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Unsure about Physics & Astronomy degree

In Autumn 2012 I started my Physics and Astronomy degree. I first became interested in this when I was 13 and chose all my school subjects around it. I went to a Scottish secondary and left a year earlier than most university-aiming students, with 5 Highers, 4 in sciences and just 1 in arts (H English).
My first year of uni was hectic. I got pretty good grades (AAAB) but there was so much on my mind. I was in a crappy relationship, wasn't socialising as much as I should have been, and just over half way through the course I started having issues with (borderline) depression. I'm unsure whether it was the relationship, my studies or both that contributed to this.
There were aspects that I enjoyed and disliked. Maths was pretty good. Astronomy was mixed but overall enjoyable and interesting. Physics was so flegh... especially labs. It was my weakest subject and I got used to mediocre marks for stuff.
At the start of 2nd year I was overwhelmed... and underwhelmed. I just felt totally uninterested in what I was studying. But I felt like a completely different person. I went to a few Classics lectures and found the style so different and interesting - people were asking questions in a whole different way than to Physics. Yet, I don't think it's something I could study.
Anyway, a mixture of disinterest/lack of motivation, confusion about what I wanted to study and mental health issues (mostly the last... quite a bit of the first though) made me take a year out. I applied to the University of Edinburgh for a range of courses and got rejected for both arts courses I applied for and one science, leaving me with artificial intelligence (which seems really cool) and electronics and engineering. After a while I felt that I really wanted to go back and continue my degree, which was the definite plan until... well, this week really. I looked over my old astronomy notes and... God, I despised it. Truly, utterly hated it. I ended up crying that I was doing it and lying on my bed refusing to go back (pathetic, I know). I kept thinking to myself, what's the point in learning all these mathematical techniques? Why do physics if it's all just equations? WHAT'S THE POINT?!
I've just been exposed to so much this past year and I'm changing so much. It was a saddening, empty boredom. My interests are expanding and I'm finding it hard to accept all these changes. Thing is, I don't want to switch a degree and dislike it too. With astronomy, I guess I had something of a spiritual fondness for it, being part of the universe and everything. But that formed when I was quite lonely and didn't do much outside the house - now I'm yearning to socialise and my character is changing. That solace in the cosmos... there's a voice in my head telling me it's stupid. That it cuts me off.
I don't know what to do. I'm just not the same person I was when I started my degree. Then again, when I started about 18 months ago I was shaken up by other stuff in my life (ie relationship). When I was questioning my degree a while back I thought/realised that I was doing something that the younger me aspired to be. It's like I've chosen a subject that would get me the job I wanted, but I wouldn't enjoy the course. And then when I think about what a job in physics would be like, it seems dull. How does Brian Cox make it so hippie and spiritual?
Sorry about the long post. Any advice would be really appreciated.
Reply 1
Original post by masc
In Autumn 2012 I started my Physics and Astronomy degree. I first became interested in this when I was 13 and chose all my school subjects around it. I went to a Scottish secondary and left a year earlier than most university-aiming students, with 5 Highers, 4 in sciences and just 1 in arts (H English).
My first year of uni was hectic. I got pretty good grades (AAAB) but there was so much on my mind. I was in a crappy relationship, wasn't socialising as much as I should have been, and just over half way through the course I started having issues with (borderline) depression. I'm unsure whether it was the relationship, my studies or both that contributed to this.
There were aspects that I enjoyed and disliked. Maths was pretty good. Astronomy was mixed but overall enjoyable and interesting. Physics was so flegh... especially labs. It was my weakest subject and I got used to mediocre marks for stuff.
At the start of 2nd year I was overwhelmed... and underwhelmed. I just felt totally uninterested in what I was studying. But I felt like a completely different person. I went to a few Classics lectures and found the style so different and interesting - people were asking questions in a whole different way than to Physics. Yet, I don't think it's something I could study.
Anyway, a mixture of disinterest/lack of motivation, confusion about what I wanted to study and mental health issues (mostly the last... quite a bit of the first though) made me take a year out. I applied to the University of Edinburgh for a range of courses and got rejected for both arts courses I applied for and one science, leaving me with artificial intelligence (which seems really cool) and electronics and engineering. After a while I felt that I really wanted to go back and continue my degree, which was the definite plan until... well, this week really. I looked over my old astronomy notes and... God, I despised it. Truly, utterly hated it. I ended up crying that I was doing it and lying on my bed refusing to go back (pathetic, I know). I kept thinking to myself, what's the point in learning all these mathematical techniques? Why do physics if it's all just equations? WHAT'S THE POINT?!
I've just been exposed to so much this past year and I'm changing so much. It was a saddening, empty boredom. My interests are expanding and I'm finding it hard to accept all these changes. Thing is, I don't want to switch a degree and dislike it too. With astronomy, I guess I had something of a spiritual fondness for it, being part of the universe and everything. But that formed when I was quite lonely and didn't do much outside the house - now I'm yearning to socialise and my character is changing. That solace in the cosmos... there's a voice in my head telling me it's stupid. That it cuts me off.
I don't know what to do. I'm just not the same person I was when I started my degree. Then again, when I started about 18 months ago I was shaken up by other stuff in my life (ie relationship). When I was questioning my degree a while back I thought/realised that I was doing something that the younger me aspired to be. It's like I've chosen a subject that would get me the job I wanted, but I wouldn't enjoy the course. And then when I think about what a job in physics would be like, it seems dull. How does Brian Cox make it so hippie and spiritual?
Sorry about the long post. Any advice would be really appreciated.


If you think physics is "just equations", then you don't really appreciate or understand the maths.

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