URGENT!!! Dilemma over what degree to study at university!
Hi everyone.
I'm in a major dilemma over what degree I want to study at university and I was just looking for any useful advice, help or guidance.
I've originally applied to do Accounting and Finance and I have all 5 conditional offers (Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, Man Met and Hull).
But now recently I've decided that I want to pursue a degree in something with Japanese (preferably Japanese and Chinese).
The only problem with this is that I would have to go through UCAS Extra, which is very risky if no uni accepts me or if I can't find a course that I like. I will then have to go into clearing and I might not be able to find a course that I want to do. This means that I will have to do a gap year (don't know what to do) and pay £9000 fees meaning £36,000 debt (minimum)!!!
Also, there are not many places for Japanese degree courses left in Extra and the Japanese courses at Manchester (the uni I really want to go) and at Sheffield are full i.e. not available on UCAS Extra.
There are some places e.g. Birmingham but I really wanted to study at Manchester or am I just being too picky?
I still want to be an Accountant or be in the Finance sector but I don't necessarily want to do an Accounting & Finance degree anymore.
Reasons why:
Advantages of the Accounting degree:
Disadvantages of the A & F degree:
But I could always learn Japanese in my own time or as part of evening study but this would take longer and won't be as effective as a degree in Japanese. I don't want to end up regretting that I've chosen the wrong degree!!
I know it's really late and I HATE myself for not realising earlier.
I'm going to go and speak to my tutor and careers about this dilemma too.
What do I do? Shall I ring the universities that I've applied to and see if they can offer me a place even though the courses are REALLY different?
Do I stick with Accounting and Finance or do I change my degree to Japanese (risky)?
Thanks a lot!
I'm in a major dilemma over what degree I want to study at university and I was just looking for any useful advice, help or guidance.
I've originally applied to do Accounting and Finance and I have all 5 conditional offers (Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, Man Met and Hull).
But now recently I've decided that I want to pursue a degree in something with Japanese (preferably Japanese and Chinese).
The only problem with this is that I would have to go through UCAS Extra, which is very risky if no uni accepts me or if I can't find a course that I like. I will then have to go into clearing and I might not be able to find a course that I want to do. This means that I will have to do a gap year (don't know what to do) and pay £9000 fees meaning £36,000 debt (minimum)!!!
Also, there are not many places for Japanese degree courses left in Extra and the Japanese courses at Manchester (the uni I really want to go) and at Sheffield are full i.e. not available on UCAS Extra.
There are some places e.g. Birmingham but I really wanted to study at Manchester or am I just being too picky?
I still want to be an Accountant or be in the Finance sector but I don't necessarily want to do an Accounting & Finance degree anymore.
Reasons why:
•
I don't have to do an A & F degree to pursue a career in those sectors, plus I 've heard they prefer people who haven't done an A & F degree.
•
I've always regretted not doing A Level French, so I don't want to regret not doing languages related courses again.
•
I really want to learn Japanese and I'm really passionate for languages.
•
Language are really useful and could be better for my future career.
•
Get to spend a year abroad in Japan!
Advantages of the Accounting degree:
•
Maximum (or a large amount) of exemptions from the Accounting boards (ICAEW, ACA, CIMA), which will be very useful.
•
It will be very useful for the Accounting or Finance sectors, as I will already have a lot of knowledge.
•
My A-levels (Maths, Accounting and Law) seem more suited for A & F.
•
Can spend a semester or a year studying abroad.
•
There are options to do other modules e.g. Economics, Maths, Philosophy etc.
•
Highly respected degree.
•
Won't have to go through Extra and possibly Clearing or the risk of having to do a gap year.
Disadvantages of the A & F degree:
•
If I'm having doubts now, I might not enjoy it when I actually do it, which may lead to dropping out.
•
Accounting firms generally prefer people who haven't done an A & F degree.
But I could always learn Japanese in my own time or as part of evening study but this would take longer and won't be as effective as a degree in Japanese. I don't want to end up regretting that I've chosen the wrong degree!!
I know it's really late and I HATE myself for not realising earlier.
I'm going to go and speak to my tutor and careers about this dilemma too.
What do I do? Shall I ring the universities that I've applied to and see if they can offer me a place even though the courses are REALLY different?
Do I stick with Accounting and Finance or do I change my degree to Japanese (risky)?
Thanks a lot!
Original post by JJ22
Original post by JJ22
What do I do? Shall I ring the universities that I've applied to and see if they can offer me a place even though the courses are REALLY different? )
What do I do? Shall I ring the universities that I've applied to and see if they can offer me a place even though the courses are REALLY different? )
Contact Manchester and Sheffield, and ask if they'll reconsider you for Japanese. They may say no as the course isn't on Extra, but they may agree to seeing as you already have an offer. You will need to send them a new PS and you won't lose the existing offers you have for A&F if they say no to changing the course.
Doing an accounting degree makes accounting firms not want to hire you? how did you work that out?
The big 4 firms have good links with the accounting/business school at russel group uni's so how would it be a disadvantage.
It shows your determined and gives you exemptions.
I know they say it doesn't matter what degree you do, but having an Acc&Fin degree can't be a disadvantage.
