I don't really like my degree subject that much. What should I do?

If it's your 'favourite' A level, then how come you 'don't like it that much?'I'm sure it's just pre uni nerves anyway, I would be shook if I was staring down the line of another 4 years of chemistry. Stick it out for a year and of it's not for you, change! What other A levels did u do?Posted from TSR Mobile

I did Chemistry, Physics and Maths at A-level. Perhaps "favourite" was the wrong word to use; the phrase 'least bad' would be somewhat harsh but possibly more appropriate. I really do hope it's just pre-uni nerves. I just wish I knew what I want to do as a career.

Don't listen to the people who say that you should suck it up because it's Oxford; it's an absurd opinion. This attitude is especially hard to justify if you're beyond miserable and unmotivated doing a degree you don't enjoy.

However, it is your favourite A-Level for a reason; you must have some passion or interest in Chemistry for you to say that, and you must have conveyed that interest (whether you believe it's there or not) at your interview somehow.

What do you like about chemistry most of all?

I think that what I liked about it most is the fact that I was naturally quite good at it. People seemed to struggle, even at GCSE level, with stuff that I just found intuitive. This wasn't conscious (the feeling of enjoying the intellectual superiority) but now I have put thought into it, that must be what I like about it. This is because there's nothing in the content of the subject itself that particularly stands out as something that I enjoy or are passionate about. I don't wish to sound arrogant with the "intellectual superiority" comment but I am trying to convey what I feel. In fact, I often wish I wasn't so intelligent so that I could just enjoy my life in a haze of ignorance.

I understand where you're coming from. I don't think it's arrogant; it's natural for you to pursue something that you find relatively simple.

If you weren't doing Chemistry, what would you truly want to do? I would also investigate the possibility of changing degrees at Oxford, if that's an available option.

When I look at the list of degree options I never find one that jumps out at me as something I want to do. Neither do I know what career I want to pursue. In all honesty, I would really love to run my own business but right now I haven't come up something big/good enough to warrant ditching a degree. I have only run a small business when I was doing my A-levels where I would buy and sell vinyl records (I made a few grand but it's not a proper business really).

I changed degree subject in Fresher's week at Oxford. It wasn't fun - I essentially went though admissions tests and interviews and lots of meetings with various people within the space of a few days - but I'm glad I did it. If this is something you're interested in, try and set the ball rolling as soon as you arrive, or before even. Otherwise, if you really don't want to study Chemistry, I'll be blunt: from what I saw of chemistry students, this won't get better and it will be a very long and highly stressful four years. It is very different at university to at A level.

What did you change from and to? Is changing courses particularly out of the ordinary / is it likely that if I ask to change course they will let me do so? Also, what do you mean "from what you see of Chemistry students"? Thanks.

I have got a place at Oxford to do Chemistry and, to be honest, I don't really like Chemistry that much. The only reason I chose it is because I have no idea what career path I want to go down so I just chose my favourite A-level. Now it has come to actually going and doing four years of Chemistry and inevitably getting into enormous amounts of student debt, I have become more and more apprehensive and worried about it. Especially as Chemistry is a particularly taxing degree (even more so at Oxford I'm told). I am concerned that my lack of passion may result in poor grades and relatively poor employment prospects - given that the only reason I want to go to uni is so I can get a good job, this idea sounds pretty bad to me. I have been thinking about this a lot and it's actually getting me quite depressed at points because I have probably left it a bit late to do much about it (I start in October). I also don't want to let my family down as they over the moon that I managed to get into Oxford. Any advice would be fantastic.