Have Your Degree Choices Changed Since Year 11 to Now?

Hey all, I was just looking through an old email account of mine and saw an email I sent to several universities (Cambridge, LSE, Warwick, Durham to name a few) in year 11. The email is below:

Dear Sir/ Madam

First of all I would like to apologise for any inconvenience that I may cause by intiating this E-Mail. My name is (My Name) and I currently attend Whitgift School, Croydon. I am currently in the final stages of Year 11 and as a result I am making several choices regarding my options for next year, in the Sixth Form. I am currently planning to take the International Baccalaureate. The subjects which I am studying are being dictated by what I wish to study in University which is Economics. I plan to study the following subjects:

Higher Level- English, Mathematics, Economics
Standard Level- History, Biology, Spanish (Please note that this is an Ab Initio course)

However, my dilemma is my choice of Higher Level Mathematics. My Head of Mathematics has advised me not to take HL maths (despite me receiving an A* in my mock exams) because he believes I will not cope. However, after a large search I have found that if I was to choose SL maths instead of HL maths I would be at a significant disadvantage in terms of admission into the top universities. The only other option is that I take the A-Level course instead which, for personal reasons, find to be inadequate compared to the IB because of issues such as "Grade Inflation" and the lack of breadth. Therefore, I would like to know if there is any chance that I will be able to study Economics at your University, having taken SL maths instead of HL and if there have been many similar scenarios such as that of mine. I would also like to know if there are any alternatives which also involve Economics which will help to develop my passion for Economics.

Once again, I apologise for any inconvenience and do hope to here from you soon.

Yours faithfully,
(My Name)
Student at Whitgift School

:rofl2:

Apart from the fact that I sound like a tool, it just got me thinking about how much has changed since Year 11. I now have two offers to study English, something completely different and I want to know if anyone has experienced this.

(edited 13 years ago)

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Reply 1

Glennith

Intiating!?

Blooody ell. :P

Reply 2

CookieDoughLove

When I was in Year 11 I had no intention of doing A-Levels let alone a degree :p:

Reply 3

Smeh

I think I wanted to do chemistry or physics.
Not too much changed i'm doing engineering now so...

Reply 4

22KT22

My actual degree choice hasn't changed since year 11 and am at uni now studying the course I thought I wanted to study in year 11 however the uni I went to did change. Originally I was going to go to a uni nearer home because I didn't realise other unis did the course (primary education with SEN) and didn't want to move too far away. Am now at a uni 6 hours away from home :p:

Reply 5

jelly1000

I never sent any emails to unis, but I wanted to do Law for ages.

Reply 6

moomin-matt

gosh yes haha

Year 11 - Ukranian at UCL was my ideal degree haha
Year 11 - Music Composition at RWCMD
Year 12 - Scandinavian Studies at Edinburgh
Year 12 - European Studies at Aberystwyth
Year 13 - Comparative Literature at RHUL
Gap Year - English Literature at Plymouth
SPENT YEAR - English Literature and Creative Wrting at UCP Marjon
Now - Reapplying to start afresh after two years out for English Literature

LESSONS LEARNT... PICK THE RIGHT ALEVELS... DONT LET STUFF GET IN WAY OF UNI AMBITIONS..
Y

Reply 7

strawbs104

Yeah, but mine was much more extreme than yours...
I worked towards doing costume design non stop throughout GCSEs and A levels, and got into a fairly prestigious art college for my foundation year this year. After 2 months there, I realised what a terrible mistake I'd made, dropped out and have now applied to do English... the only other subject I'd ever considered studying :smile:

I know I have the grades, just hoping my other subjects (namely art) won't damage my chances!

So yeah, my degree choice changed in about 2 months! Sounds fairly fickle, but I know I've made the right choice :smile:

Reply 8

Jordenfruitbat

i used to want to do sociology..... then i changed to wanting to do a social work degree then i started working in a hospital and realised i wanted to do a nursing degree, im so glad i started working otherwise I wouldnt be applying for the right thing! this all changed over about 6 months to a year but im really happy with the idea of doing nursing now though :smile:

Reply 9

CapnHooch

Music - Architecture - Theoretical Physics - Biomedical Sciences.

Terrible.

Reply 10

AAfc

yeah. at one point i wanted to do geography then sports science, then environmental science and then economics and then back to geography :biggrin:

Reply 11

username487488

I wanted to do law, because EVERYONE did it :smile:

Now I'm more then happy to do Geography and not fight off the hoards at interviews :wink:

It really doesn't suprise me you chose English, especially if you could send an e-mail like that in Year 11!

Reply 12

Niki_girl

I was always going to do Science (or so I thought in year 9)
Then I wanted to do Psychology (Year 10)
Then I wanted to do Biology (Year 11)

Now :confused:

seeing as I'm failing chemistry AS level I think History is a better choice, or something like that :smile:

Will probably change again before UCAS application next year! :s-smilie:

Reply 13

Colour Me Pretty

I went from not wanting to go to Uiversity to having aspirations to get accepted by Cambridge. :colondollar:

Reply 14

danny111

Original post by sango

Can you pm me the responses from those unis please? I would very much like to read those.

Reply 15

innerhollow

My degree choices ended up being like a homogenous catalyst- they went through several changes, but went back to the original by the end of it. A nice full circle :smile:

. Chemical Engineering was the first time I'd really thought "Wow here's a subject I'd actually like to do at uni". After that I considered several other subjects (i.e. Chemistry, Biochemistry, Civil Engineering, Economics, Maths, Medicine, Physics) and at one point had provisionally decided on doing a Chemistry degree instead, but in the end I was always going to end up doing Chemical Engineering. It's the only subject for me :biggrin:

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 16

TheSownRose

I went full circle - I wanted to do optometry in year nine, history throughout my GCSEs, maths during year twelve and most of year thirteen, then optometry again.

And that's what I do now.

Reply 17

jb9191

Yes

at 16 I wanted to do either Computer Forensics or Web Design.

Now I am far more interested in Computer Science. I guess it's because I taught myself web design and got more interested in programming and working things out.

Reply 18

TheSownRose

Original post by danny111

Can you pm me the responses from those unis please? I would very much like to read those.

Forget PM, can you post them here please? :smile:

Reply 19

xXFrenchKicksXx

I've changed my mind countless times :P In the past 2 years, I've seriously considered doing Music, Dance, French, Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Natural Sciences, Biochemistry....still not sure if I chose the right degree :s-smilie: