy and then they will ask you to get lots of signatures. If you do this early enough they will decide straight away whether to give you a place on the Eng+ Phil degree and your degree will officially change straight away to Eng+Phil so by the end of year 1 you will have completed your first year in Eng+Phil, not Eng + Hist.

Reply 13

Pennster

No its not. 'recommended electives' means if you are taking History and want to focus on History you can take the electives in History, but all electives are essentially that 'elective' and voluntary, the history department wont scorn you if you dont take electives with them, they just recommend their own electives to their own students as their own students should theoretically do well in them and not drop them out of boredom. 40 credits should be plenty enough to take some Philosophy electives, but discuss with the Phil department which electives they'd like you to take if they were to offer you a place on their degree.

Level 1: all students studying Philosophy, whether single or joint honours, study the core course, consisting of the following modules:

* Introduction to Philosophy
* Introduction to Ethics
* Introduction to Logic
* Introduction to the History of Philosophy
* The Mind

If you can take most of these as electives (btw they are all available as electives)- depending on how many credits you have free and your timetable, then you will essentially be doing the First Year Philosophy course anyway. Good Luck!

Reply 14

ArpeggiateTHIS

I think I've got 40 credits left, which I'll invest in Politics unless advised otherwise. Just hope that at the end of year 1 I can remove the Philosophy, I love it but I'd rather do the Politics.

Just make sure you do the Politics 'core degree' modules as electives, if possible. That way if you do want to change to the Politics degree, the Politics Dept cant tell you you arent qualified/ behind, because you will have studied the same modules as first year Politics students. Good Luck!

First year compulsory modules are :
Globalisation
Freedom, Power and Democracy: An Introduction to Political Ideas
If you have extra credits you may also choose from the following:
* British Politics
* European Politics
* International Politics

All are available as electives, so as long as you meet the requirements and they arent full, you can take First Year Polis Modules.

Reply 15

angielska

Thank you so much! I've gone from being really organised with it all to sat in the middle looking blank, so you've really helped. :yep:

Reply 16

Pennster

Thank you so much! I've gone from being really organised with it all to sat in the middle looking blank, so you've really helped. :yep:

No problem. Love in the form of reputation is always welcome :wink:

Just dont rely on what all the admin staff tell you at Leeds, most of them (especially the admissions people) will talk nonsense, unfortunately!

Reply 17

angielska

That's great, thanks. I've enrolled to spend my 40 electives on Freedom etc and International Politics, that way they can't tell me I've missed out. In effect, I could be doing Economics and Politics already.

I'll put a word in early and bother to get "known" in my politics lectures then. The only reason I wasn't able to change course earlier was apparently that the course was full, so perhaps if somebody drops out...

But still, how can the course be full if I'm doing exactly what the Politics JH students are doing? All I want is a degree that says "Econ and Pol"! Is it that much hassle?

Reply 18

ArpeggiateTHIS

Yea, but (not to get you down here) you probably should have chosen 'Globalisation' instead of 'International Politics' as its compulsory for all First Year Pol students. Anyway, I'd have a talk to the Politics teachers and Admissions ppl at JH in the Marjorie thingy building when you get to Leeds. I find the teachers are really happy to have more students on the course, its just the Admissions people who arent and they ask for high requirements/ say the department wants you to do well in the summer exams (which isnt true). Unfortunately its the admissions people who have the last say, although you do need a signature from the Politics department too :smile:

Anyway, Good Luck!! If you want to anything about my own dealings with JH, just PM me.

Reply 19