How Can I Secure a Spot in My Desired Chemistry Course After a Poor Interview?

[DrFishNips]

I applied to university as a mature student (23). I'm in Ireland. The course I want to do is a chemistry course. I was interviewed for 2 courses that were on my list the chemisty one as well as electronic engineering. I was so nervous when I went into the chemistry course interview I messed it up completely. Did a terrible interview. Then since I didn't care too much about the electronic engineering one I wasn't nervous at all and did a brilliant interview. Now what I did was I managed to get into a pre university science course and I got pretty good marks in it so now I have something even better than a leaving cert. I assumed that would be enough to get me into that chemistry course but I was talking to the university today and they think that I will probably get a place in the electronic engineering course not the chemistry one because of the interviews I did.

That wouldn't be too bad but I found out today that since electronic engineering is an unrelated field it will be hard to transfer. Now I'm worried that I mighta messed up my chances of getting into this chemistry course. I'm dead set on getting into this particular course because its an unconventional chemistry course that encompasses other fields like biology, physics and pharmacology aswell. It would be perfect for me as they are my favourite fields. Anyway what I'm wondering is what I can do to get into this course as soon as possible if I don't get a place in September. Would it be possible to get into it after christmas? Also if I get accepted into the electronic engineering course would it be beneficial for me to do that for a year then try and transfer to chemistry or should I just reject the electronic engineering course and focus only on the chemistry one. I'm regretting putting electronic engineering on my list because if I had only been interviewed for the chemistry course maybe they would have let me in instead of giving me a place in the course they think I was more enthusiastic about in the interview.

Any tips?

 

[elect_eng]

Any tips?

I'm not sure what tips I could give, but I can make a couple of comments.

As an electrical engineer, I can say that electrical engineering courses are generally not very relevant to chemistry. There is a close relation with physics, but chemistry, although useful to know, is not too critical for electrical engineers.

My first year studying electrical engineering was all basic courses such as physics, chemistry, biology, calculus, economics and general education (history, writing etc.). If this is the case for your school, you can enter in EE, get all A's and look very good for transfering to chemistry.

However, you mentioned that transfering may not be easy, so you'll have to make your own judgement of the best strategy. Maybe it's better to do whatever it takes to get into chemistry now. I'm not sure how, but you may find ways.

 

[math_04]

Well if you are interested in chemistry more than electrical engineering, you might want to apply to a range of different universities. Some universities have less stringent admission requirements than others but there may be problems like travel, accomodation etc. Otherwise, yes, you should consider doing your electrical eng degree for first year and attempt to transfer your physics degree. You should also get transfer credit for studying physics and maths in first year and carry that to your physics degree.

You should probably talk with a course advisor in detail before proceeding, the main problem is what happens if you cannot transfer. You will be stuck doing electrical engineering for 3-4 years and if you are not interested in it very much, it can be a major problem.