EVERY YEAR a significant number of college students begin to question whether the third level course they are taking is the right one for them. For some students the situation becomes so bad that they drop out of college altogether. Others struggle on with their courses while yet others make the decision to change to something different.

For students ho have slaved away for years to gain a coveted college place, discovering that they dislike their chosen course is a nightmare. While no figures are available on the number of students who change course each year, it's likely that they are significant.

Anecdotally students report that many students would like to change course but fear to do so because of the financial implications and the distress caused to parents.

Last year UCD got 1,000 CAO applications from people who were already in third level or who had been in third level. However, many people use these applications as insurance policies only and often decide to continue on with what they're doing. Last year too, 160 TCD students applied to transfer back into the first year of an other course (60 per cent were successful) and a further 50 students asked lord transfers without loss of year, of whom 40 were successful.

At DCU, meanwhile, the numbers applying to change courses have dropped in recent years, according to Helena Ahern, PRO for the Irish Association for University and College Counsellors. In any one year no more than 20 students now come to the counselling service expressing concern about their courses, she says.

Although some colleges such as TCD and DCU have internal transfer systems, the RTCs and the NUI colleges all insist that transfers are done through the CAO system.

However, all colleges stress that there are no back doors into courses. You have to have sufficient Leaving Cert points for the course to which you wish to transfer and a place must be available.

Students experiencing problems with their courses fall into a number of categories. There are those experiencing temporary difficulties which may be related to settling in to college life, other personal problems or minor concerns with particular subjects. These students are the ones who are likely to continue happily and successfully with their courses once their specific problems are resolved.

Students experiencing serious difficulties with their courses are the ones who are likely to need to change. According to college career advisors and counsellors, much of the unhappiness which students disappointed in their courses experience is due to the fact that they have embarked on courses about which they have inadequate information.

In a study of 50 TCD students who changed courses, Deirdre, Davys, a guidance counsellor at Palmerstown Community School, Co Dublin, discovered that the most frequently cited reason for a course change was that the original course was different to expectation.

"The students said that researching a course had not been a priority for them," says Davys. "Their main aim was to get enough points to secure a college place. There's huge pressure on them to get into college, the course is less important. Some of them said that they would have taken anything, that was offered just to get a place.

Every year in the universities a small number of high points achieving students opt for the so called "high prestige courses - law, medicine and the like - because of pressure from parents and friends. "What a waste to do arts if you've got 600 points," is a common refrain. These students quickly discover that they're not cut out for their chosen courses and they begin to examine other options.

Meanwhile, in the RTCs "people often find they're in the wrong course because they've been offered a choice that is low down on their list and they haven't researched it," says Pauline Staunton, student counsellor at Galway RTC. "We get students who have enrolled on the hotel and catering course who are unaware that the course involves cookery and waiting on tables."

SIMILARLY, she says, there are people doing engineering who are only average at maths.

"A lot of students come to college with the wrong advice and parents are largely to blame," says Loretta Jennings, careers and appointments officer at St Patrick's College, Maynooth. "They are concerned about employability but they fail to realise that, if you do a course you dislike, you're unlikely to do very well in it. You'll end up at the bottom of the pile. The students who do well are those who genuinely enjoy their subjects."

Most employers, looking for people with trained minds - the discipline is irrelevant.

Some students fall into the trap of deciding what points they are likely to get in the Leaving Cert and then applying only for those courses they believe they are likely to be offered.

They ignore the courses they really want to do, fearing - often incorrectly - that the points will be too high.

Abraham son, has been a college tutor since 1979. Despite recent increases in undergraduate numbers, he says, the number of students wishing to change courses has remained static. Better guidance at school level is responsible for this. However, "careers guidance is not half as good as it might be and there are students coming in who are not in the right place", he says.

ONLY schools with more than 500 students are entitled to a full time guidance counsellor. In smaller schools a teacher will be assigned the role for only a couple of hours each week. "Many students have a negative view of careers guidance," Davys says. "UK research shows that the more able the student, the less likely s/he is to value the service."

Many students who dislike their courses are often to reluctant to change courses fearing that they will make another wrong decision. Parents too can concur with this view.

Before they make any decisions though, students need to take a long, hard look at themselves and examine their aptitudes and interests, Jennings advises. "In arts people sometimes chose a range of subjects in order to keep their options open, when they should be asking themselves `What kind of thinker am I? Do I have a scientific or an artistic mind? Do I like dealing with facts or emotions?'".

Financial considerations are of great significance for anyone thinking about changing courses. If you repeat a year, you have to pay your own fees and you will be ineligible for a grant for that year. However, if you withdraw from a course and deregister by 31 January, you will be entitled to half your repeat year fees and half of your grant.

The downside of de registering is that if you wish to apply for a course in UCD from another college you are required to have passed your first year exams or you will be ineligible. This rule does not apply to UCD students wishing to change from one UCD course to another - they are accepted into new courses on the basis of their Leaving Cert only. If though, you are on an ESF funded course you may drop out and reapply for another ESF funded course without affecting your free fees entitlement.

At UCC careers officer Eileen Cosgrove encourages students to finish out the year if circumstances permit. "They will then always have first arts or commerce under their belt and they can complete them at a later date," she says.

In order to get a true picture of any course you need to sift the fine print in the prospectus and take advantage of college open days. "You get to meet the lecturers who can explain their subjects in a detailed way and you can talk to students on the course," says Helena Ahern. "It's the only way you'll understand what's involved in a particular, course."