Exactly how flexible is the Edinburgh degree structure?

I read on ed.ac.uk that you don't have to decide on what final degree you want to do until the end of the second year. So say I've applied for English Literature, what sorts of subjects could I study around that? And could I end up doing my degree in, say, Philosophy or History or something?

Reply 1

Redders

Thomm

I read on ed.ac.uk that you don't have to decide on what final degree you want to do until the end of the second year. So say I've applied for English Literature, what sorts of subjects could I study around that? And could I end up doing my degree in, say, Philosophy or History or something?

theoretically you can choose any outside subjects that don't clash with your main subject, so yes you could end up doing Philosophy or History, however, the subject has to be worth a certain amount of credits to be your main for example i do Economics, Business and Accounting. You can do Business or Economics or their own but not Accounting.

It is flexible but some subjects are not open to be outside courses.

Reply 2

Thomm

OP

8

Any chance you've got a link to somewhere that tells me what subjects it is possible to combine?

Reply 3

oxymoronic

19

www.timetab.ed.ac.uk.

If it says you can do it, then you can do it as the time table doesn't really change at all. My lecture times for first year are stil the same, and they were the same when I looked it up online before applying.

You can literally do anything providing you meet the entry requirements and there is room on the course. But I've never known anyone to be told they can't do a course due to there being too many people though. Essentially, go through the prospectus and see what you want to do, then stick it into timetab. Bear in mind you will have tutorials for lit too but you can usually pick when they are as you sign up independently, and there are various times and days offered.

Edited to add: 1A means the course is first year, first semester. 1B means the course is first year, second semester. You don't always have to have attended 1A to take 1B but you generally have to have taken 1A and 1B to take the second year course. I say generally, as there are a few you can take; such as English Language 2 with Linguistics 1, or Social History 2 with Sociology 1, but second year doesn't really concern you yet.

Reply 4

Thomm

OP

8

That's fantastic, thanks very much for posting it.

Reply 5

artorscience?

11

oxymoronic

I've never known anyone to be told they can't do a course due to there being too many people though.

Almost all first year SPS courses are over-subscribed (politics being possibly the most desired course, followed by anthropology), entry is prioritised to those enrolled into SPS as first years, then first years in other subjects, then second year SPS-ers and then other students. First year English Lit is also always over-subscribed, but their policy of picking which students can do it is to put all those wanting it as an outside course to be put into some sort of lottery picked at the end of freshers' week (so not much chance to re-decide if you lose). And I'm sure some of the sciences must be oversubscribed too...

And to the OP: I am currently on course to have the option (providing I get my 50% passes at the end of the year - which shouldn't be hard :p:

) to pick what honours program I take out of Archaeology, Celtic Studies, Scottish History or any joint honours combination that I apply for, having initially applied to the university to study Archaeology and Social Anthropology (all I have to do now is work out what I want to study in detail and stop pissing around).

If you want the freedom to choose at the end of second year you just have to make sure that you don't pick any restricting options in first and second year - but that shouldn't be your sole reason for picking a university. Although I did decide when I was applying that I wanted to go to a Scottish university rather than an English one because of the freedom to change course.

Reply 6

oxymoronic

19

artorscience?

Almost all first year SPS courses are over-subscribed (politics being possibly the most desired course, followed by anthropology), entry is prioritised to those enrolled into SPS as first years, then first years in other subjects, then second year SPS-ers and then other students. First year English Lit is also always over-subscribed, but their policy of picking which students can do it is to put all those wanting it as an outside course to be put into some sort of lottery picked at the end of freshers' week (so not much chance to re-decide if you lose). And I'm sure some of the sciences must be oversubscribed too...

Yeah they're oversubscribed, but it doesn't mean you can't get a place on them if you get to your DOS quick enough and get them to register you for it. SPS is always full, god knows why as they're damn awful (fellow SPSer here, not that they know I actually exist- I got a personal email asking if I was still an Edinburgh student or if I'd dropped out, and if the university had been made aware of any changes to my student status) but yeah, I know there is a priority system, but in my first two years I don't know anyone who wanted to do a subject and was told they couldn't because it was full. This includes Lit, Politics, History etc. There may well be people and I just don't know them though, as obviously I don't know everyone. The picking the name out of the lottery thing must be new then too, as when we did it you just went to your DOS and they stuck your name down and the first X people got a place after the people who had applied were down on the list. I remember in anthropology in the first lecture they said that if you weren't registered already then you couldn't do it as it was full, but thats as far as they ever got to saying you couldn't do something. God I feel old when I think that was over two years ago!

So in short, OP, have a look and see what takes your fancy. Just make sure you have a back up incase your choices are too popular.

