Question on Contacting Supervisors

Hi everyone! I'll be doing the MPhil in Political Thought and Intellectual History, and I'm so excited to get started!
I do have one pressing question though. It's quite long, so do bear with me.
After talking with one of my lecturers (who actually did the MPhil and administered it), we both kind of agreed that my dissertation proposal probably would not work and that I needed to change the focus of it (for reference, the proposal that I sent outlined a comparative dissertation between a 19th century and 20th century political thinker). This was on the grounds that I would probably struggle to write about what I proposed in 15,000 - 20,000 words (they were on maternity leave when I was doing my application, so I couldn't speak to them proper about the course until late April). I also realised I also decided to do something that was more closely related to my undergrad dissertation (which was on an 18th century political thinker), and I didn't want to write anything about 20th century intellectual thought.
With this in mind, I started doing some preliminary research for my dissertation, as I would like to get some research done before I arrive at Cambridge. I've been leaning more into the 19th century political thinker, and have ultimately decided my dissertation will be solely based on that thinker. My supervisor should still be able to supervise me, considering we briefly discussed about it when I met them last year, but it's obviously a big shift going from a comparative dissertation to focusing on one person. Furthermore, from the way my preliminary research has been going, it looks like my new dissertation will most likely incorporate a lot of 17th century political thought in lieu with the 19th century political thinker, which could bring up other issues (i.e.: needing a second supervisor)
Given all of this, I feel like it would be my best interest to tell my supervisor about my change of plans before I arrive at Cambridge in September. I know that supervisors are busy around this time of year, so if I were to email my supervisor about my change of plans, it would be around mid - July (hopefully by this time my place at Cambridge has been confirmed). How should I go about this? Is it even ok for me to make such a drastic switch on my dissertation topic (which is what I'm most worried about)? Or would it be better to just hold things off until I meet my supervisor in September, and I have to submit the final proposal?

No point. Many people change their dissertation, that's why it's discussed in the application phase, but not usually fixed until after Christmas. Not much point in getting ahead, the timings are there and that's sufficient time and what Cam staff are scheduled to support. Speak to your Supervisor during the first week or two of term and you've got until around Jan/Feb to finalise.

Hi everyone! I'll be doing the MPhil in Political Thought and Intellectual History, and I'm so excited to get started!
I do have one pressing question though. It's quite long, so do bear with me.
After talking with one of my lecturers (who actually did the MPhil and administered it), we both kind of agreed that my dissertation proposal probably would not work and that I needed to change the focus of it (for reference, the proposal that I sent outlined a comparative dissertation between a 19th century and 20th century political thinker). This was on the grounds that I would probably struggle to write about what I proposed in 15,000 - 20,000 words (they were on maternity leave when I was doing my application, so I couldn't speak to them proper about the course until late April). I also realised I also decided to do something that was more closely related to my undergrad dissertation (which was on an 18th century political thinker), and I didn't want to write anything about 20th century intellectual thought.
With this in mind, I started doing some preliminary research for my dissertation, as I would like to get some research done before I arrive at Cambridge. I've been leaning more into the 19th century political thinker, and have ultimately decided my dissertation will be solely based on that thinker. My supervisor should still be able to supervise me, considering we briefly discussed about it when I met them last year, but it's obviously a big shift going from a comparative dissertation to focusing on one person. Furthermore, from the way my preliminary research has been going, it looks like my new dissertation will most likely incorporate a lot of 17th century political thought in lieu with the 19th century political thinker, which could bring up other issues (i.e.: needing a second supervisor)
Given all of this, I feel like it would be my best interest to tell my supervisor about my change of plans before I arrive at Cambridge in September. I know that supervisors are busy around this time of year, so if I were to email my supervisor about my change of plans, it would be around mid - July (hopefully by this time my place at Cambridge has been confirmed). How should I go about this? Is it even ok for me to make such a drastic switch on my dissertation topic (which is what I'm most worried about)? Or would it be better to just hold things off until I meet my supervisor in September, and I have to submit the final proposal?

