degree help!!

Hi

I’m struggling to decide what to do about uni at the moment and would really appreciate some advice if anyone could help!
So I studied health and social care btec at college as i wanted to teach but i went to uni for teaching and lasted two weeks. I am now on my third gap year and i’ve been trying to decide for so long what i want to study but nothing has stuck. I’m almost 21 and i think if i don’t make a decision this year, i don’t think i will ever go to uni but i really want to (i’m worried about being in hospitality forever).
So i’m struggling to decide between a few degrees at the moment, i have no idea what career i want. These are physics, film & media study and fashion. Physics interests me the most but i’m worried about not getting a career out of it. I would have to redo my alevels (doing physics & maths) which i would do at open study college. This would take me two years, putting me even more behind and i’m worried that i’ll struggle with the workload considering i have been out of education for so long. I’m also worried that i won’t enjoy the alevels and then i’ll have wasted two years and a lot of money.
As for film study, i think i would really enjoy the course but i don’t want to end up working on eastenders or something like that 😭
Also as i’ve already been to uni, due to funding i won’t have the option to change my course in the future if i decide it isn’t right for me. I think if i did the alevels, it’d be much better for me to not enjoy those rather than pick one of the other two uni courses and not enjoy those if that makes sense. But if i do commit to them, it’d probably make my life very difficult for a few years, i don’t want that to go to waste because i’ve made a quick decision!
If anyone would give any advice, i’d love to know what you’d do in my situation. Do I commit to the alevels or is it too much of a risk?? Thank you!!

Original post by ellap2327

Hi

I’m struggling to decide what to do about uni at the moment and would really appreciate some advice if anyone could help!
So I studied health and social care btec at college as i wanted to teach but i went to uni for teaching and lasted two weeks. I am now on my third gap year and i’ve been trying to decide for so long what i want to study but nothing has stuck. I’m almost 21 and i think if i don’t make a decision this year, i don’t think i will ever go to uni but i really want to (i’m worried about being in hospitality forever).
So i’m struggling to decide between a few degrees at the moment, i have no idea what career i want. These are physics, film & media study and fashion. Physics interests me the most but i’m worried about not getting a career out of it. I would have to redo my alevels (doing physics & maths) which i would do at open study college. This would take me two years, putting me even more behind and i’m worried that i’ll struggle with the workload considering i have been out of education for so long. I’m also worried that i won’t enjoy the alevels and then i’ll have wasted two years and a lot of money.
As for film study, i think i would really enjoy the course but i don’t want to end up working on eastenders or something like that 😭
Also as i’ve already been to uni, due to funding i won’t have the option to change my course in the future if i decide it isn’t right for me. I think if i did the alevels, it’d be much better for me to not enjoy those rather than pick one of the other two uni courses and not enjoy those if that makes sense. But if i do commit to them, it’d probably make my life very difficult for a few years, i don’t want that to go to waste because i’ve made a quick decision!
If anyone would give any advice, i’d love to know what you’d do in my situation. Do I commit to the alevels or is it too much of a risk?? Thank you!!

Continue working, none of those are sensible options.

Reply 2

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by ellap2327

Hi

I’m struggling to decide what to do about uni at the moment and would really appreciate some advice if anyone could help!
So I studied health and social care btec at college as i wanted to teach but i went to uni for teaching and lasted two weeks. I am now on my third gap year and i’ve been trying to decide for so long what i want to study but nothing has stuck. I’m almost 21 and i think if i don’t make a decision this year, i don’t think i will ever go to uni but i really want to (i’m worried about being in hospitality forever).
So i’m struggling to decide between a few degrees at the moment, i have no idea what career i want. These are physics, film & media study and fashion. Physics interests me the most but i’m worried about not getting a career out of it. I would have to redo my alevels (doing physics & maths) which i would do at open study college. This would take me two years, putting me even more behind and i’m worried that i’ll struggle with the workload considering i have been out of education for so long. I’m also worried that i won’t enjoy the alevels and then i’ll have wasted two years and a lot of money.
As for film study, i think i would really enjoy the course but i don’t want to end up working on eastenders or something like that 😭
Also as i’ve already been to uni, due to funding i won’t have the option to change my course in the future if i decide it isn’t right for me. I think if i did the alevels, it’d be much better for me to not enjoy those rather than pick one of the other two uni courses and not enjoy those if that makes sense. But if i do commit to them, it’d probably make my life very difficult for a few years, i don’t want that to go to waste because i’ve made a quick decision!
If anyone would give any advice, i’d love to know what you’d do in my situation. Do I commit to the alevels or is it too much of a risk?? Thank you!!

