Changed mind about course- help!

[gluenotsoup]

Dd has applied via UCAS using 4 of her 5 choices. She’s had successful interviews and an offer at her first choice.
She’s changed her mind and is adamant she’s making a big mistake and wishes she’d applied to do something completely different, not related to her first choice at all. At the time of application she was torn between the 2, and now regrets it.
I’m so sad for her, she should be thrilled now with her offer and instead just doesn’t want to do it. We’ve had a chat about it just being cold feet and nerves but she thinks not.
What we can we do?
The course/ related courses she wants are at the university she has an offer from. She has the fifth choice spare, but the personal statement won’t match the new course. UCAS extras seems to be if you don’t have any offers. Can we do anything before clearing? Will they accept a fifth choice on a new personal statement?
It feels like such a mess, just when she should be excited and having the incentive of her first choice and required grades we are back to square one and the closing date has been and gone.
Any experience or advice would be appreciated x

Can you say the courses and unis, as without that it’s hard to advice? are the courses related?

She could use her fifth choice, but needs to be aware it’s after equal consideration so they have no requirement to consider making her an offer.

If she’s very unsure, she might be better off doing nothing for now and swapping at Clearing - or even a gap year?

You can only submit one ps via UCAS, but i guess you could email the other university and ask if they will accept another one if you email it over.
Most university coursescare recruiting not srlecting, and most attach little weight to the ps.

Its Manchester university. She’s applied to do nursing, now she thinks it’s not for her, despite an offer. She wants to do politics and international relations, or possibly history and modern politics.

Blimey that’s a big change. I would think looking in clearing or applying again next year with grades in hand would be her best bets.

She definitely wants Manchester, I can’t remember if either of those went into clearing last year.
Do you think it’s worth contacting the uni to ask if they have any information that might help, or if she can use the fifth choice as a late application?

DS did this a couple of years ago. After his exams he contacted the firm choice uni to ask if he could do a different course there. They asked him to rewrite his personal statement, and as soon as he sent that in they just moved him over.

Alternatively could she use #5 to apply for that course asap? Maybe email the department to say what’s happened and with a new ps on the email? Might be classed as late but at least it’s in, and see what happens.

Is it worth her deferring for a year and working or doing work experience in the areas she's interested in, to give her time to think about what she wants to do and the career options, further study and so on, related to each choice?

She sounds really unsure and since you can usually only get student funding for 4 undergraduate years, it's worth taking time to explore the different options before committing to one area of study.

I know that allied health courses are currently funded differently to non-NHS undergraduate courses, but there's no guarantee that this will be the case forever and there is a lot to be gained by having some life/work experience (and possibly some savings), before going to uni.

Some Universities don't really look at the personal statements. Bristol, for instance, which is an excellent RG Uni, say on their website that they don't pay much attention to it. Not sure about Manchester but sounds like it's definitely worth giving them a call. What is DD's predicted grades and what subjects is she currently studying?

She should contact Admissions and ask about places - it’s quite common for candidates to be changing their minds and the sooner she does it the easier it is. First of all they’ll need to check if there are places on the programme she wants, does she meet requirements etc.
But don’t hang around, get things moving now.

Yes, this. She's switched study/career universes. I would encourage her to take a year out and be absolutely sure.

You're both falling into all-or-nothing thinking. THe pressure on young people to male "THE MOST IMPORTANT DESICION OF YOUR LIFE" is really tough, and it can be a bit f a pressure cooker.

It's a big decision, yes, but she has time, and if she is so uncertain (adamant for one subject, now adamant for another, very unrelated to the first) maybe it'd be a sign that it would be useful for her to take some time out. Work for a year, see a bit of life other than study, and give her time to just breathe. And decide.

The almost-red flag to me s that her two choices are so different.

Good luck!

I would just call them and ask - depending on the interest in the other course they might be delighted to accept her application and she could submit them as her 5th option

360 courses at manchestor uni went into clearing 2025 - just because she missed the end of jan equal consideration deadline does not mean she missed out on the new course she wants

Clearing 2025: UK universities with courses still available | Student

We spoke to the admissions people at a Manchester open day in October, when DD was torn between courses. They were really helpful and said that it was fine to apply for both, and just to email them with anything not covered in the PS. She now has offers from both courses she applied to (albeit they are closely related to each other).

