DS wants to switch course or leave, but Uni says no!

[SwitcherMum]

Can anyone help and advise?

DS started uni two weeks ago doing a single honours humanities course (e.g. English (but not this)) He likes the uni and his flatmates etc but hates parts of his course and wants to switch to a joint honours in the same department (e.g. English & Film).
At the beginning of term they were told if they wanted to request any course changes this had to be before week 6, so this week after discussion with us he emailed, using the formal channels (admissions) requesting the change.
They said NO, the course is full. No discussion. He did ask why not and their answer was flakey - about numbers in rooms due to covid etc. However the change would only mean he changed TWO modules this year, and they other subject has smaller classes. There are no labs or equipment involved - just lectures and seminars!

He's gutted and now says he will leave rather than continue with single honours and I think he means it.
He has a SpLD (dyslexia) and part of his reasoning is that the joint course would be more manageable for him (for various reasons I won't outline here).

Is there anything he/(we) can do or people we can talk to? Has he got any grounds to appeal etc?
He hasn't met his personal tutor yet and she didn't reply to his email asking about changing course. He tends to act rashly when stressed and I am so worried he is just going to jack it all in.

He can talk to the head of course if he can’t see his tutor. Has he explored other options, eg finishing this year and changing in y2?

Does he have elective options this year? Can he take any of the 2 modules for the other subject? DD was in a similar situation to your DS last year. She took one of the two required modules as outside courses (making sure she passed it well) and then applied to switch degree in year 2. Request was accepted but she needs to do the other first year course in year 2 instead of another elective.

Problem is even if the other modules are smaller class sizes they may be at the limits of classrooms booked for them. And in the last where you could maybe have squeezed another chair in all classrooms/lecture theatres are now strictly marked by room bookings as no more than x people in this room. So they might be right.

He should request a face to face meeting with his personal tutor if they haven’t responded. Most universities do operate a 5 day email response time and I know students sometimes get stressed if they haven’t had a response within a couple of days….has he given it enough time?

No electives - all compulsory modules for both courses this year.
He has emailed the Head of Department asking about options but I’m not hopeful.
There’s no way he could take on an extra course as his SpLD means he struggles to keep on top of his workload at the best of times.
I just don’t feel like he’s thinking straight at the moment and he’s very reluctant to ask for help and advice, especially from people he’s never met. He says he hates it and just wants to come home.

Could he accept attending online lectures and seminars for 2 modules (DDs uni has online options running even when f2f available so not to disadvantage students isolating or not in the UK)

There's more to it for the tutors than just talking to a load of students at the other end of a as computer. They need to do all the marking and assessing and guiding and supporting etc. They probably have contracts with the uni stipulating how many students they need to teach and mentor. Most have their own research work to do too.
If the course is full, it's full.

I can't help with the technicalities of this too much...
I do have 2 sons at uni and 1 did change to a joint honours at the beginning of yr 2
but I think if he doesn't like it now, only 2 weeks in and the uni is being so unsupportive at accommodating his decision, that he should leave and apply for the degree he wants, somewhere else, for next year.
It is such a lot of money, for him to be unhappy.

@SwitcherMum

No electives - all compulsory modules for both courses this year. He has emailed the Head of Department asking about options but I’m not hopeful. There’s no way he could take on an extra course as his SpLD means he struggles to keep on top of his workload at the best of times. I just don’t feel like he’s thinking straight at the moment and he’s very reluctant to ask for help and advice, especially from people he’s never met. He says he hates it and just wants to come home.

If he wants to leave there is normally a cut off where if he leaves he won’t be charged tuition fees. So if he can’t swap he may be better leaving sooner rather than later if he really hates it and go back next year? But guess he still has accommodation contract? 🤷‍♀️

their answer was flakey - about numbers in rooms due to covid etc.

That's not flakey, it's factual. Numbers in rooms are limited.

Even in normal times, meeting or teaching rooms/public venues will have maximum permitted numbers, for safety reasons, and maximum numbers are significantly reduced this year.