An example:
The big 4 firms do awards/bursaries at Birmingham university on the accounting an finance degree, recruit from there and go on trips to one of the national parks with them every year.
They wouldn't do that if they didn't give a **** about them.
Although, while having a accounting degree may be helpful, they don't really care too much are which degree you did at uni so if your going to hate the next 3 years of your education, just take a gap yr, go japan and come back and do a degree
The big 4 firms have good links with the accounting/business school at russel group uni's so how would it be a disadvantage.
It shows your determined and gives you exemptions.
I know they say it doesn't matter what degree you do, but having an Acc&Fin degree can't be a disadvantage.
An example:
The big 4 firms do awards/bursaries at Birmingham university on the accounting an finance degree, recruit from there and go on trips to one of the national parks with them every year.
They wouldn't do that if they didn't give a **** about them.
Although, while having a accounting degree may be helpful, they don't really care too much are which degree you did at uni so if your going to hate the next 3 years of your education, just take a gap yr, go japan and come back and do a degree
Im in the same situation as you.. I applied for Illustration and graphic design and have now changed my mind and want to do a psychology degree.. my teacher adviced me to do one because of my AAB grades but .. after heavy thought i decided against it and now I wish to go for it after all... what im trying to do is email the universities asking if they will accept an alternate PS and if they will then I will apply through extra to them one at a time. I would advice you to do the same , save your self the huge fee.
Original post by VictoriaG
Most universities will accept an alternative personal statement when you apply through extra, so if you're really passionate about learning Japanese and all parts of the culture then you better start writing..
I didn't realise that you had to send a personal statement to the unis!
I've sent a 'mini personal statement' in an email to them now. It took a while but it was worth it in the end!
Thanks for your help!
Original post by oxymoronic
Contact Manchester and Sheffield, and ask if they'll reconsider you for Japanese. They may say no as the course isn't on Extra, but they may agree to seeing as you already have an offer. You will need to send them a new PS and you won't lose the existing offers you have for A&F if they say no to changing the course.
I've sent a 'mini personal statement' in an email to Manchester and Sheffield. It's been about a week since I've sent it.
Sheffield replied and said they will pass the email on to the admissions tutor. lol.
Manchester hasn't replied yet, which is quite worrying because I prefer the degree at Manchester rather than Sheffield. What should I do in Manchester's case? Ring them? Email them again?
I'm so worried and nervous because I've got to sort out student accomodation aswell, that is if I get a conditional offer for the course.
Thanks for your advice!
Original post by JJ22
Hi everyone.
I'm in a major dilemma over what degree I want to study at university and I was just looking for any useful advice, help or guidance.
I'm in a major dilemma over what degree I want to study at university and I was just looking for any useful advice, help or guidance.
http://www.langcent.manchester.ac.uk/languages/leap/japanese/
Just take Japanese modules as part of your Accounting degree - best of both worlds!
Every uni has a language centre. I'm technically doing a Sociology degree at Warwick, but because of the language centre, 50% of my course is Japanese!
It may be worth investigating the extra curricular language courses at the unis you have A&F offers from. I have friends who achieved a fairly high level of competency from it, one who actually attends a lot of undergrad Spanish lectures now after beginning from scratch in first year! Is there the option of a year abroad on your A&F course? This isn't always something restricted to language degrees, depending on your course and university.
It's worth noting that some positions in finance that expect a degree with a level of numeracy involved so you could potentially close some avenues off.
It's worth noting that some positions in finance that expect a degree with a level of numeracy involved so you could potentially close some avenues off.
Original post by Man
With most undergrad courses you can do a module outside of your discipline so you can technically do japanese anyway without jeapordising your place at university, and once there you can look into changing to a japanese joint honours course for your second year if you do well?
Yeah I've asked about that and most unis do allow you to take a module in a language worth 20 credits in 2nd or 3rd year then you can carry it on to the final year, so it will be part of your degree.
However, if the course doesn't allow you to take an elective, you will probably have to pay around £150, which is quite a lot of money!
Also, learning a few modules in 2 years will only get the basics learnt and it won't be very effective in becoming fluent i.e. being able to speak without hesitation.
Or I can do an afternoon/evening class but it might be hard to balance my degree and the language since A & F is intensive.
I'm not sure about this (correct me if I'm wrong), if you do a degree with a modern language or with a modern language elective, you learn quite a few of like for example Business Management with French will mean that you will learn business terms in French as well as other general French words.
I'm not sure about the changing the degree but I know you can definitely carry on to a more advanced module for the next year, that is if you pass the language module.
Still a bit confused atm though!
Thanks for your help!
many uni courses work on a principle that 4/5 of your degree is your chosen subject and then 1/5 you get to choose whatever modules from wherever else you like
Original post by JJ22
Hi everyone.
I'm in a major dilemma over what degree I want to study at university and I was just looking for any useful advice, help or guidance.
I've originally applied to do Accounting and Finance and I have all 5 conditional offers (Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, Man Met and Hull).
Thanks a lot!
I'm in a major dilemma over what degree I want to study at university and I was just looking for any useful advice, help or guidance.
