Wanting to Change Course :(

I need advice.

So I'm a fresher at Cambridge studying classics and after about 3 weeks thought I have recently come to the conclusion that the classics course just isn't for me and I would hugely prefer not to stick with it. I'd like to change to linguistics. Anyone have any thoughts/advice on the matter/how possible it may or may not be?

all help is appreciated.

PS, apologies if this is in the wrong section of the Forum, do move it if necessary.

Reply 1

perflous

Because you're at Cambridge, I think the system's slightly different. Your best bet is to talk to your supervisor(s) and see what they think, I would imagine. As it's so early on in the year, they might be happy to let you change - or they might not.

Reply 2

_-_Ella_-_

What are your A Levels and what did you get for them?

Reply 3

SirJimmus

Original post by perflous

Yeah I'm on it. My DOS (director of studies) is a tad unpredictable however, so I'm not sure what she'll say, gonna talk to my tutor first.

Original post by _-_Ella_-_

What are your A Levels and what did you get for them?

Spanish- A
Latin- A*
French- A

Language and Linguistics has always been my biggest interest, but the reason I applied for classics rather than linguistics (not the only reason I applied for classics but that's opening a whole new can of worms) is because I have other interests as well, such as Philosophy, Art & Archeology and history, so I decided to go for a degree that balances and combines these rather than only focusing on one, and this was the image I had of Classics. I have discovered however that classics is in fact 80+% literature, which moreover is studied in a very different way to at A-level (A-level largely involved taking a segment of a Latin text and looking at the way the author used language, which I enjoyed; now it's far more holistic, like studying English lit, just not in english) and involves very little of my other interests. I know that this will change eventually but the fact remains that the next two years will be VERY literature-heavy, and I neither want that nor am confident that i can do well at it, especially having seen future exam essay questions. Moreover I've realised that the way history is taught is very different to my interest in it, which is more narrative-based, whereas now it's more analytical and 'thinking based' (I know, this I should have thought about before applying).

I Have thought this through and genuinely think I would be better off academically, psychologically, intellectually and in terms of results if I am allowed to defect to linguistics; Which I seriously hope I am, although I've heard that the department is very disorganised and because of this it may be too late.

EDIT: should I have put that in the introduction?

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 4

_-_Ella_-_

Original post by SirJimmus

Yeah I'm on it. My DOS (director of studies) is a tad unpredictable however, so I'm not sure what she'll say, gonna talk to my tutor first.

Spanish- A
Latin- A*
French- A

Language and Linguistics has always been my biggest interest, but the reason I applied for classics rather than linguistics (not the only reason I applied for classics but that's opening a whole new can of worms) is because I have other interests as well, such as Philosophy, Art & Archeology and history, so I decided to go for a degree that balances and combines these rather than only focusing on one, and this was the image I had of Classics. I have discovered however that classics is in fact 80+% literature, which moreover is studied in a very different way to at A-level (A-level largely involved taking a segment of a Latin text and looking at the way the author used language, which I enjoyed; now it's far more holistic, like studying English lit, just not in english) and involves very little of my other interests. I know that this will change eventually but the fact remains that the next two years will be VERY literature-heavy, and I neither want that nor am confident that i can do well at it, especially having seen future exam essay questions. Moreover I've realised that the way history is taught is very different to my interest in it, which is more narrative-based, whereas now it's more analytical and 'thinking based' (I know, this I should have thought about before applying).

I Have thought this through and genuinely think I would be better off academically, psychologically, intellectually and in terms of results if I am allowed to defect to linguistics; Which I seriously hope I am, although I've heard that the department is very disorganised and because of this it may be too late.

EDIT: should I have put that in the introduction?

I just wondered. With those grades you shouldn't have a problem.