Hi OP

So firstly if they say the course is full, it is. We are operating strict capacity management at my institution for obvious reasons. If a module is timetabled for 25 people and in a room that holds 25, that's that.

However, there is generally a lot of shifting in the first weeks. So he could contact the programme lead of his desired course and ask if he has the right grades and if yes, can he be notified if someone withdraws (frequently happens in first few weeks).

He could also look for other courses at the same institution or transfer institutions.

However, really he needs to talk to his personal tutor or another lecturer he likes or trusts. It is VERY common for students to decide they "hate" a particular module and then they settle down, or realise it's only one bit of the course, or whatever. He needs to try and work this through.

I would re-contact the personal tutor. With a decision of this magnitude, they will understand he is stressed and a response within 2-3 days is not unreasonable. Honestly, I get 10s if not 100s of emails a day and it's ever likely just got lost. As long as he's polite, it's fine.

He should also contact Disability Services and make sure he is set up with all the support he is entitled to. Statistically, students with SpLDs are less likely than those with other additional needs to have proper funding in place through DSA and have a higher rate of withdrawal. Support can make a lot of difference.

Finally, if he is going to withdraw, find out the cut off date before he's charged. From memory it's around 25 Oct-1 Nov kind of time. He should make a decision one way or other by then, but he does need to be proactive as above and not just flap.

Good luck!

If the courses are full, they are full. My dc had to make compromises this year as they left it quite late and most courses were already full.

I agree that if your ds wants to leave, the sooner the better as he may be able to get out of his rental contract if it's only been 2 weeks

Excellent advice from @JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff

Usually academics have office hours - can he find out when his personal tutor's are and go and see them?

their answer was flakey - about numbers in rooms due to covid etc.

How is that 'flakey' ?

If a course is full then it is full.

He’s only been there 2 weeks, so it’s very early days. As others say, if the course is full, it’s full. Not much you can do.

OP honestly can't stress enough how many students have "wobbles" in week 3-4. It's incredibly common. I talk at least 2 students a year on my fairly small course down from leaving. A few months on and they're happy as Larry and specialising in the subject they hated.

Of course, some do leave.

But he needs to talk to someone.

Lecturer here. So many students “hate” courses they have barely started, I find it hard to understand. They come after the introductory session, which is mostly about administration and organisation and say it’s not what they expected, as if having to hand in work on time in a specific way and doing exams is a total shock. It’s perfectly normal to hate parts of a programme. I hated virtually my whole second year. Nobody loves every single course in the three four or five years they are at university, why would you expect to?
We are much stricter about courses being full this year, room capacities are so low and the timetable for rooms is completely full so there is no hope of extra classes being fitted in.
Your DS could try talking to the disability service if his dyslexia is an issue, they may be able to make a recommendation, but if the courses he wants are full that might just mean the department suggests leaving and restarting next year as the only option for a programme change.

If the course is full, it's full.

Thanks - very helpful - I’m finding this so stressful as DS is stressed and emotional when he calls and it’s so hard when I don’t know how to help him.

His tutor doesn’t seem to have office hours and seems part time, but I will suggest he contacts her again today.
He is registered with disability services and is eligible for support but although he contacted them in week 1 he still hasn’t heard back. I guess he needs to call their helpline. Part of the problem is that he is so overwhelmed with all the information right now he doesn’t really understand how to navigate the system and isn’t good at explaining what he needs when he’s panicky.
Unfortunately the cut off point for first term fees seems to be next week (I checked) so I fear that will be missed.
He already had a gap year because of covid so he’s not keen to drop out and restart again really.
He’s missed a lecture and seminar this week because he said he ‘just couldn’t cope with it’

So he wishes he’d picked a different course, isnt happy and already is missing lectures etc.

