An investigation by Varsity into student subject transfers has found that Management Studies was the most popular subject to transfer into, followed by Natural Sciences, while Engineering lost the largest number of students.

According to data obtained by Varsity, 668 successful subject transfers were made between October 2017 and June 2020.

The transfer process requires students to approach their tutor or Director of Studies (DoS) to discuss their options. Their tutor or Director of Studies can then contact the Director of Studies in the other subject to proceed with the transfer. 

Deputy Editor Meike Leonard, who switched from Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES) to History and Politics after her first year, called her experience “straightforward,” but added that it would have been “less stressful” if “switching courses was better advertised.”

This data investigation follows on from a  2018 investigation by Varsity which found that Human, Social and Political Sciences (HSPS) was the most popular subject for student subject transfers between October 2006 and June 2017.

According to the data, Management Studies is the most popular subject for students to transfer into, with 115 transfers into the subject between 2017 and 2020, compared to just 2 transfers out. Management Studies is only offered as a Part II course, meaning students can apply to transfer in after two or three years of studying another subject.

Meanwhile, Engineering lost the largest number of students over the three year period, with 111 transfers out and 32 transfers in, giving the subject an overall change in the number of students of -79, compared to +113 for Management studies.

HSPS - which was hailed as the “biggest winner in subject transfers” in the 2018 Varsity investigation, gaining 67 students overall between October 2013 and June 2017 - gained 36 students overall, with 31 transfers out and 67 transfers into the tripos. As a result, it retains its title as the most popular humanities subject to transfer into.

Other popular subjects for students to transfer into included Natural Sciences, which had 106 transfers in compared to 64 transfers out. Manufacturing Engineering saw 94 transfers in and three transfers out. 

Engineering to Manufacturing Engineering was the most popular subject transfer combination, with 91 transfers, followed by Mathematics to Natural Sciences, with 40 transfers. 

Meanwhile, some subjects saw very little change in their overall numbers: both Theology, Religion and Philosophy of Religion (TRPR) and History and Modern Languages (HML) gained as many students as they lost through the student transfer process. TRPR lost and gained one student, and HML also lost and gained four students.

In total, 48 students transferred out of Mathematics and 25 transferred in. However, transfers from Mathematics to humanities subjects such as Modern and Medieval Languages (MML) and Music were very low, with one transfer into each. 

While most students transfer between closely related subjects, there have been some cases of students switching between very different courses. Combinations include transfers from History of Art to Natural Sciences, Maths to MML and Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic (ASNaC) to Management Studies.

“I had a really positive experience of changing tripos at Christ's,” Arran Parry-Davies, who transferred from Education to HSPS in 2019, told Varsity. “I approached my DoS and tutor in Lent term and it was all sorted out very quickly and I was given a chance to talk it through with the DoS of the subject I was intending to switch to.”

“I've heard stories from other colleges of tripos changes being a lot more challenging and I think greater transparency and consistency between colleges is really needed in the future,” Parry-Davies told Varsity.

AMES had 33 transfers out of the subject, and only one transfer into the tripos. Meanwhile, History and Politics gained 11 students and lost seven. 

Leonard recalled being set a politics essay and attending a supervision before being permitted to transfer courses. She was also required to submit a history essay written during her first year. 

“Overall all parties were very kind and helpful… I know some of my friends who have also switched courses have had a more difficult time with it, and I definitely think my college (Murray Edwards) is partly responsible for how smooth it was.” 

“I think it’s slightly absurd that students are expected to know what they want to study for 3-4 years of their lives at the age of 17,” Leonard said. “I obviously didn’t, and it was only through quite a lot of effort [and] investigating on my part that I was able to begin the process at all.”