I still remember the moment when I read the email. The panic that rushed through me as I thought that my plan was not going to work out. I was almost through my first year, having worked towards transferring into the degree I’d been wanting to study, only to feel like my hopes had been crushed. I had received advice that what I wanted to do wasn’t possible, despite being told otherwise at the Open Day a year earlier. It was. But I didn’t know that yet.
The problem is almost never the fault of (or often entirely fixable by) the person you are talking to, so always be kind to the people helping you. The root of your problem is a corporatised university that continues to fragment their administrative processes, whilst understaffing the areas that manage these processes. But whilst we work on changing the broader system, here’s my survival guide for the one we are living in at the moment.
Familiarise yourself with the rules of your degree as early as you can. Understanding the handbook for your degree will help you figure out what you can do, even when the system says that you can’t. All it takes is a line of the sub point that lets you do more than you were told that was possible. You will (more often than not) know more about your degree than the person who is helping you.
Expect a two week turn around per request, minimum. If you can apply earlier than that, do it as early as you can. I once had to wait eight weeks to be properly enrolled in my subjects because it took three different requests, each taking their own fortnight, with an additional two weeks for remaking a request after it wasn’t completed.
Transferring degrees brings you both into the degree that you want, but also into a new pile of administration to deal with. Credit applications and personalised progression plans can make things more confusing, but if you keep track of your own information early (or seek academic advice), you’ll know how many subjects you need to complete for each part of your degree and where you are up to throughout.
If you are changing your major or transferring into a degree that does not accommodate for students to start in any semester except semester one of first year, it can be quite useful to be able to complete a second year unit at the same time as its first year prerequisite, since most subjects run once a year.
I found that the magic words in these applications were “degree progression.”A polite explanation that you are trying to ensure that you meet your degree progression and that you are confident in your ability to complete the unit can get you further than you think. It’s important to make sure that you can catch up on the assumed knowledge, but if you are willing to work hard and ask for help when needed, it’s a doable path to get you a little further in your degree faster.
Sometimes you will do everything right and your request will be rejected. Despite having already received approval (and completed) three of four additional units I was trying to do, my application for the final one was refused. It took some more emailing, with context and persistence, but I eventually made it into the class.
If something feels wrong, it probably is, so just send the email. It’s easy to feel like it’ll just work itself out in time but sometimes it is actually wrong in the system and you are the person most likely to notice.
Keep track of useful links when you stumble upon them. You can use the universal timetable to see all the times and locations of any class that you are looking for. If you study Law, the timetable on the Law Student portal includes this information along with the teacher.
Design the degree that you want. Talk to people when you can. Push the boundaries to the edges of your handbook (and even further if you can). May you have less administrative dramas than I have.