With a spare slot on the UCAS form I’d think your DD should get in touch with them asap and see what they say. If they make a Pol/IR offer this year then she can attend an offer holder day and ask any questions before making a final decision. If not, then knuckle down and apply with grades in hand.

As a former Russell Group admissions tutor I saw a lot of this.

My only concern is that the two degree programmes are so different and the switch sounds so sudden that one wonders whether it will stick.

I agree with PP that DD has nothing to lose and potentially much to gain by emailing, rather than calling, the admissions teams for the new programmes and asking their advice. (Find out if the two programmes are handled by the same team; if so, choose one programme for enquiries as otherwise she will look too undecided)

Manchester is in the tier to find it both logical and flattering that DD wants to go there, specifically. To what extent they can act on this will likely depend on application numbers in the target programme(s) but the enquiry is fine.

However DD will likely burn her bridges with Nursing if she is able to Firm a new offer. If Manchester is the priority, it might be better to look at the Mancunian programmes that went into Clearing last year, to assess the chances that something attractive will be available this year.

I would want my own DC to spend more time thinking about this.

My only concern is that the two degree programmes are so different and the switch sounds so sudden that one wonders whether it will stick.

This. I think (as I said upthread) she needs time to think. Take the pressure off. A gap year where she can work, see life a bit.

A gap year benefits almost everyone IMO. In this situation it could be particularly important.

DD could begin by Firming Nursing, requesting a deferral. If she is sure she wants to change she would need to let that go and make a new application.

Depending what’s likely to be available in Manchester at Clearing, though there are no guarantees, at least that path gives her a few months to think ( also while holding the Nursing offer)

Tell her to wait for clearing

Seeing as her first choice is nursing I would look at deferring for a year, and applying for work as a health care assistant next year to see if she definitely wants to do nursing or not.
If she doesn’t she can apply for a different course next year and caring is great life experience anyway.

A gap year benefits almost everyone IMO.

100%

Pupils today are on an exam & assessment treadmill from the age of about 5 with SATS. It's a great idea to step off, breathe, experience the world a bit.

Thank you, all. There’s lots to think about there, and a lot of confirmation of my own thoughts. I was trying not to be too outing, but I’ve kind of done that already. We live in Manchester, so it would be practical to go there, which is what she’s thinking. She’s very young in the academic year, and just hasn’t felt ready to move away but does want a good RG uni.
She has had international relations/ history type courses in mind for a long time, with plans to possibly do a later masters in international relations. When it came to looking around unis and starting personal statements she flapped and decided nursing was the way forward instead. It wasn’t as random as it sounds, we have a severely disabled daughter as well and medical situations, impact etc have been her whole life experience too. In many ways she would make an exceptional nurse as she has all the innate qualities by experience, but she thinks now that by “conditioning “ in a way has pushed her to think that nursing is the right way but her own personality and strengths are in the essay based subjects and she loves history and all it’s connected importance.
So- I think she needs to breathe a bit, but if she’s set on the change I think the way forward might be the suggestion to use the spare choice and contact the department directly to plead her case. She’s got a lot of strengths and soft skills, I just want her to be proud and happy about her choices, so it keeps that spark to push for your goals alive .

My ds did something similar, but thankfully changed tack in September so before the UCAS form went in. Manchester PIR isn't showing as full on the ucas website, so definitely worth approaching them to ask to switch. Otherwise, would she consider Sheffield? They have a 98% offer rate, so she would have a good chance of getting a place.

Ring admissions. I'm admissions tutor for a course and we will consider course changes from applicants. Sometimes these can be completely different. We've had students come from all sorts of subjects in the past.

Can't guarantee this is the same everywhere but you should at least ask.

I just thought I’d come back to give an update. Thank you to all who offered advice.
Dd was convinced there was no point contacting the uni regarding the new course, or submitting a late application on the 5th choice because she thought it would be rejected outright, and college advisors said similar. I convinced her that she had nothing to lose by trying, and she composed an email asking to be considered for the course and if they would kindly accept an alternative personal statement. That was on a Friday, they replied on the Monday confirming they would be happy to do both. She spent the Monday evening writing a new personal statement, submitting it to the university on the Tuesday morning and had an offer from them by the same evening!
She is completely stunned by the ease and speed of it all but over the moon too. It’s given her a real incentive now to lock in and revise hard to get the grades, which are AADistinction.
😊 I’m so happy for her and keeping my fingers firmly crossed now to get the grades as this will be her only available option.