Hi guys, I've just joined the group as I'm in a massive quandary.

I've just started my MA Creating Social Media @ Goldsmiths, London.

My problem is that the course I signed up to study is in disarray, and the things that i was expecting to be taught are not on the syllabus.

We had a 'crisis' meeting today with course convenors, head of departments, pg admins etc.
Basically the course is a joint masters course spread across two departments, the centre for culture studies and computing.  Their default answer is "you need to speak to the other department".

Anyway today they made the right noises and said that they would provide additional teaching to address our concerns, however it became clear that the problem was that a member of staff had left in the summer, and they hadnt replaced him.

Now do I give them a chance, or do I cut my losses and look elsewhere? Baring in mind that i've already invested a helluva lot of time to get to this stage.  However I do not have confidence in these people. I had prior problems on a pre-sessional course which resulted in me issuing a Bank Chargeback, as I was unable to follow the teaching there, due to a couple of planned absences which coincided with new key information.

How tricky is it to switch Masters courses on Week 3?  Is this even an option?

I'd really appreciate any advice

Dan

Hi Dantastic,

I did a masters at another London university a couple of years ago, and in the first few weeks I found some issues arose in terms of supervision and support. About 3/4 weeks in I looked into switching courses by contacting other universities with similar courses and just phoning to ask about how likely it was to get a place a few weeks in. Some were helpful and said that the earlier you contact them, the more likely they were to have places available, and asked for a CV instead of a full application. I ended up staying at my university because some of the issues were dealt with enough that I could stick it out. However, I was pretty unhappy for the year.

My advice would be to contact other universities and see what they say. I'm not sure how switching courses would work in terms of funding and whether you would still have to pay a portion of your fees to Goldsmiths, so it might be worth checking that too before deciding to jump university. But it can't hurt to enquire, and you may find somewhere else with the right staff members available to teach the things you were hoping to learn. Hope this helps, and best of luck in whatever you decide!

Tulip

Thanks Tulip, that was really helpful.

I've done some digging and found out that my career development loan has already paid Goldsmiths 50%, so I would be responsible for getting that money back myself, although they have admitted that they havent provided what I've signed up for, so whilst I would have good grounds, it's prob still in my interest to stick it another week or so and see what they come up with.

I will have a ring around to see what other options there are, seeing as its London, there are a few Unis :)