The Student Room Group

What to study at uni?

I can't decide what course/subject to do at uni. My AS subjects were drama and theatre studies, english literature, maths and psychology. I'll most likely be dropping either drama or psychology, which ever I do worse in (although I'd prefer to keep drama as I hated psychology at AS). I was looking at doing english literature at a few uni's, because I did enjoy it at AS, but everyone seems to be telling me not to do it and that I'll struggle to get a job after. Also, while I do like it, I'm not really passionate about it. Can anyone give me any advice on what they took with similar a-levels, or how they chose their uni courses, etc. Anything at all would be really helpful because I'm supposed to be doing my personal statement but I can't start until I know what subject I want to do, and I'm also meant to be doing my EPQ but I wanted to link it into my uni course
Reply 1
Well in my opinion career wise maths is always a good one because it leads to many different well paid career paths but I suppose you've got to like it because typically people find it boring. I did Maths at A-level, hope you found the first year okay, people say the jump from GCSE's to A-levels is hard but for maths initially I found AS to A2 harder.
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 2
Original post by Detiri17
Well in my opinion career wise maths is always a good one because it leads to many different well paid career paths but I suppose you've got to like it because typically people find it boring. I did Maths at A-level, hope you found the first year okay, people say the jump from GCSE's to A-levels is hard but for maths initially I found AS to A2 harder.


Thanks for replying! I actually can quite enjoy maths, but it depends on the topic area, and while I'm alright at it, I don't know if I'm good enough to get into a good uni for it, and actually deal with the courses as I've heard it can be really hard. Yeah I didn't think the jump was too bad, but there were certain topics I struggled with, although I don't think my teacher was that great.
Reply 3
In my opinion maths is definitely one where you need a good teacher to inspire you else it can be a bit dull, I was predicted A's at GCSE and got C's until I did the linear course in year 10 and ended up with an A so I thought I'd try and work really hard for a B or C or something at A-level but I ended up with an A at AS and really took to it which I put down to my teachers as well. Hopefully, I get a A overall this year. Anyway, I'm hopefully doing economics at uni and I've never done it before so that's always an interesting point, there's a little bit in Business Studies which got me interested but I suppose that's it, whatever you're interested in. Maybe, try doing your EPQ on something that is relevant to one of your possible choices and this might help you decide. I did mine on the economic impacts of scottish independence and I enjoyed so it's help firm up that I want to do economics. Also, I've read a few books on it so it's making sure you're going to find it interesting really, so maybe look out for some possible reads although I can't think of any books for Maths. Hope this helps to some extent
Original post by graceeea
I can't decide what course/subject to do at uni. My AS subjects were drama and theatre studies, english literature, maths and psychology. I'll most likely be dropping either drama or psychology, which ever I do worse in (although I'd prefer to keep drama as I hated psychology at AS). I was looking at doing english literature at a few uni's, because I did enjoy it at AS, but everyone seems to be telling me not to do it and that I'll struggle to get a job after. Also, while I do like it, I'm not really passionate about it. Can anyone give me any advice on what they took with similar a-levels, or how they chose their uni courses, etc. Anything at all would be really helpful because I'm supposed to be doing my personal statement but I can't start until I know what subject I want to do, and I'm also meant to be doing my EPQ but I wanted to link it into my uni course


1. If you don't know what to do, why do you want to go to university?

2. I noticed you haven't considered doing maths at uni, which is the best subject (employability wise) out of your 5 subjects.
Original post by graceeea
I can't decide what course/subject to do at uni. My AS subjects were drama and theatre studies, english literature, maths and psychology. I'll most likely be dropping either drama or psychology, which ever I do worse in (although I'd prefer to keep drama as I hated psychology at AS). I was looking at doing english literature at a few uni's, because I did enjoy it at AS, but everyone seems to be telling me not to do it and that I'll struggle to get a job after. Also, while I do like it, I'm not really passionate about it. Can anyone give me any advice on what they took with similar a-levels, or how they chose their uni courses, etc. Anything at all would be really helpful because I'm supposed to be doing my personal statement but I can't start until I know what subject I want to do, and I'm also meant to be doing my EPQ but I wanted to link it into my uni course

For picking a degree go for something that you really feel that you're passionate for.
With those a levels, this is not a comprehensive list but you could do:
Accounting
Business studies
You might be able to do Education
Drama
English
Possibly economics
History of art
Possibly Law
Possibly maths
Any media related degree like journalism
Religious studies
Sociology
Psychology

there ll probably be things i ve missed but any of those take your fancy?
Reply 6
Original post by Juichiro
1. If you don't know what to do, why do you want to go to university?

2. I noticed you haven't considered doing maths at uni, which is the best subject (employability wise) out of your 5 subjects.


1. Because pretty much everyone I know who went loved it and had a great time, and recommend I go. On top of that, I've always wanted to go to university, and I don't really want to go into full time employment yet, or get an apprenticeship, or do a gap year. Also, I'm sure I've seen multiple statistics showing that university graduates end up earning more, but I'm not 100% on that.

