Career change: Everything you need to know

When a student decides to make a career change, it is necessary to take into account that a series of steps will be taken to make this procedure possible. Therefore, here we will explain everything you need to know about changing careers, indicating the steps you must follow.

Requirements

The requirements for a change of degree vary depending on the university where you study. However, some requirements do not vary, i.e. they tend to be similar, regardless of the university or degree course you are studying at. Here is a short list of these requirements:

• Updated academic report: This is a document that includes all the information regarding the current status of the degree, number of subjects enrolled and passed, among others. This will verify that you have passed the subjects required for the change of degree course.
• Proof of enrolment: This is also known as proof of studies and will serve to prove that the student is active for the change of degree course.
• Change of degree programme form: This is a document that will serve to formalise the student’s intention to change degree programmes.

It should be noted that some universities have additional requirements. Moreover, in many of these universities, these requirements are completely digital, since the process is carried out online. Therefore, it is necessary that you check all this on the website of your university faculty.

Procedure

The procedure to formalise the career change will depend on the university itself. However, in most cases this is notified to the coordination, dean or administrative staff of the faculty. In this way, the student’s case is also evaluated in order to determine whether he/she meets the requirements for a career change. In general terms, the steps to follow for this procedure are as follows:

1. Find out what are the specific requirements that your faculty asks for in order to change your degree and proceed to meet them.
2. Once you have the requirements, apply online, if the university or college requests it. Usually, with this procedure, you will be given an appointment to bring the physical requirements to the coordination or dean’s office.
3. Go to the coordination or dean’s office with the physical requirements to formalise the application.
4. If all the requirements are in order, you will be passed to the admission system for the degree programme you have chosen.

Return to the general admission process

The general admission process for admission to a degree course consists of an aptitude test in which the applicant’s abilities to study this course are evaluated. In this case, it is a series of multiple-choice exams in literature, mathematics or basic aspects of the career to which one wishes to aspire.

These exams can usually take several days and a minimum average score is required, which is calculated from the results of all the exams taken by the applicant. In other words, the applicant must go through the general admission process again, but this time for the new degree programme he/she is applying for.

Apply for a change of studies

This is a process in which students again make known their intention to change their major or specialisation by sending a letter to the dean’s office to continue the process. This is initiated once the applicant has successfully passed the entrance exams so that he/she does not start the course from the first semester. With this step, students move on to the validation of subjects, which will be explained later.

This procedure may vary depending on the university, as in many faculties this step is not necessary, but they go directly to the validation of their subjects.

Subject validation

Once the change of degree has been approved, it will be necessary for the coordination, control of studies or dean’s office to validate the subjects that are related to the new degree to be studied by the student, as long as they are present in the study plan. That is to say, if the student studied and passed Mathematics I in the previous degree course, he/she can request that this subject be validated in the syllabus of the new degree course.

In this way, the student avoids wasting time retaking and passing subjects that he/she has already passed in the previous degree course.