Course change on starting uni?

[bubblesbabe]

My daughter's A Level grades were not as good as expected and she missed out on her firm uni place. Her insurance have offered her a place but on a different course from the one she applied for originally. As you can imagine she was delighted to be offered a place as she had been very upset by her results. The dust has settled a bit and she has looked into the course she has been offered further and, whilst relevant to her a'levels, and containing some of what she is interested in, she is disappointed not to have been given a place on her original choice of course. She missed the A grade she needed for this course by 2 marks and I have suggested we ask for a remark and that when she gets to uni she talks to her tutor about transferring to her original choice of course. We have been told that the uni tend to be very flexible about changing courses. Just looking for some thoughts really - have had a v stressful week and my brain is not working well!!

I don't understand why the insurance is a changed course? Usually the insurance choice is less than the firm offer, so with so close a miss she should not have a problem?

Anyway it is sometimes possible to change course, but there are no guarantees and given that they have specifically declined the original offer, I would suspect that it is unlikely that they would just change their minds once she gets there. Otherwise why would that have said no in the first place. We often have students who accept alternative offers then ask to change back to the original and 9/10 the answer is no (although different changes are often possible).

So if she is not completely happy with the alternative, I would suggest that she declines that either looks for an alternative in clearing that she is happy with or take gap year.

Also if you are going for a remark you should let the firm choice know, as they might honour the place if the grades are achieved.

Thanks for your reply. The reason she missed her original course choice at her insurance was that she needed an A in her main subject A level but got a B. this was the one that was 2 marks off and I feel is worth a remark.

I wonder if her original course is full now in which case she won't be able to swap... But a lot can change in the months before you start....

I changed course in the first week because I realised I'd applied for the wrong thing I'd applied to do a joint major/minor course but I'd wanted to do a joint major/major the difference in the course title was the word "with" to the word "and". Easy mistake to make right...? Heh. They were a bit about it and I had to fill in a lot of forms but it was fine! It helped that only 6 people were doing the course I wanted....

She should only start the course at her insurance uni if she is happy to see it through to the end. As they have offered a changed course, they don't have space on the original course, and so may not allow her to switch to that course.

At that point, she will be faced with the choice of three years doing a course she doesn't really want to do, or dropping out.

Is she sure that she wouldn't be better off taking a gap year and reapplying for a course that she actually wants to do? Article here www.thestudentroom.co.uk/content.php?r=1332-How-a-gap-year-can-improve-your-chances

She can't rely on being able to change at this stage . Either she accepts the course on offer or defers until the remarks comes through and reassesses. No point started half heartedly.

I would have hoped that a priority re-mark would have come through by now. Did you go down that route! And have you heard back?