#switching courses

I wouldn’t be able to talk about the merits of any language, possibly. Do we even have a languages course? First I’ve heard

I think the main concern here is which one you think you will be most interested by, because ab initio is quite intense and especially for a more challenging language like Russian or Arabic.I would recommend you go on the faculty websites and have a proper nosy look at the papers and modules you’d be able to choose between, maybe even dip into some of the first year reading lists to get an idea of what piques your interest more.

From what I’ve heard, the Russian department is pretty great, and I think the Arabic course is great too but there are also some noises about the organisation of the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies faculty/courses being frustrating at times. But people still love the subject and get great grades so I wouldn’t let that stop you.

The one major thing I think it’s worth being aware of is the admin side - you’d be swapping from a straightforward MML degree to a joint course between the two faculties. I’m not sure whether this will make it harder to switch, it might be worth contacting your college earlier in your decision making to find out. You should also look at how it will change the structure of your course. Most notably, I believe that MML/Arabic students are expected to spend the full Year Abroad in an Arabic-speaking country so it might depend how much you want to continue your post A Level language.

So it is generally fairly difficult to switch courses, and depends on the college. I know people who switched courses in the first two weeks, and others who tried, but were told they had to wait until the end of first year and get at least a 2.i before it would be allowed.

1. Yes, I know 3 or 4 people who’ve switched. It definitely happens. Most of them have been natural switches (e.g. X started with Classics, figured out she doesn’t really understand Greek at all, switched to History) although I know a guy on my course who’s switched twice! Where he’s ended up is quiiiite different to what he started on (although each of his switches were not that weird). 

2. I did actually for like 3 days right before second year started. There was this one paper within my course that I was super excited to take, I really wanted to do it and then go on to do my dissertation in that area. BUT when the paper list went online, that paper was not being offered last year. I was pretty unhappy bc that was a major draw of this course to me. So I emailed the professor and asked if he was going to be teaching it the year after, I wanted to dissertate in it, etc. He was great, I ended up helping him out with some research which taught me what I needed to do my dissertation in that area. So it all worked out in the end but yes, I definitely had that thought for a few days.