By Alycia McNamara
Thinking about transferring universities? Odds are, you might not know how to go about it, you’re probably worried because not many other people make the same decision, and you don’t know who to go to for help. Information on the topic is scarcely available and navigating yourself through the system isn’t always as easy as you might think… but keep reading and I promise you’ll soon have all the information you need to get to where you want to go. So, where do we start?
Firstly, how do you decide whether it’s the right thing to do for you? If you’ve been thinking about it for a while, it most likely is so don’t be afraid to start looking into it. Maybe you didn’t get into the university you want, maybe you did but its not what you expected, in this case, transferring is definitely worth considering. If you aren’t sure, talk it over with some friends or family and they’ll be able to help you realise if it’s right for you.
Next, you need to talk to your personal tutor at your current university and let them know that you are thinking about transferring. They will often be able to give you some useful advice and you’ll also need them to be a reference for your UCAS application.
Time to start researching! Make sure you find a university and course which you think will be better suited to you, think about what you don’t like about your current university and look for things which appeal to you elsewhere. If you are transferring, you should be staying on the same or a very similar course and hoping to enter at second or third year. If you are hoping to get into a different university for a different course, this isn’t transferring as you’ll have to start again from first year. To transfer into second year, the first year of your course at your current university has to mostly match the content of the first year at the university you want to transfer to so that you are not at a disadvantage. To transfer into third year, you have to ensure that your credits from second year at your current university can also be transferred with you.
Ready to start your UCAS application? By this point, you’ve done most of the hard work so well done! UCAS works the same as it did when you applied the first time around, but with one very small but important difference! When entering which year of the course you would like to start at, make sure to change this to point of entry two (second year) or point of entry three (third year) depending on what year of the course you want to transfer to.
All done! All you need to do now is wait for your results to confirm your place and hopefully you’re in! Don’t forget to also complete an official withdrawal of studies form for your current university and inform student finance of the changes to your study. While you are waiting for your results it would also be useful to start looking at possible accommodation options.
Good luck!
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