Swap courses in 2nd year at Oxford-help!

[darlingitus]

My daughter is at Oxford studying Theology.
She uhmed and ahhed whether or not to apply for Theology stand alone, or Theology AND philosophy.

She has just sat her prelims and got a very high 2.1/bordering 1st in Theology. However, she wants to do Theology and Philosophy instead for her final 2 years.

She did best in papers that were more philosophy focussed in her prelims. The two courses are pretty similar- well it's not like Physics to English etc- so that may help?

Does anyone know if it is possible to switch courses in her 2nd year? She is adamant she won't sit 1st year again so if she has to, then she will stick with her current course.

[RedHelenB]

No harm in asking.

[darlingitus]

She is concerned about pissing her tutor off

[Peaseblossom22]

Well if she doesn’t ask she definitely won’t be able to ! It seems a logical step that she can evidence, worth a try

[darlingitus]

That's very true. She's just not sure if causing a lot of fuss to be told no is actually worth it.

[ichbineinstasumer]

probably the sooner she asks the better. She should contact her tutor now before term starts.

[Whathappenedtothelego]

No harm in asking, she won't be the first. It's more common than you think!

[darlingitus]

She's waiting for a reply from her tutor to arrange a meeting. She spoke to someone at another college who is doing a very similar swap this year and that individual had to rewrite a personal statement, had to interview, and now accepted was told she has to resit the entire 1st year.

[Commonwasher]

Her course director is really the only person who can answer this.
It depends on the components of the course and, also which modules/subjects have already been taught from the course she wishes to switch to. If the first year is mostly Philosophy (rather than theology) she will have missed those classes, and will probably need to resit. It would be worth checking what flexibility there is to choose her own areas of study particularly in the final year as most Theology undergrad degrees include some Philosophy & Ethics. Rather than resit, she might be able to opt for more philosophy within the Theology course and identify Philosophy as an area for study for her dissertation, therefore reducing the disciplines she is less drawn to.
Hope she enjoys whatever she does.