Advice on choosing degree??!?

username6120834

11

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(edited 8 months ago)

Reply 1

sadiebourne03

5

i would say do not pick a subject purely based on employability, you have to have a passion for the subject or it’s gonna be a long three years! so i think the subject you choose is so so important. i’m currently in the process of switching courses because i chose based on employability and prospects and was miserable for the duration of first year because i just had zero passion for the subject! i’d have a look at different degrees and what kind of jobs you can get with them and make your choices based on that so you have a good mixture of things you’ll love to study that will also benefit you in the future career wise :smile:

every university has a different teaching style so i’d definitely look at that, not every university is going to be for you no matter whether they’re russel group or not, so i think it’s all about finding the right thing for you!!

Reply 2

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

15

Original post by spliced

I’m in year 12, doing Maths, Psychology and Geography at A-level. Ive been set on doing psychology at uni, but i’m coming to realise that it might not be the best choice. I just don’t feel like it will get me anywhere because it is so saturated and such a broad field. I want a degree which is employable, but I don’t know what my options are. I wouldn't be able to go into a STEM related field as I don’t take any (natural) sciences. I know people say to do a degree in something you enjoy, but prospects are important aswell. How important is the actual subject your degree is in? As I've heard the Uni plays a big role. I’m aiming for a russell group (A*A*A) , so would going to a top uni put you at an advantage regardless? The only other degrees i’ve looked into are related to physical geography (earth and planetary sciences) and law. Any advice would be appreciated :smile:

Hi there,

I am a third year Mathematics with Statistics student at Lancaster university. My a levels were maths, further maths, geography and psychology so very similar. I chose to do a maths degree because it was my favourite subject and I have no regrets about that, so it definitely is important to choose something you enjoy. However, there is always the option of doing a joint degree so that you will still be able to carry on doing some level of psychology if you are worried about employability.

Personally, I want to go into accounting which accept all types of degrees such as Mathematics, English, Law and Psychology. Therefore, at least in that field your degree type would not hold you back at all.

Looking at university rankings can be useful but being somewhere where you can do your best is most important. I would advise going to different university open days and try to get a sense of where you would be best supported and happiest because that is what will make a large difference at the end of the day. Also, Lancaster isn't a Russel Group university but we did rank 11th in the UK for Mathematics in The Complete University Guide 2023 and 33rd for Psychology (above some Russel group universities) so we are still a very good university and try to not rule universities out just based on if they are Russel Group or not. Please feel free to ask me any questions that you have.

Amy (Lancaster Student Ambassador) :smile:

Reply 3

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by spliced

I’m in year 12, doing Maths, Psychology and Geography at A-level. Ive been set on doing psychology at uni, but i’m coming to realise that it might not be the best choice. I just don’t feel like it will get me anywhere because it is so saturated and such a broad field. I want a degree which is employable, but I don’t know what my options are. I wouldn't be able to go into a STEM related field as I don’t take any (natural) sciences. I know people say to do a degree in something you enjoy, but prospects are important aswell. How important is the actual subject your degree is in? As I've heard the Uni plays a big role. I’m aiming for a russell group (A*A*A) , so would going to a top uni put you at an advantage regardless? The only other degrees i’ve looked into are related to physical geography (earth and planetary sciences) and law. Any advice would be appreciated :smile:

Most graduates go into roles unrelated to their degree, and most graduate schemes have no preference for (and indeed may not even look at) what degree subject you studied. So if psychology is what is intellectually stimulating for you then there's no reason not to pursue that - and you'd be just as well off as anyone else for pursuing any generalist grad role in e.g. "business" broadly (management roles, marketing, sales, etc), financial services (including accountancy, investment banking, etc), the civil service, the media, law training contracts (about half of lawyers don't study law as their first degree), etc, etc. Unless you know you want to go into a specialist field that does require a particular degree (e.g. most healthcare roles, engineering, some technical roles etc) it's not an issue what you studied.

The uni you study at also doesn't generally matter outside of investment banking and management consulting, at least directly. Those two fields do filter based on where you study (and no, not all RG unis are target unis and going to an RG uni doesn't mean you won't get filtered as a result) based on their own target universities. For basically every other role (which is the vast majority of them) they don't really care what you studied or where, as the degree is just a tick box - what they care about is your relevant work experience through internships etc, how well you can leverage this in interview, and your ability to do well in assessment centre activities and psychometric tests that form part of the application process. Granted some unis may be able to provide better support in finding internships and so on, but this is a bit variable and harder to quantify.

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 4

McGinger

18

Start by looking at the subject lists from the two example Unis below - which subjects appeal to you, then look at what the 'entry requirements' are for those subjects. You'll be surprised how many dont actually specify any A level subjects, just the 3 grades required. Look at courses outside the A level subjects you are doing now.

Sussex - https://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/
Liverpool - https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/courses/subjects

Reply 5

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

15

Original post by spliced

I’m in year 12, doing Maths, Psychology and Geography at A-level. Ive been set on doing psychology at uni, but i’m coming to realise that it might not be the best choice. I just don’t feel like it will get me anywhere because it is so saturated and such a broad field. I want a degree which is employable, but I don’t know what my options are. I wouldn't be able to go into a STEM related field as I don’t take any (natural) sciences. I know people say to do a degree in something you enjoy, but prospects are important aswell. How important is the actual subject your degree is in? As I've heard the Uni plays a big role. I’m aiming for a russell group (A*A*A) , so would going to a top uni put you at an advantage regardless? The only other degrees i’ve looked into are related to physical geography (earth and planetary sciences) and law. Any advice would be appreciated :smile:

Hi there!

I have just graduated from Lancaster University with a Natural Sciences BSc so thought I could give my experience with the degree as it sounds like it could be something that could work well with your choices and would definitely be applicable to yourself. Natural Sciences degrees tend to vary by university, so it's definitely worth having a look around to see what course is right for you. At Lancaster, the degree is very flexible, you can choose 3 pathways out of a possible 21. The subjects range from maths, psychology, geography, computer science, biology, earth sciences, and more, so there are many different possible combinations! The complete list of different pathways is in the brochure which can be found here - https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/natural-sciences-bsc-hons-gfc0/#course-entry . You can also study a subject outside of the sciences as one of your pathways if that was something that you would be interested in.

You meet the requirements for the course since you have studied at least 2 subjects from the following: Biology, Chemistry, Computing, Environmental Science, Geography, Geology, Information Technology, Mathematics, Physics or Psychology. For some of the pathways within the degree programme, you have to have studied the subject before, however for others such as biology, computer science, psychology, there are no pre-requisites.

Some people find it harder to study different subjects in different fields because you have to switch between different ways of working but I actually enjoyed the variety in types of work - for example worksheets in maths, reading in geography, and labs in engineering. I also slowly found the crossover in my subjects, renewable energies and climate change, which is now the sector that I have found a graduate scheme in! I therefore think the subject that you choose is important, mostly because if you are not passionate about it, you're not going to end up enjoying it. I think that career prospects tend to follow from studying within a field that you enjoy.

Best of luck with all of your decisions, if you have any further questions, feel free to let me know!

- Bethan (Lancaster University Student Ambassador)

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