Cardiff Uni suggesting different course to one applied for

[Squirrelsinmypants]

DD is applying for Biochemistry. She has received standard offers from 4 universities. Cardiff (which she liked best based on Open Days) have emailed suggesting that "based on her personal statement" they feel that she should be applying for Biomedical Science and would she like to amend her application to this.

This has thrown us and we are trying to work out why they would suggest this. I would have thought that Biomedical Science was more popular and competitive than Biochemistry so it's not like they are trying to switch applicants to fill a less popular course.

Has anyone else had this type of suggestion from a Uni?
DD is worried that if she says she wants to stick with Biochemistry that Cardiff won't make her an offer.
We'd be grateful for any advice or insight.

Who said anything about the student believing they are right? I have consistently said to talk about it. Four universities have not agreed though. So who, exactly, is right in this case? Oh I forgot. The lecturers who cannot agree with each other.

It sounds like bullying to say to a student that the lecturer is the expert and what they say is the only way. It doesn't sound like a discussion would be worth having if the lecturer was so dictatorial. This DD hasn’t set foot in a university yet so why does anyone think she or other students know everything? One comment about sticking to your views and ideas because four universities have agreed to give you an offer is not unreasonable. It’s very reasonable if Cardiff is trying to shift students around to suit themselves. I’m secretly hoping a few MN dinosaurs are shown the door!

It is not unusual for a student to have an incomplete picture of what a programme will involve. Often at open days and even offer days I have steered a potential student to other programmes that better suit how they are expressing their interests. That is because I do know what our course involves and they don't and I do actually want them to enjoy university. I may even suggest they stick to chemical engineering but look at other universities which look like a better match. It could be that the split between biochemistry and biomedical sciences at Cardiff is different from at the universities where the OP's daughter has offers and the Cardiff Biomedical Science course suits the interests she describes better. It could be that the other universities didn't read her personal statement at all and this shows a much better level of engagement with her. The best advice, as most people have said is to ask them why they think Biomedical science would be better and then decide if they have interpreted her interests correctly.

The MN Higher Education section is not fond of experts, I don't try to offer advice on here very much since it isn't often appreciated.

I'm with @MarilynSlumroe in being confused about Bubbles Buddy wanting to see MN dinosaurs booted out. Did I miss something in the news?

She should talk to the University. It provides a chance for her to think carefully about the course she wants, and why. And if she really wants to study biochemistry,she either persuades them to offer her a place, or she goes elsewhere.

‘Tesco substitutions’ are not unknown. DS was offered Finance at Warwick, rather than the economics he applied for. This happened to the brother of one of DDs friends as well. Our assumption was that Warwick had lots of strong applicants for economics so rather than reject near misses altogether, they offered them an alternative course. It was easy for DS. He had no interest whatsoever in studying Finance, regardless of whether some academic reading his PS decided it would suit him. (Indeed he is now studying for an economics PhD - not at Warwick!) But equally another applicant’s priority might have been to go to Warwick, and on reflection liked the idea of finance.

I think a couple of other Universities picked up a reputation for doing the same.

Ds was offered an alternative engineering course at bristol, i dont think it was unusual at the time as i know other MN dc were offered that course instead.

Also worth asking just how much the modules overlap for the 2 courses. The overlap may be very high, anyway.

MedSchoolRat makes a good point. If there’s sufficient overlap, your daughter may be able to switch courses at the end of her first year anyway.

If she’s predicted the grades for biochemistry they won’t reject her. Both courses get lots of medicine rejects so to get students who actually want to study the courses firsthand are always popular with admissions tutors. She should stick with biochem if that’s what she wants and they definitely won’t reject her for it

I think it's fairly common. UEA offered DD a slightly different English course to the one she applied for.
More worrying is that DS has recently been interviewed for nursing and was heavily sold physiotherapy as an alternative at one uni. He still got offered a nursing place but didn't accept there.
I agree with others, your daughter needs to email and ask their reasons for substituting her course.

UEA offered DD a slightly different English course to the one she applied for.

A foundation course? UEA offer a lot of those.

I know nothing about Biomedical Science, but I did a degree that I hadn't applied for, at a very well-regarded university. I'd applied for a course that, in hindsight, they were absolutely right to think I was unsuitable for, and they offered me an unconditional place on a course which was right up my alley. It turned out well for everyone.

