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Unusual/unique degree choice?

Whenever I tell people what I hope to study at university, their reaction is always something along the lines of "what on earth is that?" or "weird choice" (hoping to study Evolutionary Anthropology). So I was just wondering, have any of you studied or are studying an "unusual" degree? How do people react when you tell them? This could be anything from a strange combined honours such as combining two completely different things like Maths and English, or just a generally unheard of undergraduate/postgraduate course. :smile:

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Reply 1
while I don't really find my degree choice that obscure. When I tell people I will be doing a degree in linguistics... they usually pause. smile then ask... 'what is linguistics' lol.
Reply 2
I'm in year 13 at the moment but I'm hoping to study Physics with French at university, and a lot of people find that weird but they're my two favorite subjects so...
Original post by MkGuy
while I don't really find my degree choice that obscure. When I tell people I will be doing a degree in linguistics... they usually pause. smile then ask... 'what is linguistics' lol.

I'd say it still is, because yeah, most people don't know what it is :tongue: sounds very interesting though!
Original post by Bella31415
I'm in year 13 at the moment but I'm hoping to study Physics with French at university, and a lot of people find that weird but they're my two favorite subjects so...

That's a pretty cool combination :tongue:


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Reply 4
Once I met someone who wanted to study 'Disaster Management' as a degree, which I had never heard of before.
Honestly though, it is better to study something you love, I think, whether that involves disasters or not.

Personally I think Anthropology sounds quite interesting, it will be a talking point at least. :smile:
One of my friends hope to study Japanese Zoology.. I'm not sure what Job prospects it has but it seems pretty confined and irrelevant as to social or economic development.
I'm doing Developmental Psychology but I tell non-psychological folk that I do Psychology. I tell my parents (and other second generation Asian immigrants) that I learn about people and things like depression because it's too difficult to explain in Bengali exactly what psychology is. :getmecoat: They understand and speak English, but it's not easy explaining Psychology without using words like mental/cognitive processes which they most probably won't understand.
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by Abdul-Karim
One of my friends hope to study Japanese Zoology.. I'm not sure what Job prospects it has but it seems pretty confined and irrelevant as to social or economic development.


That sounds amazing :tongue:

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I've applied for Scandinavian Studies (Norwegian), I am tired of having to justify it to family members.
Original post by Samual
I've applied for Scandinavian Studies (Norwegian), I am tired of having to justify it to family members.


Haha I know the feeling! Sounds very interesting indeed :smile:

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I have applied for Scandi Studies as well, and have the same problem. :sad:
My Mum supports me and tells me to study what I love, but my Dad happens to have some kind of hatred towards Scandinavia, for imo futile reasons and mostly out of stubbornness/narrow-mindedness.
I can't talk about the things I love while he's around or he will start degrading the society, making comparisons with the all-mighty, all-knowing perfect Romans, and saying I will probably never find any jobs related to the degree and that I'll come back home crying to him and Mum. :argh:
I feel very embarassed having to tell relatives and family friends what I want to do at Uni, because most of them are narrow-minded folk...They look at me as if to say "I thought you were an intelligent girl, how is it possible that *Dad's name*'s daughter has chosen something so useless and stupid?".

Very mature mentality indeed. :unimpressed:

I am so fed up of this, so I just tend to laugh about it in their presence and bottle all my feelings up...:viking:


(Sorry about the rant :s-smilie:)
Law with French Law, people just kind of nodded and said 'oh so you speak French then?'. No **** Sherlock.
Reply 12
Original post by RainReader
Once I met someone who wanted to study 'Disaster Management' as a degree, which I had never heard of before.
Honestly though, it is better to study something you love, I think, whether that involves disasters or not.

Personally I think Anthropology sounds quite interesting, it will be a talking point at least. :smile:


I studied disaster management for my undergrad... Fantastic degree! and always gets a conversation going and is very broad as well

Just do what ever degre you want. often they are just a stepping stone into any career and it's not just about hte subject its what else you do in your degree i.e work experience, extra curriculars etc is what makes a degree worth while.
Networking and work experience is far more important than a degree title :smile:
Reply 13
I applied for a joint degree in Archaeology and Ecology and there was only one place which offered this (Worcester). However, even though I love archaeology and did an A level in it I decided to have it as my insurance choice and my firm choice was a pure Ecology degree as I felt the uni was better for me. I do wonder what it would have been like but I do not regret my choice.
Reply 14
When I tell people I'm studying Physics with Philosophy, they tend to kind of get blown aback and awed, and ask how they can even go together.

I just picked the two subjects I liked the most because I had no idea what I wanted to do.
Original post by lcsurfer
I studied disaster management for my undergrad... Fantastic degree! and always gets a conversation going and is very broad as well

Just do what ever degre you want. often they are just a stepping stone into any career and it's not just about hte subject its what else you do in your degree i.e work experience, extra curriculars etc is what makes a degree worth while.
Networking and work experience is far more important than a degree title :smile:


That's interesting. I wonder if more people would study it if they were aware of it?

I agree. I certainly don't think a persons choice of degree should be looked down upon if they have chosen something they enjoy over a definite career path, or the other way about, whether that choice is unusual or not. :smile:
I study Chemical Engineering. It's not uncommon/unusual but whenever I tell people they don't know what it is and think it's really strange. The other day my Grandad asked me "is it about DNA?" and a Priest once asked me if it was all about Chemical warfare
(edited 10 years ago)
Scumbag student. Get a degree in something ridiculous yet still say that 'Oh I've got a degree.'
Reply 18
Original post by uktotalgamer
Scumbag student. Get a degree in something ridiculous yet still say that 'Oh I've got a degree.'


Evolutionary Anthropology doesn't sound ridiculous...
Reply 19
When I tell people I'd like to read 'Land Economy' they always ask me what on earth it is. Most people think it's a farming/ agricultural degree or something...


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