He needs to arrange an emergency meeting (ie today) with his tutor and anyone else who would be involved in trying to convince him not to Drop out. Otherwise you’ll have to pay for at least the first term and it sounds like he’ll potentially leave anyway. Wobbles are normal, but skipping class this early is really not good.

Looking at this from another angle - he’s had a horrifically disrupted couple of years and things are only just getting back to normal. Would he be better served by a year out, getting a regular job and reapplying later?

Right, he needs to contact another member of staff. Generally, modules will be taken by different staff. Has he met anyone else he took a shine to? The seminar he missed this week e.g., who's teaching that? Get him to email them or ring.

And yes to contacting the helpline. I completely get he is stressed but from the POV of the institution - he told them he had a disability and they put support in - he then told one part-time member of staff he was feeling stressed.

I know that probably sounds mean but he needs to make his needs clearer. Perhaps by speaking to someone who is FT or more senior.

I really sympathise with your predicament SwitcherMum. My DD had a similar problem two years ago - she really hated her course and wanted to change, but was told it wasn't possible, she would have to complete the year and start again next year (this was in mid-October). I think it is actually a false presumption that if you don't like your course you can always change - as your DS is discovering. The difference was DD really didn't like her flatmates (and so by extension the university) so she left - which felt like the end of the world at the time, but it really wasn't. She reapplied for Liberal Arts programmes - which really do offer flexibility - and is now happily ensconced at a different university. Her experience helped her brother take a totally different approach when he applied - looking closely at the course he was applying for before thinking about the university. In the end the course is key - it has to be right - because the suggestion that you can just swap courses when you get there is simply not true. I really came on here to say that if your son does decide to leave then it's not a disaster - he can reapply for the course he really wants to study and it's better to do that sooner rather than later and certainly much better than staying on a course he doesn't want to be on.

How can you hate a course when he's probably only done about 40hrs contact time max.
He needs to ask to be put on the list to transfer if a place becomes available on his desired course and get stuck in to his current course modules.
2 weeks of Uni is hardly a good assessment of how the course or year is going to pan out!

If the funding deadline has been missed, then I would encourage him to keep going for now. It seems very early to decide he doesn't like a subject to the extent that he wants to drop out - but is perfectly happy to do it as joint honours with something else. Hopefully he'll find his feet and settle in.

How can you hate a course when he's probably only done about 40hrs contact time max. It's a fair question, but I think you can have a good idea. In the case of my DD she'd been unsure what she wanted study having done a wide range of subjects for her French Bac - she picked philosophy and economics (a combination of she'd already had a taste of at school), but soon discovered the economics was almost entirely maths and taught (at a Russell Group uni) by a Chinese PHD student. She found it literally incomprehensible - her own fault maybe for not properly researching the course and how it would be taught, but she knew she hated it. 2 weeks of Uni is hardly a good assessment of how the course or year is going to pan out! she actually gave it slightly longer than two weeks - more like five or six, but on reflection this was a mistake and she should have gone with her gut instinct and cut her losses. Also two weeks is the speed with which you need to make any requests to change or avoid any costs if you drop out. She has no regrets (although it was very distressing for her at time). She is now on a course she loves at a university she loves.

I agree with @LillianGish, my DD did have a good idea after two weeks that a subject (Economics) wasn't for her for same reasons (too mathsy). She had studied at school and isn't maths adverse plus had poured over the course catalogue prior to accepting offer. Sometimes you just know. Her plan B was to use her +1 year to start again but since we are Scottish I realise this is easier as students don't pay fees and accommodation contracts can be terminated with 28 days notice. She was lucky that Scottish degrees are a bit more flexible (but less so than in my day) so didn't have to start again. In the event she stuck it out for a year and actually did quite well. She said when he knew she wasn't stuck with the subject as her degree her attitude improved and she just treated it like a useful outside subject. Like @LillianGishs DD she is really happy this year.

It must be really stressful for you and your son. Definitely encourage your son to get an urgent meeting with tutor. Lots step away early and come back next year with renewed focus. It is positive that he likes unis and flatmates.