Hey! I’m also doing political thought and intellectual history, and I also plan on changing my dissertation pretty radically from my proposal. I think it should still be fine with my supervisor, as he’s supervised PhD students in a variety of different topics in contemporary political philosophy and it’s even less relevant for MPhils. I think basically it’s totally ok to change topics, as unless you’re completely upending it from something like early modern thought to critical theory, then it doesn’t really matter how much your supervisor exactly fits at the masters level. Or at least I’m hoping so, because I don’t want to do the topic I wrote about on my proposal any more haha, I’ve thought of something much better. They must know that people will change a lottt from their final year of undergrad or a gap year to actually starting.

Hi everyone! I'll be doing the MPhil in Political Thought and Intellectual History, and I'm so excited to get started!
I do have one pressing question though. It's quite long, so do bear with me.
After talking with one of my lecturers (who actually did the MPhil and administered it), we both kind of agreed that my dissertation proposal probably would not work and that I needed to change the focus of it (for reference, the proposal that I sent outlined a comparative dissertation between a 19th century and 20th century political thinker). This was on the grounds that I would probably struggle to write about what I proposed in 15,000 - 20,000 words (they were on maternity leave when I was doing my application, so I couldn't speak to them proper about the course until late April). I also realised I also decided to do something that was more closely related to my undergrad dissertation (which was on an 18th century political thinker), and I didn't want to write anything about 20th century intellectual thought.
With this in mind, I started doing some preliminary research for my dissertation, as I would like to get some research done before I arrive at Cambridge. I've been leaning more into the 19th century political thinker, and have ultimately decided my dissertation will be solely based on that thinker. My supervisor should still be able to supervise me, considering we briefly discussed about it when I met them last year, but it's obviously a big shift going from a comparative dissertation to focusing on one person. Furthermore, from the way my preliminary research has been going, it looks like my new dissertation will most likely incorporate a lot of 17th century political thought in lieu with the 19th century political thinker, which could bring up other issues (i.e.: needing a second supervisor)
Given all of this, I feel like it would be my best interest to tell my supervisor about my change of plans before I arrive at Cambridge in September. I know that supervisors are busy around this time of year, so if I were to email my supervisor about my change of plans, it would be around mid - July (hopefully by this time my place at Cambridge has been confirmed). How should I go about this? Is it even ok for me to make such a drastic switch on my dissertation topic (which is what I'm most worried about)? Or would it be better to just hold things off until I meet my supervisor in September, and I have to submit the final proposal?

Hi everyone! I'll be doing the MPhil in Political Thought and Intellectual History, and I'm so excited to get started!
I do have one pressing question though. It's quite long, so do bear with me.
After talking with one of my lecturers (who actually did the MPhil and administered it), we both kind of agreed that my dissertation proposal probably would not work and that I needed to change the focus of it (for reference, the proposal that I sent outlined a comparative dissertation between a 19th century and 20th century political thinker). This was on the grounds that I would probably struggle to write about what I proposed in 15,000 - 20,000 words (they were on maternity leave when I was doing my application, so I couldn't speak to them proper about the course until late April). I also realised I also decided to do something that was more closely related to my undergrad dissertation (which was on an 18th century political thinker), and I didn't want to write anything about 20th century intellectual thought.
With this in mind, I started doing some preliminary research for my dissertation, as I would like to get some research done before I arrive at Cambridge. I've been leaning more into the 19th century political thinker, and have ultimately decided my dissertation will be solely based on that thinker. My supervisor should still be able to supervise me, considering we briefly discussed about it when I met them last year, but it's obviously a big shift going from a comparative dissertation to focusing on one person. Furthermore, from the way my preliminary research has been going, it looks like my new dissertation will most likely incorporate a lot of 17th century political thought in lieu with the 19th century political thinker, which could bring up other issues (i.e.: needing a second supervisor)
Given all of this, I feel like it would be my best interest to tell my supervisor about my change of plans before I arrive at Cambridge in September. I know that supervisors are busy around this time of year, so if I were to email my supervisor about my change of plans, it would be around mid - July (hopefully by this time my place at Cambridge has been confirmed). How should I go about this? Is it even ok for me to make such a drastic switch on my dissertation topic (which is what I'm most worried about)? Or would it be better to just hold things off until I meet my supervisor in September, and I have to submit the final proposal?

Hey, just wondering if you were able to change your thesis topic after all? And whether that had any implications for supervision arrangements? I might be in the same boat so was wondering whether you could offer any advice as to how flexible things are once you are on the course.