2. I actually did consider it, especially after we had a lecturer come in, but for the reasons I stated above I wasn't sure if it was the right course for me due to not being good enough and it being told it was a really hard course
Reply 7
Original post by Detiri17
In my opinion maths is definitely one where you need a good teacher to inspire you else it can be a bit dull, I was predicted A's at GCSE and got C's until I did the linear course in year 10 and ended up with an A so I thought I'd try and work really hard for a B or C or something at A-level but I ended up with an A at AS and really took to it which I put down to my teachers as well. Hopefully, I get a A overall this year. Anyway, I'm hopefully doing economics at uni and I've never done it before so that's always an interesting point, there's a little bit in Business Studies which got me interested but I suppose that's it, whatever you're interested in. Maybe, try doing your EPQ on something that is relevant to one of your possible choices and this might help you decide. I did mine on the economic impacts of scottish independence and I enjoyed so it's help firm up that I want to do economics. Also, I've read a few books on it so it's making sure you're going to find it interesting really, so maybe look out for some possible reads although I can't think of any books for Maths. Hope this helps to some extent


That's really good! I was originally hoping to get an A this year, but with the way one of my exams went it doesn't seem likely, but I guess I'll have to wait for results day.

Yeah I was hoping to try and link my EPQ into my course, I might look into a few courses and see if there's anything there that sparks my interest. Thanks you've been really helpful
Reply 8
Original post by claireestelle
For picking a degree go for something that you really feel that you're passionate for.
With those a levels, this is not a comprehensive list but you could do:
Accounting
Business studies
You might be able to do Education
Drama
English
Possibly economics
History of art
Possibly Law
Possibly maths
Any media related degree like journalism
Religious studies
Sociology
Psychology

there ll probably be things i ve missed but any of those take your fancy?


Yeah a few do, although because I've not taken some of them at a-level I don't know that much about it. Law always seemed kind of interesting, but the idea of learning loads of cases put me off a bit. English and maths are definitely options, but I'll have to have a proper look at the rest. Thank you!
Original post by graceeea
Yeah a few do, although because I've not taken some of them at a-level I don't know that much about it. Law always seemed kind of interesting, but the idea of learning loads of cases put me off a bit. English and maths are definitely options, but I'll have to have a proper look at the rest. Thank you!


No problem, hope you find the right degree for you:smile:
Reply 10
Original post by graceeea
I can't decide what course/subject to do at uni. My AS subjects were drama and theatre studies, english literature, maths and psychology. I'll most likely be dropping either drama or psychology, which ever I do worse in (although I'd prefer to keep drama as I hated psychology at AS). I was looking at doing english literature at a few uni's, because I did enjoy it at AS, but everyone seems to be telling me not to do it and that I'll struggle to get a job after. Also, while I do like it, I'm not really passionate about it. Can anyone give me any advice on what they took with similar a-levels, or how they chose their uni courses, etc. Anything at all would be really helpful because I'm supposed to be doing my personal statement but I can't start until I know what subject I want to do, and I'm also meant to be doing my EPQ but I wanted to link it into my uni course


My sister did English Lit at uni and she hasn't got a proper job rhew only thing you could really do with that subject is become a teacher.
Do what you're good at. Do what you enjoy. Have a look at law, your a levels suit that

If you want to do English, then do! English and History graduates find work in all sectors, particularly those from top unis. I want to do English, and I have hunted down examples of english graduates in all sectors, management, law, finance. I plan on doing english, then following it up with law or an MBA. It's more about showing your employer you're bright and trainable, it's about being excellent. A 1st from Durham in History is going to do you a lot more than a 2:2 in accounts from Manchester seriously. I know someone who did music at cambridge, were trained by a company and are now working in Accenture doing finance!

It's just your first degree, you can start learning whenever! I know someone who has started med school at 26!

Don't worry too much, have a look at law though it's simikar skills to english :smile:
My advice.. go for journalism. You said you enjoy Eng Literature so I think you could become a pretty good journalist.
Best of luck!
Original post by graceeea
I can't decide what course/subject to do at uni. My AS subjects were drama and theatre studies, english literature, maths and psychology. I'll most likely be dropping either drama or psychology, which ever I do worse in (although I'd prefer to keep drama as I hated psychology at AS). I was looking at doing english literature at a few uni's, because I did enjoy it at AS, but everyone seems to be telling me not to do it and that I'll struggle to get a job after. Also, while I do like it, I'm not really passionate about it. Can anyone give me any advice on what they took with similar a-levels, or how they chose their uni courses, etc. Anything at all would be really helpful because I'm supposed to be doing my personal statement but I can't start until I know what subject I want to do, and I'm also meant to be doing my EPQ but I wanted to link it into my uni course


I did similar AS/A2's to you. I started off in AS doing Drama, English Literature, Art and ICT but dropped Art in A2. It went well because Drama and English Literature went hand in hand. I was reading Shakespeare in English whilst performing it in Drama - therefore I understand the language and could read through it better. However, losing myself there! I loved English Literature and started to look at doing at university but I soon discovered that I love reading and writing but I love to have the freedom to read what I want, when I want and write what I want. I didn't like to be controlled in that, so, I soon stopped looking at that for university. I then had Drama and ICT. Drama is my biggest passion and what I've always loved doing. ICT, well, I've been a tech geek ever since I had my first computer when I was younger so I looked at Computer Science at university but soon decided that if I was going to university, I wanted something that excited me, that was fun to study and that I was passionate for. Therefore, Drama took it's lead. I ended up doing Drama in the Community at university. I've got a lot of stick from people on here because of the choices I made, but they were my choices and it's what I enjoyed doing so I'd say, don't listen to others. University is about going onto education to do what you want to do, and on the most part that is what people do. Follow your passion and do what you want to do.

Quick Reply

Latest