How to change degrees

Choosing what to study at university can be daunting, but deciding to change direction can be too. Once your teen has chosen a degree, they may feel like they should stick it out no matter what, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

There are plenty of good reasons why your teen might want to swap degrees. Maybe their first choice has proven too easy, too hard, too boring or simply not what they expected—or perhaps they chose a degree based on their selection score and now want to upgrade to something else. They might have friends who are studying something else that sounds appealing.

Whatever their reasons, as a parent or guardian, it’s a good idea to be prepared and know the processes that you’ll need to follow, just in case.

Ask why

Before you or your teen do anything, it’s worth discussing what they hope to get out of swapping degrees.

Sometimes when teens lose interest in their current degree, or even just a course within it, they can see changing to another program as an easy way of alleviating their stress. While this is true to an extent, there’s no guarantee they won’t soon start feeling the same way again the next time they hit a roadblock in their studies.

If their current degree allows, it may be worth suggesting that they take a few electives in the area they want to change into instead. This will let them get some hands-on experience and find out the realities of the new degree before they fully commit.

If burnout is the issue, it may also be a better idea for your teen to just take a temporary break from study altogether. New students may be eligible to defer the start of their degree, while current students can apply for a leave of absence, allowing them to postpone their study for a trimester or even longer. For many students, this break can make all the difference, and coming back to their degree fresh can allay the desire to swap to something else.

Check your dates

One of the key considerations when it comes to changing degrees, or even dropping subjects, is timing. If your teen decides to change direction before census date, then that’s normally not an issue, either academically or financially. But if they decide after census date—generally a week or two into each trimester—they may still be liable for any tuition fees.

You can check Griffith’s census dates through our academic calendar, though it’s important to note that some courses have non-standard census dates. You can confirm the census date for any particular course through our Programs and Courses page. Simply find the course by searching for its code, then check under the ‘Key dates’.

If it’s after census date and your teen still wants to drop their courses and change degrees, that’s still possible. Depending on when they drop their courses, they may be able to at least avoid any academic penalty. This will be the difference between a W—withdrawn—on their academic transcript or a WF—withdrawn fail.

Ensure their eligibility

Before your teen starts moving ahead with dropping their current courses and preparing to transfer, it’s worth ensuring that they’re actually eligible to enter the degree they want to move into. It’s important to note that depending on how much of their current degree they’ve completed, they may have increased their selection rank via a process known as upgrading via university studies.

Their new selection rank will depend both on their GPA and the number of courses they’ve completed. For example, if they’ve completed two subjects with a GPA of 6.00, they’ll have earned the equivalent of an 83.00, but the same GPA over eight courses is the equivalent to a 98.00.

This means that in some cases, it may make more sense for them to continue in their current degree for a while longer before they apply to transfer. To check the specific requirements of any Griffith degree, you can use our degree finder.

Transferring internally

If your teen decides they want to apply to change degrees to another offering from Griffith, the process is quite straightforward, although there are a few things they’ll need to consider. As well as checking their eligibility, as explained above, your teen will also need to find out if there are places available in the degree they want to transfer into. They’ll also need to make sure their application is received by the closing date.

The outcome of any internal application process will be sent to your teen’s Griffith student email address, but they’ll also be able to track its progress online. If your teen’s application is successful, they won’t need to apply to have any relevant course credits awarded, as this will automatically be completed as part of the internal transfer process.