When is the right time to contact universities about transferring?

Hi,

I’m currently a 1st year History student studying at a mid-30s ranked university, however I want to transfer unis as I’m not a fan of the course as it focuses on history I am not particularly interested in and the module topics often feel unrelated to history as a subject. Whilst the Uni itself is okay, I haven’t particularly settled in very well here despite my best attempts as the societies here are rubbish and limited in choice and I’m not so keen on the people I’ve made friends with and whilst I’m amicable with my housemates, we have different interests.

The Uni is also about 3 and a half hours away from home (I live in London) which wouldn’t be so bad if I’d found my people which I just haven’t and as it’s a bit of a journey it’s not like I can go home regularly. So I’m looking at transferring unis to still do history and maybe Asian Studies too if possible or one or the other or Chinese Studies as I have a keen interest in Asian history, but I’m not so sure when to contact some unis to talk about a transfer. So any guidance would be much appreciated.

Reach out as early as possible, you might find some universities will require you to apply for year 1 entry. There are a lot of variables as to if you can transfer & a level of flexibility maybe required.
My general advice is never start a degree you would be unhappy finishing as UK universities are not really setup for transfer students in the same way different more modularized higher education systems in other countries are. Id encourage more research into universities you would consider this time round with what you are looking for with regards to course structure & content.

Thanks for you response, the university I’m currently at, I entered through the clearing which I entered late as I’d originally had other plans so my options were limited in what I could choose and mostly went off rankings.