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Regretting my A level choices

Hi, i'm in my second year of college, studying psychology, sociology, and music. Applying to study music production at universities hit me with the terrible feeling that my degree won't go anywhere. This in turn has led me to realise that i was lazy when picking my A level subjects initially. I'm starting to lose interest and motivation with these subjects as i approach them with the mentality that they aren't worth studying. Which has led to me feeling extremely stressed and desperately looking for an alternate pathway. I was wondering if it would be wise or even possible to restart As with different courses, and if this would be free as i am still under 18. I was thinking of studying more academic subjects such as Biology and Chemistry. In all honesty i just want to be studying something that i feel to be worthwhile.
Reply 1
Bump?
Reply 2
Do what you love and not what you think you should do. Doing subjects and a degree you know you're going to love is worthwhile and is better than doing something you hate just to get access to certain jobs, prestige or whatever. :smile:
Reply 3
Hmm I guess you can look in to more sciency degrees and see if they interest you before you decide to retake a levels
Reply 4
Do you enjoy your current subjects? Do you actually enjoy science, particularly in-depth study of science and how science works?

It sounds like you are unconfident in your degree choice. The thing with making a living in media is that you have to have a great portfolio of work and be more interesting and outstanding than others. If you put yourself out there and work constantly, jobs will come.
I think if you restart while under 18 you're covered until you complete the course so it shouldn't cost you anything.

Also if you do decide to change, pick maths! Easiest subject to learn and revise in my opinion, if you put the effort in of course.
Reply 6
Original post by Tangelo
Hi, i'm in my second year of college, studying psychology, sociology, and music. Applying to study music production at universities hit me with the terrible feeling that my degree won't go anywhere. This in turn has led me to realise that i was lazy when picking my A level subjects initially. I'm starting to lose interest and motivation with these subjects as i approach them with the mentality that they aren't worth studying. Which has led to me feeling extremely stressed and desperately looking for an alternate pathway. I was wondering if it would be wise or even possible to restart As with different courses, and if this would be free as i am still under 18. I was thinking of studying more academic subjects such as Biology and Chemistry. In all honesty i just want to be studying something that i feel to be worthwhile.


You don't have to change your A-Levels, just apply to a different university course. A great majority of careers don't require a specific course (with a few unspoken exceptions, I'd assume music production is one of these) so if you took a turn now and applied to do psychology or sociology you could still be very employable coming out of university.
Reply 7
Original post by Beige101
You don't have to change your A-Levels, just apply to a different university course. A great majority of careers don't require a specific course (with a few unspoken exceptions, I'd assume music production is one of these) so if you took a turn now and applied to do psychology or sociology you could still be very employable coming out of university.

The problem is i've already applied for music production, as i was told not to worry about it and do what i enjoy. This has set off the entire cycle of stressing out and wanting to frantically back out of it. While my friends are off doing degrees such as economics and english lit, things i wish i would have considered.
Original post by qewrtyu
Hmm I guess you can look in to more sciency degrees and see if they interest you before you decide to retake a levels

I get your point but you have to look at the job prospects and right now studying music(not to be funny or rude) is not really worthwhile. The facts are the facts and you cant change that.
Original post by Tangelo
The problem is i've already applied for music production, as i was told not to worry about it and do what i enjoy. This has set off the entire cycle of stressing out and wanting to frantically back out of it. While my friends are off doing degrees such as economics and english lit, things i wish i would have considered.

People tell you to do what you enjoy but at the end of the day they are only saying it to make you happy and dont really care about the job prospects for example certain degrees wont get you a decent job straight away.
Original post by wordnerd
Do what you love and not what you think you should do. Doing subjects and a degree you know you're going to love is worthwhile and is better than doing something you hate just to get access to certain jobs, prestige or whatever. :smile:

Doing something you love may not always necessarily be worthwhile because at the end of the day doing a degree that wont make you employable or get you a decent job is not worth doing at all imo
Original post by Tangelo
The problem is i've already applied for music production, as i was told not to worry about it and do what i enjoy. This has set off the entire cycle of stressing out and wanting to frantically back out of it. While my friends are off doing degrees such as economics and english lit, things i wish i would have considered.


That's fine you can always take a gap year - reevaluate your situation and learn things that interest you in your free time. Maybe get some work experience somewhere while reapplying to UCAS/CAO/wherever for economics, sociology, whatever. Learn about them over summer and nail your interviews. One year is a hell of a lot better than doing both years of A-level again and will save you from having to justify a full A-level repeat in interviews for the rest of your life. Just focus on getting top results in your A-levels and the rest will come.
Reply 12
If your set on doing a more science-based degree then you could check out science foundation degrees.
These take an extra year bringing you up to date on what you missed in A-level and then let you into a decent science degree.
These are aimed at people that didn't take the A-levels for a science course.
(e.g. http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/ugstudy/courses/faculty-of-science/science.aspx )
They aren't as common but if you want a change in career direction this might be up your alley:smile:
Original post by German123
I get your point but you have to look at the job prospects and right now studying music(not to be funny or rude) is not really worthwhile. The facts are the facts and you cant change that.

Yes but there's no point going in to science if it doesn't interest you at all. You'll just end up with a bad degree and still not be able to get a job or dropping out :s-smilie:
Maybe you should look at the different jobs you can get with music production instead and see how you can get in to them
Original post by qewrtyu
Yes but there's no point going in to science if it doesn't interest you at all. You'll just end up with a bad degree and still not be able to get a job or dropping out :s-smilie:
Maybe you should look at the different jobs you can get with music production instead and see how you can get in to them

Fair enough but if you put 100% effort into doing something you wont like you may end up liking it. All it is, is just dicipline. Anyway maybe the OP should look at some music production job prospects.
Original post by Tangelo
Hi, i'm in my second year of college, studying psychology, sociology, and music. Applying to study music production at universities hit me with the terrible feeling that my degree won't go anywhere. This in turn has led me to realise that i was lazy when picking my A level subjects initially. I'm starting to lose interest and motivation with these subjects as i approach them with the mentality that they aren't worth studying. Which has led to me feeling extremely stressed and desperately looking for an alternate pathway. I was wondering if it would be wise or even possible to restart As with different courses, and if this would be free as i am still under 18. I was thinking of studying more academic subjects such as Biology and Chemistry. In all honesty i just want to be studying something that i feel to be worthwhile.

Do not be disheartened because if you are lucky enough(fingers crossed) you could end up with a decent job within the music production industry. It is true that certain degrees will get you an automatic job but there is still chance/hope for you to find a decent job when studying music production. Please do not lose hope and have chat with your family to see what they think etc.
Reply 16
Thanks guys :smile: don't feel quite as hopeless about the whole thing

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