My DD loves university but hates her course, any advice????

[PABLOP]

My DD is into her 2nd year at university, she is studying politics and hates it, she didn't like it last year and I told her to talk to her tutor, she decided not to and stick with the course, she is now talking about dropping the course and said she will talk to a counsellor about her options, has anybody been in a similar situation, what are the options so far in ??? She is thinking about an art course, designing or something, she is good at this and we originally thought she would choose something art orientated so were really surprised when she chose politics. Its her life but I don't want the last two years to have been a waste for her. I want to support her but will be upset if she drops out.

My friend (now 33) always says he hated his 3 year economics degree but loved his university so never changed course or dropped out. He now has a job totally unrelated to degree so was all a bit pointless. HOWEVER he has said from very early on after finishing uni that he wished SOMEONE had told him just how EASY it was to change course - once you're there they want to keep you so it's a doddle aparently to switch course. I wouldn't see the last 2 years as a waste, but hopefully she can find a course that will make her happy and bring a great career at the end of it. Clearly I don't work at a uni so you will need proper advice but jsut wanted to mention this!
Good luck
c x

She is more than likely to have no problems in swapping subjects - tell her to talk to the uni counselling team/ her mentor.

Both my dh and I changed courses at university, although granted within the same faculty. She might lose a year in the process if she wants to make a radical switch, but she should certainly explore it - it's not an unusual thing to do.

Thats great thankyou, having to type fast cos dd is hovering and shed be horrified i was discussing her. one problem is the uni she is at does "redbrick" courses not "creative" ones, not sure what that means. will come back on when dd goes back this evening.

I agree with both responses so far, once you're in, it's really easy to change course (far harder to change college or university). I knew several people who did this when I was at uni, and my sister did so more recently. If the counsellors/tutors/mentors are any good they should be able to give her lots of options that don't mean dropping out altogether.

There's some good general advice on the Prospects website here but the uni staff will have more specific information about how it works where she is.

thanks mummypig, I'll send the link to her this evening.

Nooka, Wisteria & mummypig After reading your replies I am going to try to convince her to talk to counselling team this week and change to something in the same uni, she can always do something "creative" at a later stage.

thanks also carolyn1941, know a lot of people end up doing something totally unrelated to their degree so I'm not too worried about that. She doesn't know what career she wants.

This will sound really selfish but I was so proud that she made the decision to go to university as me and dh were teenagers when we had her that I will be soo disapointed if she drops out. so hopefully it won't come to that.

I do however want her to be happy so fingers crossed she'll get herself sorted out soon.

I read the title and I felt like that and ironically enough it was polotics. I was lucky I had a good choice of courses at the uni I was at, I changed in my second year. The thing about degrees is they are made of of lots of different subjects under one banner so the work she has done may still count towards her degree if she does change.
I moved to psychology near the end of my first year and the modules covered in the early part of the year could be chosen in the psychology degree as well if that makes any sense whatsoever.
It will make all the difference to her if she changes to something she will love. It would be a shame if she dropped out without even looking into her options first.

thanks ineedacleaner, she got an a level in psychology and intended to do a degree in it and then changed her mind.
so maybe thats an option.

Just had a chat with her and she doesn't want to drop out and promised me she will look into her options, she was more worried that I wouldn't support her decision which i will of course.

You must be sooo proud Pab - hope my dds do as well!

Personally I'd advise her to finish the year out, take her exams at least before she makes any other moves (apart from talking to her personal tutor and tutors in other field she may want to move into). She may be able to swop subjects, entering in the second year of a degree, provided that she has the right sort of a-levels/pre-requisite knowledge. At the very least, she'll have gained a diploma in Politics which she wouldn't if she dropped out now (it would probably be converted into a Certificate of HE), if my calculations are correct.

FWIW, I swopped universities between my second and third years for personal reasons (onto the same type of course) and it's not really to be recommended! It took me a long time to settle in my new university, not only as I went from a 9mo course with exams in June to a semester system . Staying in the same university would really help any course transition.

Thanks Wisteria, I am proud.

Thanks bookwormmum, I overreacted a bit when she told me ie assumed she was packing it all in it turns out she is intending to finish the year take her exams etc, its what she does then she is unsure of. I hope I can persuade her to stay at same university,

I didnt go to uni, whats a semester system?

Semesters split an academic course into two parts, so you can enter in September or Jan/Feb, taking half the units at a time (usually 3). Exams then fall in Dec/Jan and May/June instead of just in the summer.

I'm a bit sceptical about semesters since I preferred longer to get to grips with a topic before being examined on it 10 weeks later.

I changed uni courses 3 times!

First uni I went to I hated my course, realised that within the first month. I had made a mistake, wasn't right for me, wasn't the course I thought it was. Decided to get to the end of the first term and review my options. Still hated it. Then came the problem of what I should change to if I quit that course. I had wanted to be a primary school teacher and was going to do a normal degree than a PCGE but decided that as I knew what I wanted to do I would rather go straight into a BAed English degree (4 year course, teaching and English). The problem was my uni wasn't very good for teaching and only offered limited teaching degrees. So changing course meant changing uni's. Took me another 6-8 weeks to do the research of where I wanted to go and sum up the courage to tell my parents!! I then simply contacted the tutor at the other uni and was honest with him. Told him I had always wanted to teach, didn't like the uni course I was on and asked if he would consider taking me. Got invited to interview and got offered a place, no UCAS involved!

Absolutely loved my BAed, best decision I made. Now I was unlucky that in my second term of my first year on my BAed I got ill and missed teaching practice and many lectures (have a history of suffering from ME). I talked to my tutor and we decided that I had either one or 2 choices. Firstly, forget this academic year and just get well, as my health was still too bad to cope with all the work and re-start again the next year. Or swap to a normal BA with fewer contact hours a week (7 instead of 14 + teaching practice) so a higher chance I could manage my health and the course, then do the PGCE. Decided as I had already had to do 2 first years that I couldn't face doing it again so would try to see if another course would take me 2/3 of the way through the academic year. If I couldn't get a place without restarting I would obviously stay on the BAed but if someone would admit me straight into year 2 then I would swap courses. Went for interview with tutor in another department who agreed that if I could pass the first year exam and write 2 suitable standard essays he would except me into the second year. Needless to say I passed and was excepted straight into year 2!

So, basically my point is that it is very easy to change courses, as long as you can prove your not changing because you are failing and you have good enough grades to be excepted by another faculty. You might need to prove to them commitment and ability but if they decide to accept you its very easy to change.

Additionally, doing a course you hate makes it twice as hard. Degrees require independant study and academic interest. If you hate a subject, finding the motivation can be very hard. I would rather spend an extra year at uni, do a degree I enjoy and get a good degree than struggle with a degree I hate, finish a year earlier but end up with a poor degree because my heart was never in it in the first place!

Thanks playingthewaitinggame! I am having a chat with her tonight.

Agree with bookwormum - don't swap to a different uni mid-course. I did this (surprsingly easy, went to the uni I wanted to go to, knocked on a tutor's door, had a brief chat and he said "ok you're in"!) it was really hard to settle and as a result I never really liked university much and wish I'd had a better experience.

It's really common to want to change subjects later on - I went to a uni where you took three subjects in first year and most people I knew ended up graduating in a completely different subject from the one they applied to . That includes one friend who was accepted to do English and ended up with a Theology degree (not only different subject but completely different college). Get her to talk to her tutor / counseller.

In my last year (after Xmas) I realised I did not like the course I was on. It was no surprise that my tutor said it was too late to change. I carried on and got a 2.2.