I dont know what university course to pick, help?

So I'm fairly certain on what university I am going to and have applied to 3 courses there which are all quite similar and now I am stuck on which one to pick!
I've applied and got unconditional offers for all: biosciences, environmental science and environmental biotechnology. I have always been interested and am passionate about the environment thus I am more leaning towards environmental science and the biotech as opposed to plain bioscience, however its really hard to pick between the 2!
Environmental science to me sounds fairly easy going, its a lot of outdoorsy/abroad trips and essays and my course even includes training in scuba diving. The course has been going on for years now and there are a crap ton of people on the course. It's just i feel like job prospects are a bit crap... I dont want to be consulting people about the environment I want to do more of the actual science. Im more leaning towards doing biotech over environmental science simply because not many people are doing it however i'd probably enjoy the environmental science degree more but feel like a ton of people pursue that degree and land in crappy jobs.

The biotech course seems a lot harder as its chemistry heavy and a lot of lab work is involved which might mean having no life for me but at the same time it would give me more experience and generally seems better and more practical job wise. Its the first year the university are doing an environmental biotech degree so there will be a handful of us at best, which is kinda scary. There are no universities doing a similar course to this, which again is raising some questions for me- being reasonable I feel like the biotech will definitely land me in a job more so than the environmental science but since its the first year the uni is doing it i feel like I will be ahead of the game and be first to have a degree in biotech that solely focuses on the environment or that I will be a total lab rat and it will end awfully!
Is picking a degree that is brand new a really stupid thing to do, have you had an experience?
Im so stuck! I would enjoy environmental science more for the 3 years I'm doing it however i feel like i might regret it later on vs if to pick this biotech opportunity but am scared about the course as it'll be a lot harder/is brand new but feel like it will lead me to more jobs.
Any help would be appreciated, ta!

Why not

Oh in your personal opinion which one do you think is best

Reply 3

Helloworld_95

I'd look at the modules, from the sounds of it you want to do EnviroSci but aren't sure about employment, if your modules lean quite a bit towards say biology (or you can make them so) then you could always do a masters in that subject for better employment prospects.

Reply 4

Tilikum

Original post by Xanet

It's just i feel like job prospects are a bit crap... I dont want to be consulting people about the environment I want to do more of the actual science. Im more leaning towards doing biotech over environmental science simply because not many people are doing it however i'd probably enjoy the environmental science degree more but feel like a ton of people pursue that degree and land in crappy jobs.

I would strongly recommend doing the more technical and employable degree in biotech! And I speak from personal experience. A long time ago, I chose to do a degree in a fun subject that I was really interested in (Archaeology) and as soon as I graduated and was applying for jobs I already was regretting my choice. Outside of the niche archaeology sector (which pays really badly and has horrendous working conditions for the most part) my degree was worthless.

I'm about to finish a second degree in Statistics now to correct that original mistake, and I'm actually getting recruiters phoning me up to talk about jobs I might be interested in already! Such is the power of a 'sensible' degree.

It's obviously your choice which subject you do: you're the one who's going to have to live with the consequences (as well as all the long boring hours spent studying and working away). But I think university is so expensive these days you have to treat it as the long term financial investment that it is, rather than a fun 'experience'. Degrees that are fun and easy to do are not rated highly by employers, and I'm guessing the environmental sector is not a million miles away from the heritage sector in that there are always gonna be loads of people queueing up to do any job for free and 'for the experience' because they're desperate to get paid work in what they think is a cool sector to work in. These people drive down wages and are one of the reasons the pay and conditions in these kind of sectors is so bad (which is why I decided to quit archaeology!).

You need to try and position yourself in the job market to outcompete with these people who make the easy choices, and having a technical degree will allow you to do that, because you can't substitute cheap enthusiastic volunteers for people with hard technical skills.The only issue really is whether you can handle the more difficult material in the biotech degree, but only you are in a position to really assess that. But as a general rule, I wouldn't let the fear of doing something harder and a bit different stop you from making yourself stand out a bit from the common herd - that's how you make yourself more valuable to employers.

Anyway, good luck with whatever you choose to do and I hope you enjoy uni! :smile: