The Student Room Group

I think I made the wrong decision about uni

Nice topic to create - well done!

I went to Uni at 18, basically because it was "the thing everyone did" and to move out from my parents and get my own independence. I chose the subject based on what I found easiest at school, not because it was what I wanted to do. These were the wrong reasons to go to Uni! Because I went when I shouldn't, struggled for 3 years and then dropped out, I found that years later when I knew what I wanted to do and decided to go back to uni that I had used up my funding options and had to self fund to finish off my degree.

If you suspect you are just going for indepedance, stop. You will get yourself in debt for no reason and take away the ability to go to uni later in life when you know it is what you want to do and why you want to do it. Get a job somewhere - meet some friends - move out in to a shared house with some mates. Have a social life, party, go out drinking, join some local sports clubs or frequent your favorite music venue - whatever. And that way, if you do decide after a few years that you know what you want to do, you will be able to go to uni with all the same funding options.

And as another benefit, if you go to uni at age 22, 23 etc with a bit more maturity and a bit more confidence than you had when you were 18 then you will get much more out of it!
Reply 1
Great topic idea!

I am already in uni on an art course. I entered through clearance on a splur of the moment because I could not decide what I wanted to do between science and arts (and other spontaneous ideas like computer science or mechanical engineering).
Also, I am not qualified for a maintenance loan, so I could not afford going to an university in some other area of the UK, so I had to chose between 2 alright universities that could do science and other subjects and a specialist university, and I thought the specialist university was the better choice, I felt like I really wanted to decide on a subject to do already because it was taking me so long to make that choice and I didn't want to waste 3 years while I was waiting for a residential status...so I just went for it.

It is only now that I am questioning my decision, I am thinking that maybe I should have waited for another year so I could have 3 years of staying in the UK, (some say that you need 5 years, but others say that you need 3 years to receive a maintenance loan), I could have got my driving liscence without too much stress, applied for my GCSE exams (I came here and started with A-levels) so I wouldn't have so many problems with my CV, apply for a language proficency test.....or maybe I could have done a foundation year for arts to try out modules and make sure arts is actually the pathway I want to follow.

I hear that some other art unis are better organised and as I am a perfectionist I can't help feeling that I could have registered into a better uni, than the one I have close by, which doesn't require me to move somewhere else and I feel like I am not really doing what I would like to do in this course, what I came to this course for...maybe it is because it is only my first year and the course is not so specialised yet, so I am wondering: is the fact that my expectations have not been met (yet) a problem/ or is it normal.

The worst of all is that I feel like what I am doing is not important, relevant, necessary to today's world: I like drawing and communicating ideas that have double meaning and I like to make others reflect upon a message that is not necessarily what it appears, hence why I chose this course, which seems relevant to this aim. It is only that I feel like it doesn't help people like science would do....maybe it is also because my family wanted me to go for science, especially my mum (only-parent), she encouraged me to pursue it, not really encouraging me into doing art though, so unless I showed her my work, she wouldn't really be particularly interested in it, I don't really have anyone to talk about it. Also, I kind of adopted a minimalist/ practical view for my life, say furniture, I don't want anything that I don't need like paintings or books (only e-books) because they would be an inconvenience, I would have to clean them all the time and use them rarely, so unless I use sth everyday, I wouldn't want to have it....hence why I am thinking: the art I do is not necessary, neither me nor anyone else has any daily/ practical use to it.

So...umm...any advice? what do you think I should do?
Original post by AlexMi
Great topic idea!

I am already in uni on an art course. I entered through clearance on a splur of the moment because I could not decide what I wanted to do between science and arts (and other spontaneous ideas like computer science or mechanical engineering).
Also, I am not qualified for a maintenance loan, so I could not afford going to an university in some other area of the UK, so I had to chose between 2 alright universities that could do science and other subjects and a specialist university, and I thought the specialist university was the better choice, I felt like I really wanted to decide on a subject to do already because it was taking me so long to make that choice and I didn't want to waste 3 years while I was waiting for a residential status...so I just went for it.

It is only now that I am questioning my decision, I am thinking that maybe I should have waited for another year so I could have 3 years of staying in the UK, (some say that you need 5 years, but others say that you need 3 years to receive a maintenance loan), I could have got my driving liscence without too much stress, applied for my GCSE exams (I came here and started with A-levels) so I wouldn't have so many problems with my CV, apply for a language proficency test.....or maybe I could have done a foundation year for arts to try out modules and make sure arts is actually the pathway I want to follow.

I hear that some other art unis are better organised and as I am a perfectionist I can't help feeling that I could have registered into a better uni, than the one I have close by, which doesn't require me to move somewhere else and I feel like I am not really doing what I would like to do in this course, what I came to this course for...maybe it is because it is only my first year and the course is not so specialised yet, so I am wondering: is the fact that my expectations have not been met (yet) a problem/ or is it normal.

The worst of all is that I feel like what I am doing is not important, relevant, necessary to today's world: I like drawing and communicating ideas that have double meaning and I like to make others reflect upon a message that is not necessarily what it appears, hence why I chose this course, which seems relevant to this aim. It is only that I feel like it doesn't help people like science would do....maybe it is also because my family wanted me to go for science, especially my mum (only-parent), she encouraged me to pursue it, not really encouraging me into doing art though, so unless I showed her my work, she wouldn't really be particularly interested in it, I don't really have anyone to talk about it. Also, I kind of adopted a minimalist/ practical view for my life, say furniture, I don't want anything that I don't need like paintings or books (only e-books) because they would be an inconvenience, I would have to clean them all the time and use them rarely, so unless I use sth everyday, I wouldn't want to have it....hence why I am thinking: the art I do is not necessary, neither me nor anyone else has any daily/ practical use to it.

So...umm...any advice? what do you think I should do?


@University of East Anglia


Leeds City College
x


Please can you help? :smile:

Quick Reply

Latest