I've originally applied to do Accounting and Finance and I have all 5 conditional offers (Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, Man Met and Hull).
Thanks a lot!
At Manchester, if you go and start the course, they let you change courses within the first few weeks to others they offer so long as you meet the prerequisites of that course.
So you could go and start the degree in A+F and then within the first few weeks when you're already a student there you can discuss with the departments changing your course.
Original post by uxa595
Doing an accounting degree makes accounting firms not want to hire you? how did you work that out?
The big 4 firms have good links with the accounting/business school at russel group uni's so how would it be a disadvantage.
It shows your determined and gives you exemptions.
I know they say it doesn't matter what degree you do, but having an Acc&Fin degree can't be a disadvantage.
An example:
The big 4 firms do awards/bursaries at Birmingham university on the accounting an finance degree, recruit from there and go on trips to one of the national parks with them every year.
They wouldn't do that if they didn't give a **** about them.
Although, while having a accounting degree may be helpful, they don't really care too much are which degree you did at uni so if your going to hate the next 3 years of your education, just take a gap yr, go japan and come back and do a degree
The big 4 firms have good links with the accounting/business school at russel group uni's so how would it be a disadvantage.
It shows your determined and gives you exemptions.
I know they say it doesn't matter what degree you do, but having an Acc&Fin degree can't be a disadvantage.
An example:
The big 4 firms do awards/bursaries at Birmingham university on the accounting an finance degree, recruit from there and go on trips to one of the national parks with them every year.
They wouldn't do that if they didn't give a **** about them.
Although, while having a accounting degree may be helpful, they don't really care too much are which degree you did at uni so if your going to hate the next 3 years of your education, just take a gap yr, go japan and come back and do a degree
lol I only heard that from my teacher who said the chairman said they prefer people who haven't done an A & F degree because they prefer people who have flexibility i.e. not just focused on A & F.
Well I guess it is useful since they do have good links with them and the exemptions are really useful, so I would do a lot less exams!
I'm still thinking about what to do now, but think about how many people will have an A & F degree and how many people will have a Japanese degree who will want to be accountants or in the financial sector.
Thanks for your help!
Original post by Man
With most undergrad courses you can do a module outside of your discipline so you can technically do japanese anyway without jeapordising your place at university
This!!
Original post by JJ22
Disadvantages of the A & F degree:
•
If I'm having doubts now, I might not enjoy it when I actually do it, which may lead to dropping out.
•
Accounting firms generally prefer people who haven't done an A & F degree.
Please elaborate
Original post by Lightman123
Im in the same situation as you.. I applied for Illustration and graphic design and have now changed my mind and want to do a psychology degree.. my teacher adviced me to do one because of my AAB grades but .. after heavy thought i decided against it and now I wish to go for it after all... what im trying to do is email the universities asking if they will accept an alternate PS and if they will then I will apply through extra to them one at a time. I would advice you to do the same , save your self the huge fee.
It's tough isn't it? Wow, so you've took the risk and decided to go for Psychology? That's really brave!
It's weird isn't it, like changing the degree you want to do at a late time.
I've emailed them and see if they will reconsider my application and sent them a mini personal statement.
But the problem is, the Japanese courses at the unis that I've applied to aren't available in Extra and there aren't many places at other unis!
I'm just thinking: should I stick with my course and just take a language module as a lot of people are suggesting that because it is like they say, the best of both worlds or do I take the risk of going into extra then clearing and possibly have to do a gap year then pay £9,000 a year?
Original post by JJ22
What do I do? Shall I ring the universities that I've applied to and see if they can offer me a place even though the courses are REALLY different?
Do I stick with Accounting and Finance or do I change my degree to Japanese (risky)?
Thanks a lot!
What do I do? Shall I ring the universities that I've applied to and see if they can offer me a place even though the courses are REALLY different?
Do I stick with Accounting and Finance or do I change my degree to Japanese (risky)?
Thanks a lot!
Due to the high competition for Japanese you may have to reapply next year (which i guess you don't want to do.) At Sheffield they do Japanese for non specialists which you can do alongside your degree but i heard in 3 years of doing non specialist you become as knowledgeable as somone whos just finished their first year of a Japanese degree. Also you dont get to go to Japan.
I took an extra year out in order to do Japanese and it was worth it
but i didnt have the fee rise to worry about... but id still probably do it 
(edited 13 years ago)
What oxymoronic said. I originally applied for Japanese (ironically) then decided I wanted to change to French and Linguistics -and I got three alternative offers with no problems (from Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds). Having said that I did this all before the UCAS deadline, but you never know.
Out of interest, have you studied Japanese previously at all? If not then I would very much recommend doing at least a few hours of it, looking into the grammar, structure, watching films/anime etc before changing your degree.
Out of interest, have you studied Japanese previously at all? If not then I would very much recommend doing at least a few hours of it, looking into the grammar, structure, watching films/anime etc before changing your degree.
If youre certain you want to do Japanese, phone and email the unis you already have an offer for and ask if they can change your course choice to Japanese. I did this last week changing from physics to maths, i know theyre much closer related than A&F and Japanese but its still definitely worth a shot.
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