The Student Room Group

2 Degrees in 4 years - is it possible?

So I took a gap year followed by deferring for a year thanks to our new pal Covid.

When I first applied, my degree choice was obvious but now they’ve added a degree which is also ideal for me. Now I’m stuck trying to choose between two degrees both of which are perfect for me and what I want to do. I’ve seen on UCAS that it’s possible to do two degrees alongside each other but this may vary between each university. I know it’d be a lot of work, no free time, barely having the time to go to the loo but I cannot put into words how grateful I would be to do both of them. Neither of them have post graduate options and I know the UK government will only fund one but given if I can find the money, do you reckon I could do both at the same time? Or am I over ambitious here? I’m very confused now so any help is greatly appreciated

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Original post by JApple
So I took a gap year followed by deferring for a year thanks to our new pal Covid.

When I first applied, my degree choice was obvious but now they’ve added a degree which is also ideal for me. Now I’m stuck trying to choose between two degrees both of which are perfect for me and what I want to do. I’ve seen on UCAS that it’s possible to do two degrees alongside each other but this may vary between each university. I know it’d be a lot of work, no free time, barely having the time to go to the loo but I cannot put into words how grateful I would be to do both of them. Neither of them have post graduate options and I know the UK government will only fund one but given if I can find the money, do you reckon I could do both at the same time? Or am I over ambitious here? I’m very confused now so any help is greatly appreciated

No, this is a terrible idea unless the two courses have an official joint option, or you take a 4 year MSci course with an integrated BSc + Masters joined together. Otherwise the workload will kill you and you will have endless clashes between lectures, tutorials and exams. Course 1 will simply say no if you ask if you can miss their exam so you can take another one at course 2.
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by JApple
So I took a gap year followed by deferring for a year thanks to our new pal Covid.

When I first applied, my degree choice was obvious but now they’ve added a degree which is also ideal for me. Now I’m stuck trying to choose between two degrees both of which are perfect for me and what I want to do. I’ve seen on UCAS that it’s possible to do two degrees alongside each other but this may vary between each university. I know it’d be a lot of work, no free time, barely having the time to go to the loo but I cannot put into words how grateful I would be to do both of them. Neither of them have post graduate options and I know the UK government will only fund one but given if I can find the money, do you reckon I could do both at the same time? Or am I over ambitious here? I’m very confused now so any help is greatly appreciated

You need to ask the university concerned directly. Normally university regulations will prevent registration on more than one degree at any time.
Original post by JApple
So I took a gap year followed by deferring for a year thanks to our new pal Covid.

When I first applied, my degree choice was obvious but now they’ve added a degree which is also ideal for me. Now I’m stuck trying to choose between two degrees both of which are perfect for me and what I want to do. I’ve seen on UCAS that it’s possible to do two degrees alongside each other but this may vary between each university. I know it’d be a lot of work, no free time, barely having the time to go to the loo but I cannot put into words how grateful I would be to do both of them. Neither of them have post graduate options and I know the UK government will only fund one but given if I can find the money, do you reckon I could do both at the same time? Or am I over ambitious here? I’m very confused now so any help is greatly appreciated


I would really not recommend doing the two in parallel but you could do the two one after the other. A degree is very hard work your expected to spend about 35 hours a week (overall) on it (you often spend more I'd really consider doing it that way I mean you'd be 26/27 at the end but if you truly want to do both of these degrees do it that way the other way wold be too hard and probably negitivlt affect your mental health even if your really mentally strong it would be really hard.
You will not be allowed to register for two full time degrees courses at once.
Its that simple.
Original post by McGinger
You will not be allowed to register for two full time degrees courses at once.
Its that simple.

I don't understand why though? Like why can't I do Maths and English?
Can I suggest that you phone up some leading Universities are ask them if you can do two undergraduate degrees at once - and then you can let us know what their responses are.
Original post by yeye21
I don't understand why though? Like why can't I do Maths and English?

Maths course, university A, finals exam Monday 10-12,
English course, university B, finals exam Monday 10-12

Which do you take and why, which do you automatically fail by not attending ? Now repeat for all assessed activities over 3 years.
Original post by Mr Wednesday
Maths course, university A, finals exam Monday 10-12,
English course, university B, finals exam Monday 10-12

Which do you take and why, which do you automatically fail by not attending ? Now repeat for all assessed activities over 3 years.

I would talk to one of the universities and explain the clash
Original post by yeye21
I would talk to one of the universities and explain the clash

For potentially 100+ clashes for tutorials, exams and labs over multiple years, nope, not going to happen. All of these would need to be rescheduled, new exam papers written, rooms booked, exams invigilated etc, why would they spend the time and effort (literarily 100s of hours of staff time) on that when you are not prioritising their course ?
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by Mr Wednesday
For potentially 100+ clashes for tutorials, exams and labs over multiple years, nope, not going to happen. All of these would need to be rescheduled, new exam papers written, rooms booked, exams invigilated etc, why would they spend the time and effort (literarily 100s of hours of staff time) on that when you are not prioritising their course ?

