Changing course for next year

fivetwenty

Hypothetically, yeah?

So I'm in first year but I'm not sure if I like my course at this moment in time. Let's say I was thinking of changing to another course next year (I've 540 points in waiting from last year, so there's a decent chance I'll get it) - Do I need to go through CAO, or the college as I want to remain in UL?

When do I need to let them know by? I'd almost certainly rather change course than if I've to repeat some exams in the Summer (which I probably will have)

Anyone done this before? Thanks.

cson

Contact the Student Academic Administration (SAA). They'll tell you what the craic is, I'd imagine if you meet the course requirements it shouldn't be a problem.

But you will have to pay 1st year fees which could be anything from €5,000 to €10,000.

fivetwenty

cson wrote: »

Contact the Student Academic Administration (SAA). They'll tell you what the craic is, I'd imagine if you meet the course requirements it shouldn't be a problem.

But you will have to pay 1st year fees which could be anything from €5,000 to €10,000.

Is time an issue? I know the CAO applications reach their deadline pretty soon. But from what I read, you seemed to imply it's college initiated rather than CAO?

cson

Easiest thing to do is cover all bases; We're back on the 26th so head up to the SAA office (Main Building, up the stairs and to your left) tell them what you want to do and they'll tell you what you can do. That way if you have to go through the CAO for it, you'll still have time.

ceacht

If you fail in your current course or any part of it you won't be allowed do an internal transfer! Make sure you pass all exams you need to have a certain qca to transfer regardless of your leaving cert points and can't have failed any subject or module in current course. Otherwise you will have to reapply through the CAO. Fees up to 10,000 per year will have to be paid ie. you will pay for the first year of your new course.

cson

He's gonna have to pay anyway. I think I'm correct in saying if you pursue a course past ~middle October you'll lose your free fees for that year - 1st year. Even if you're transferring.

jimbo007

I did this years ago (i started in 1997) and I transferred from one course to another (from electronic manufacturing to IT&T). Because the courses were similar, I could transfer from the first year of one into the second year of another because my grades were high enough at the end of year 1. It's worth talking to student academic administration about this (or to the relevant lecturer over the course you want to apply to) because it didn't cost me anything, the application just had to go before a board before it was approved.

Harpy

i'm pretty sure if you drop out before 31st of January you'll only have to pay half fee's next year. go to student admin and see what the story is

only18

hey same thing kinda happened to me this year.im a first year and my course went up 150 points on the cao and i was landed with my second choice...DISASTER.. it was a course in UL... anyway i knew it wasnt for me by week 2! what I did was emailed the college i wanted to go to mary i. and emailed ul many times(dont do this they never reply) with my situation. so then i went to student services in both colleges and kept nagging(which u must do to get anywhere). I wrote mary i a letter telling them how much i wanted it how many points i got ect ect. at the time 12 people applied for the transfer i think only 5 got in including me .

Basically there are two types of transfers
1.Internal transfer eg changing from on UL course to another.
or.
2.External transfer eg.UL to Ucd

Unfortunatly for u its too late to get back your €972 in fees. if u change course before the end of oct u get them back. It realistically is too late to change couse with 1 semester down..
The government only pays your 1st year fees once so unfortunatly u will have to pay a couple of thousand if u were starting a new course next year.

After that lenghty speech my advise would be act now.
Go to the offices in UL as soon as you can in person. trying to change course was a bit of a nightmare for me as both colleges kept telling me to go to this office and another office. not to mention UL student services lost my Exit form 3TIMES!! I am nearly sure you will have to go thru the cao again but it is an internal transfer so u mite be ok. good luck with it. theres nothing worse than spending 4 years doing somthing you dont like! all the best!

danlen

i changed a couple of years back. go to saa and fill out a transfer request form. u'll be called up for a meeting where u explain why u want to change. if u only do one semester this year u will only have to pay half the fees next year. i did this and i didnt have to pass my exams