I applied for Forensics and was offered Biomed with one university. They told me it would be a good fit from my PS, Biomed is a 'better degree' and that there aren't many jobs in forensics anyway (true, but not the only thing you can do with a forensics degree!). Not disputing Biomed is good, if that's what you want to do, but most students don't just choose a random course, many, like me, have been thinking about what they want to do for years. Needless to say I decided to go to a different university and I am very happy where I am doing the course I originally wanted to do.
I definitely agree that looking over the modules is important when it's such a close course - it may even be that she can move back to biochem after her first year if her professors think she is on track and the modules overlap. A lot of the time they do. Plus, querying what specifically in her PS may just make her think a bit more about the job she wants to do. There are a lot of careers you can do with both degrees, but I agree with PPs - the lecturers do know more about their course at their university and likely have a good reason in their minds for suggesting it, and also that Biomed is generally made up of those who want to be biomedical scientists, obviously. It's annoying to be told you shouldn't do what you've been aiming for, gutting especially from your firm, but if she has 4 other offers and this is the only option they are giving her, she shouldn't worry too much.

I would advise her to look very closely at the modules on both courses, and what the rules are for switching between them.

At the university I went to, you could switch from Biochemistry to Biomedical science at the end of first year, but not from Biomed to Biochem.

Look again at her PS. Can you see what part of it may have led them to suggest this? Did she over play her interest in one aspect in the PS but actually is interested in modules XYZ that are only offered as part of Biochem? etc.

Thanks for all your replies.

She has looked again at the courses and they have a common first year for all Biological Sciences so it looks like she could switch between courses easily enough after Year 1.

In her PS she expressed an interest in working in the Pharmaceutical industry but she wants to keep her options open for a research career.

Anyway, she has emailed admissions and is hoping they will reply with a named contact that she can have a phone discussion with.

I'm posting the reply from Cardiff bioscience admissions as it may be useful for anyone else applying there:-

'We noted from your personal statement that you have expressed an interest in biomedical-related areas. As you are hopefully aware, our courses are designed to be as flexible as possible with regards to module choices in years 2 and 3, however, there is one exception, the second year anatomy course. Due to the limited size of our anatomy centre we can only take a certain number of students into this module and priority is given to the students enrolled on the biomedical sciences degree scheme. As a result, we send messages to all applicants who express an interest in biomedically related fields just to double check they are aware that other courses are available and that they are happy with their choice of course.

If you are happy with your choice of biochemistry that is no problem at all, we will continue to process your application as it is.'

A very helpful & useful answer. It shows they're attending to applicants, and concerned to help them decide over the best fit.

OP I hope your DD finds this a helpful response.

Rather undermines those posters scoffing at experts on this thread, or reading sinister or underhand motives to Cardiff's communication. I agree with Chemenger's observation that The MN Higher Education section is not fond of experts, I don't try to offer advice on here very much since it isn't often appreciated

OP,

That's a helpful answer from the University.

I've always found University admin staff and the lecturers to be helpful.

BTW. None of my DC went to Cardiff but I've always thought it be a great city to be a student in.

Good luck with whatever your DD choses.

(BTW. I have to say I find the Higher Ed threads scary and pompous. It's a shame as there are lots of helpful and knowledgable posters.)

FWIW DD is at Cardiff and loves the city and her course but she is doing a health related course

Former admissions administrator here. Good reply from Cardiff, that’s exactly the sort of thing we would have done. My reasons for suggesting an alternative course to an applicant would be:
Personal statement suggests we have a more suitable course for their career plans because of modules, placements, professional body recognition, etc.
Personal statement suggests they’d be considered for a more competitive course that they don’t have the grades for (e.g. maybe they’re predicted 260 points and we’ve got a ‘better’ one that needs 300, but they’ve put relevant work experice, we’d ask if they’d like to be considered for the other one).
Personal statement suggests they made a mistake and picked the wrong thing off UCAS!
We wouldn’t normally try and ‘downsell’ at application stage. If they were unsuccessful in their application for one course we’d try and offer a suitable alternative for them at that point.
I imagine some unis might encourage people to swap at application stage if their lower requirement course is likely to fill up before they make their decision on their higher requirement courses. That’s never something I had to do though.

That's good to know GoodHeavens. DD is taking a gap year and only applied to 3 universities this time. She has applied for biomed and it is very clear on her personal statement that this is what she wants to do, and 2 of the universities are falling over to have her. One has even offered a scholarship.

I'm surprised that she hasn't heard back from the third university yet. They also interview for biomed so maybe they are waiting for all the applications first.