Well I would be aiming for a first for both and trying my best to get there
I think all of trying to advise you on this have reached the limit of our patience.
Original post by yeye21
Well I would be aiming for a first for both and trying my best to get there

Sure, but you missed the bit where you are now costing the university literally 100s of extra staff hours and £££ because you are not fully engaging with the course for no benefit to them. Sure, universities do spend this extra effort supporting a small number of students with disabilities, but not “ordinary” students that don’t want to attend a scheduled session because they have decided something else is more important.
Original post by yeye21
Well I would be aiming for a first for both and trying my best to get there

Sure, but you missed the bit where you are now costing the university literally 100s of extra staff hours and £££ because you are not fully engaging with the course for no benefit to them. Sure, universities do spend this extra effort supporting a small number of students with disabilities, but not “ordinary” students that don’t want to attend a scheduled session because they have decided something else is more important.

Original post by McGinger
I think all of trying to advise you on this have reached the limit of our patience.

Yes, but now we are into "comedy value" territory :smile:.
Original post by Mr Wednesday
Sure, but you missed the bit where you are now costing the university literally 100s of extra staff hours and £££ because you are not fully engaging with the course for no benefit to them. Sure, universities do spend this extra effort supporting a small number of students with disabilities, but not “ordinary” students that don’t want to attend a scheduled session because they have decided something else is more important.

that might be a bit of an exaggeration. Plus it's only the exams that are the issues, not the classes. Also even if there was a clash I am fortunate to have access to more than 1 electronic device.
Original post by JApple
So I took a gap year followed by deferring for a year thanks to our new pal Covid.

When I first applied, my degree choice was obvious but now they’ve added a degree which is also ideal for me. Now I’m stuck trying to choose between two degrees both of which are perfect for me and what I want to do. I’ve seen on UCAS that it’s possible to do two degrees alongside each other but this may vary between each university. I know it’d be a lot of work, no free time, barely having the time to go to the loo but I cannot put into words how grateful I would be to do both of them. Neither of them have post graduate options and I know the UK government will only fund one but given if I can find the money, do you reckon I could do both at the same time? Or am I over ambitious here? I’m very confused now so any help is greatly appreciated

Hi JApple,

I would suggest that to take two entirely separate degrees parallel to one another would be incredibly difficult, not only as you say will you only get funding for one but I would put money on this not even being possible and only being able to do one at a time. You are however, more than welcome to do one AFTER the other. This would mean not only getting a student loan for each, but also it would mean you could dedicate your time and effort into getting the best grade that you can for each rather than potential getting a lower grade at the end having split your time across the two. I would also suggest considering how you work, for example would you be able to handle the work load if a single degree has three modules a semester, 4 assessments and an exam will you be able to cope with that doubly over? Would you be able to handle the emotional and wellbeing strains that you might experience?

If your utterly desperate to do both I would suggest looking to see if there is a course of duel honours in these subjects. You would be able to study both subject, get a single degree and be able to dedicate all your time to that single degree getting you the best grade possible.

If your still set on this I would suggest talking to a university support team as they might be able to give you more specific guidance and even tell you if this is possible at all or not, which I don't think you can.

I hope this helps
Cat, York St John University Student Ambassador
Original post by yeye21
that might be a bit of an exaggeration. Plus it's only the exams that are the issues, not the classes. Also even if there was a clash I am fortunate to have access to more than 1 electronic device.

Most courses will have a broad range of activities, projects and group work where you are scheduled to be in attendance and that attendance is recorded and assessed, it’s not just exams, its everything you do apart from pre-recorded lectures (which are a bit of a covid special this year). I think you just have no concept of how much time and effort goes into delivering a course and the difficulty of scheduling to avoid clashes during the SAME degree, let alone across 2 different courses and institutions. But to emphasise what PQ said, just about every university explicitly bans students from being registered on two courses at once.
Original post by yeye21
that might be a bit of an exaggeration. Plus it's only the exams that are the issues, not the classes. Also even if there was a clash I am fortunate to have access to more than 1 electronic device.

You don't actually have a clue what doing a degree involves do you.
Original post by McGinger
You don't actually have a clue what doing a degree involves do you.

considering the fact that I am current university student, I would like do think I do have a good idea of what a degree involves.
Original post by yeye21
that might be a bit of an exaggeration.

Nope, I do this for a living, I know how long it takes to create, refine, deliver and assess an exam. 1 exam = 10+ hours of question development + internal review 4 hours + external review by the examiner team 2 hours , then type setting, printing, scheduling of the exam room, set up of room, invigilators in place (2 x 2 .5 hours) + room booking + marking + admin (independent entry of marks, spread sheets cross check, filing of papers). Doing that for 1 extra student with an all new exam (it MUST be all new to avoid plagiarism / cheating issues) is easily another 20 plus hours of staff time for NO benefit to the university. Now repeat for every missed exam.

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