Reply 7

Absurd

16

oxymoronic

Yeah they're oversubscribed, but it doesn't mean you can't get a place on them if you get to your DOS quick enough and get them to register you for it. SPS is always full, god knows why as they're damn awful (fellow SPSer here, not that they know I actually exist- I got a personal email asking if I was still an Edinburgh student or if I'd dropped out, and if the university had been made aware of any changes to my student status) but yeah, I know there is a priority system, but in my first two years I don't know anyone who wanted to do a subject and was told they couldn't because it was full. This includes Lit, Politics, History etc. There may well be people and I just don't know them though, as obviously I don't know everyone. The picking the name out of the lottery thing must be new then too, as when we did it you just went to your DOS and they stuck your name down and the first X people got a place after the people who had applied were down on the list. I remember in anthropology in the first lecture they said that if you weren't registered already then you couldn't do it as it was full, but thats as far as they ever got to saying you couldn't do something. God I feel old when I think that was over two years ago!

So in short, OP, have a look and see what takes your fancy. Just make sure you have a back up incase your choices are too popular.

This year only the students in the first four or five categories were allowed onto the IPIR course, they didn't take any more than 350 students. An English Lit student, for example, wouldn't have been able to take up Politics, and we politicians wouldn't be able to get on the English lit course. Quite a few students were left disappointed, but were encouraged to take other courses in SPS. As for the lottery thing, they use that now to randomly select the students in category four/five (I can't remember specifics) for the course to make selection fairer.

Reply 8

Redders

I wasn't (as an Economics student) allowed to take psychology this year as there were too many people already doing the subject, I didn't want to take it mind but they weren't allowing any more people onto the course when i was choosing my third.

Reply 9

nearlyheadlessian

15

oxymoronic

I don't know anyone who wanted to do a subject and was told they couldn't because it was full. This includes Lit, Politics, History etc.

I was turned away from courses both this year and last year. Now you know someone :wink:

I'm a more typical example of Edinburgh's flexibility. I was originally doing joint honours German and Swedish, but at the start of 2nd year I ditched German and moved solely into Scandinavian Studies. I was able to do this simply because I have a pass in two languages in first year. You'll find that for a lot of subjects they just want you to have a first year pass, and for some (Celtic 2 is an example) not even that.

Reply 10

L i b

19

Thomm

I read on ed.ac.uk

Am I the only one that pronounces that "Ed dot ack dot ook"?

Reply 11

nearlyheadlessian

15

L i b

Am I the only one that pronounces that "Ed dot ack dot ook"?

You and the librarian at the Unseen University, I should imagine.

Reply 12

Thomm

OP

8

It's kind of disappointing that they don't allow you to apply for the actual courses you're going to do before you decide to go there.

Reply 13

oxymoronic

19

Well that'd be abit pointless because you won't know 100% what is available until you speak to your DOS in freshers week. Also, on a pratical note, can you imagine trying to sort out applications for 5000 freshers all wanting to apply for 3 subjects?? It'd be hell as people don't really understand the system so a simple 5 minute meeting with your DOS is much better.

L i b

Am I the only one that pronounces that "Ed dot ack dot ook"?

One of my lecturers in second year did. She had this awful American accent and must have given out her email in every single lecture. Although I'm presuming you're doing it in a Scottish way, which is better.

ed dot a c dot u k -- here.

Reply 14

artorscience?

11

Thomm

It's kind of disappointing that they don't allow you to apply for the actual courses you're going to do before you decide to go there.

It would be a little impractical. The timetabling isn't finalised until July and courses available vary from year to year, with new courses being established or trialled and other courses disappearing because of a lack of interest or evolving into something new. Staff members cannot pick what courses they're going to run before they've at least got an idea of interest on courses as they stand and usually feedback is useful in deciding the best way to deal with evolving courses too... And why would you want to decide specifically what you want to before you've had a chance to meet faculty members and hear what previous students have had to say? It would make your choices very bland and mean that even more people were applying for the run of the mill "safe" option of picking a well known subject and first year English Lit, Politics, etc. would be oversubscribed worse than they currently are... not to mention the way you play the application game would change so that people would apply to outside courses that were under-subscribed to increase their chance of getting in and the whole balance of the university would go insane (slight snowballing :p:

).

And how would you suggest that popular courses dealt with ensuring that they filled the course without risking having too many to fit into the lecture theatre?

Reply 15

ooze

13

Thomm

It's kind of disappointing that they don't allow you to apply for the actual courses you're going to do before you decide to go there.

It's good to get advice from your DoS about outside courses that could complement your subject, and to go along to the courses fair in freshers week to talk to some of the lecturers about it, before you decide to take the module.

Exactly how flexible is the Edinburgh degree structure?

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