Firstly, there is no age restriction on going to uni and there's no issue with getting a degree in your mid 20s, late 20s, 30s, etc. So don't worry too much about the age matter...obviously though you have recognised you don't want to continue working in your current sector and it looks like you are approaching the degree as a way to change career direction. That's a good thing to keep in mind when considering your choices!

In terms of the things you've listed - physics doesn't have any specific career associated with it aside from academia or teaching, neither of which are even the most common destinations for physics students. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. An important thing to realise is that most graduates don't do anythign specifically related to their degree - the point is getting the degree to tick the box of having a degree for a grad scheme, then leveraging the transferable skills from that degree (and your professional experience) to gain a position. So physics is no better or worse for this than any other option, although it's worth noting the numerate nature of a physics degree adds some other options to the range of roles you could apply to (e.g. various numerate roles in the engineering sector, data science roles, software development roles etc).

I think with film studies you need to have a clear idea of what you want to do afterwards and have this guide your choice of course. If you want to become involved in TV and film production you need to look specifically for courses that develop the necessary skills and have a good track record of placing graduates into that industry. You also should realise that whether you're working on Eastenders or whatever this year's Oscar bait biopic is, if you're working on the production side, especially the more technical roles, I don't think it's really going to make that much difference in your experience of that career area? To be honest I'd imagine working on Eastenders a pretty good gig for that if you could leverage into a long term position (or even a permanent one!). In sectors where a lot of work is contract based, any kind of long term or permanent role is worth a lot.

You noted fashion as an option but didn't elaborate on it at all, which makes me wonder about your actual level of interest and investment in it. So think carefully about that...

In terms of preparing to go back to uni, A-levels aren't the only option - there are plenty of Access to HE courses (especially if aiming for non-STEM subjects), or also the possibility of studying with the OU to do a few modules and use that to gain entry to a degree programme. For physics specifically the OU also has the OpenPlus programme, where you begin studying at the OU and then complete your degree at a partner brick uni (including some fairly notable physics departments).

However it's worth noting that physics at degree level is necessarily and resolutely mathematical. You will do mathematics up to and beyond A-level, and you will use those mathematical methods throughout the degree every single day. So make sure you are going into that with your eyes open (and that you are confident you can cope with that type of academic work).

I would say if you aren't sure, don't rush into anything. As noted, age is irrelevant when it comes to getting your degree (although if you are past state pension age you get reduced finance, but that is a very long way off!), and you would be better off taking your time to figure out exactly what it is you want to study and be sure you are committed to that choice and invested in it personally. So explore your options through reading in your spare time, try out MOOCs or taster sessions for those (the OU offers some stuff like that for their subjects), and for those that are connected to a particular profession (or because you want to enter a specific profession afterwards), do research into that profession to understand what it actually involves and what is actually needed to work in that field (a degree in film studies won't make you an actor, for example!).

Note that in terms of funding, if you withdrew from your course within the first 2 weeks and notified SFE of this, they may not have even disbursed any tuition fee loan to the uni so you may have a full amount of funding left anyway. Also note that if you were looking at part-time study (including the OU), it's funded completely separately and any prior full time study is not considered for assessing your part-time funding eligibility :smile:

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