[Earplugs]

Hi,

I'm currently approaching the end of my first year at university studying Theatre.
I intend to get my PGCE after graduating to then be able to teach post 16 Drama as I believe I could do a great job.

For a while now I've been interested in Meteorology and Climate Science after researching the two, however this newly found interest is all very new to me. I left school without any qualifications, going to a college to gain I.T, Maths and English GCSE before then studying A Level Theatre to access university.

I'm thinking about taking up a couple of GCSE's with ICS in Chemistry and Physics during my second year of university. I'm currently fantasising over the idea of eventually completing A level Maths and Physics or Chemistry to then study Meteorology and Climate Science at university level when I'm much older which would pave way for me to perhaps then become a Climatologist (for example).

I'm wondering whether I'm speaking crap or not. If I undertake these GCSE's (see how I do), but decide that actually I don't want to pursue Science and Maths, will these GCSE's prove worthless (as I'll already have a degree in Theatre) when searching for employment in the job market?

All things aside I'm not entirely sure what I want to do when I'm older, hence this thread. I'm unsure if these GCSE's can help me become more versatile in the job market if I decide not to undertake them at A Level..

Thank you for reading!

[Mbob]

(Original post by Earplugs)
Hi,

I'm currently approaching the end of my first year at university studying Theatre.
I intend to get my PGCE after graduating to then be able to teach post 16 Drama as I believe I could do a great job.

For a while now I've been interested in Meteorology and Climate Science after researching the two, however this newly found interest is all very new to me. I left school without any qualifications, going to a college to gain I.T, Maths and English GCSE before then studying A Level Theatre to access university.

I'm thinking about taking up a couple of GCSE's with ICS in Chemistry and Physics during my second year of university. I'm currently fantasising over the idea of eventually completing A level Maths and Physics or Chemistry to then study Meteorology and Climate Science at university level when I'm much older which would pave way for me to perhaps then become a Climatologist (for example).

I'm wondering whether I'm speaking crap or not. If I undertake these GCSE's (see how I do), but decide that actually I don't want to pursue Science and Maths, will these GCSE's prove worthless (as I'll already have a degree in Theatre) when searching for employment in the job market?

All things aside I'm not entirely sure what I want to do when I'm older, hence this thread. I'm unsure if these GCSE's can help me become more versatile in the job market if I decide not to undertake them at A Level..

Thank you for reading!

Difficult one.

As a general rule, GCSEs do not matter all that much once you have a degree. A few very competitive jobs who need to arbitrarily reduce their pool of applicants may filter by GCSE, but in that case they are likely to insist they were all taken in one sitting, and certainly before University.

While I wouldn't claim to be an expert on graduate recruitment, I would guess that, all else being equal, you are probably not going to be particularly competitive for graduate-level jobs other than your planned teaching career. I don't think that doing additional GCSEs would make a huge difference to that. It may, however, get you through basic screening for some sub-graduate level jobs which require 5 GCSEs of a certain grade or above.

I don't think they are a waste of time though - learning is always good and it's certainly never too late. Providing it doesn't distract from your main degree.

Bear in mind that, unless things change, you won't get student support for a second undergraduate degree, so it would be an expensive option, for a career which is not particularly well-paid.

Also, remember that many people who work in climate science have degrees in all sorts of science subjects - physics, maths, engineering and so on, not just meteorology.