Hi,
I recently got admitted to UTSG for studies in life sciences. However, I recently realized that I don’t want to study life sciences, and that I would rather study humanities/social sciences (intl. relations and Spanish). How do I go about switching this? I emailed the New College registrar just because I didn’t know who else to email, but it’s been a week and they haven’t emailed me back yet.
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hey there,
you can’t switch into the humanities or social sciences right now. you’ve been accepted into the life sciences, and there’s no way to change your offer of admission. the silver lining is that you’re not actually in a program (what we call a subject program of study or subject POSt) at this point. you’re in a degree POSt, which is the general stream of life science. you’ll be required to pick a program (or programs) in the summer after your first year.
the good thing about being in a life science degree POSt in your first year is that it doesn’t mean very much at all. no one will force you to take any life science courses in your first year. you’re free to sign up for SPA100Y1 and ECO100Y1 and HIS103Y1/HIS102Y1 (all of which you will need to be eligible for the Spanish and international relations majors in your second year).
the only thing that could cause a minor hindrance is that some of those courses that you need may have a priority, which means that you would have to wait until a later date to enrol into them. since course enrolment goes so fast, it’s always possible that those courses that have priorities might fill up before you get the chance to enrol in them.
however, not all courses will have a priority, and many of these first-year, introductory courses are very, very big. that means that they are less likely to fill up, and also that lots of people are likely to drop them one week in, and free up space for YOU to sign up.
and one final tip: priorities (and other enrolment controls) are why it’s a good idea (for everyone, not just for you) to have backup courses. try and arrange as many different schedules as possible that still allow you to complete the prerequisites for your subject POSts of interest. you may not get your ideal schedule, but you’ll get one that does what it needs to do.
cheers,
aska
