Thinking of switching courses - clearing or email department directly?

Hi,

I’ve applied for BA geography at Sheffield university and have been conditionally accepted with an offer of ABB (which I have accepted). However, I have been thinking about it for a few months now and think I would like to do BSc geography instead.

This is where I was confused of how to go forward. I was wondering if I’d be better off contacting the geography department directly over email before results day/clearing to see if I could switch or if I should wait for clearing to open on the 17th and speak to them then. Has anyone gotten to this point and changed their course who can personally say what they did? Or tell me if there is a way that people would normally go about doing this.

At a candidate day earlier in the year I was told that switching from BA to BSc (or vice versa) isn’t too common, but that it can be easily done in the first few weeks if you change your mind then. I was just thinking of doing it before I got to uni as I think I’ll be stressed if I have to change in the first few weeks - I’ll have to make new friends in my new classes if I switch later in the semester which wouldn’t be an issue if I switch before uni has even started and I think I’ll be overwhelmed by starting uni anyway so don’t want to leave things that can be done now until later when I’ll likely be feeling my much more stressed.

Any help of advice would be amazing and so greatly appreciated. Good luck for results day to anyone reading this waiting for results. Thanks in advance for any help😊

Hello

I don't think there's any harm contacting them this week and asking the question – the worst thing they can say is wait for your results to be confirmed and call back when you know that you've got your place.

Otherwise I'd suggest (assuming you get in next week) doing it between results day and actually starting in September. Given the similarity of the courses and the fact you'd already have a place at the uni then I wouldn't have thought you'd need to reapply for the BSc in Clearing. But no harm in contacting them this week to discuss it / check the procedure / see if they can switch you over provisionally before results day.

Good luck for next week!

They won’t be able to change your course right now on ucas if your offer is still unconditional. But if they’re happy to make the switch (almost certainly will be a yes - most geography courses let you switch throughout first year and often later) then they can make a note and put the change through once your place is confirmed

Thanks for replying. I was thinking that they were likely to let me change because they are such similar courses, but it makes sense about what you said about them not being able to change it on UCAS at this point. I think I will contact them between now and results day to see what the process is and see if they can make a note on my course (if I get in!!). Thanks for the help, have a lovely rest of your evening!

Don’t put it off too long. You need to email or phone tomorrow if you want a reply before results day.

Good point, I'll do it today/tomorrow. Thanks!

If you do it tomorrow then it'll be too late. Universities will be in embargo period and unable to discuss application details with you.

You need to ring them now before they leave for the day!