Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

When did you know what you wanted to study at university?

e2014

I'm in year 10 and have just recently become interested in international law. I think it's something I'd like to pursue into further education but am quite fearful of the fact that when the time comes, the other applicants will have been interested for far longer than me. When did you know what you wanted to study at university? When did you start reading into it and having a genuine interest? I'm just curious as to whether year 10 is late/early to begin thinking about this type of thing.

(If anyone has any advice on things I could be doing at my age to prepare myself to one day apply to law school successfully, it'd be much appreciated.)

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Reply 1

Koalafications

Original post by e2014

Honestly it depends for everyone. I found my degree choice probably at the start of year 12 and decided on it later on in the year as before that I was sold on studying psychology! Can't give you any advice on applying to law school, but honestly don't worry about it you have plenty of time yet, and most universities don't seem to care how long you've had the interest, just that you are passionate for it. I would say that it's good that you're thinking early as you have something to aim for, but keep your options open in case you change your mind later on! :smile:

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Reply 2

username2284419

I knew when i was in year 8. But honestly it doesnt matter. As long as you like your subject, you'll be fine

Reply 3

username1560589

By year 12 I knew I wanted to do one of two subjects. By year 13 I knew I wanted to do both.
It doesn't really matter.

Reply 4

udsjufhbsg

I knew the course I wanted to study in year

Jks I wasn't in a year

It was actually now in my gap year I decided. Don't worry about it.

Reply 5

username2281157

I'm in year 11 right now and only decided a few months back what uni course and career I want to do (after A LOT of research). But if you asked me in September I would've literally had no clue what I wanted to do with my future, I had never thought about it. Don't fret, year 10 is early and that's good because you can start preparing by doing relevant extra-curricular stuff. The main thing to focus on though is getting very good GCSE grades and then picking good A Level subjects

Reply 6

chxnoa

In Year 10, I thought that I wanted to be a vet and so did some work experience - I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I thought that I would, and I also started to have some serious doubts about whether I'd be able to cope with the issues specific to veterinary medicine, so I then knew that I didn't want to do veterinary medicine. However, I knew that I still wanted to do something scientific.

In the summer after year 11, I spent a week in a hospital (human medicine) and absolutely loved it - this set me on track to get more work experience in human medicine, such as another week shadowing and also volunteering at my local hospital during Year 12. All of these confirmed to me that I really did want to study medicine, which I have now applied for (I'm in Year 13).

However, medicine is a vocational course as well as an academic one - I suspect that international law lends itself to a broad range of careers. I would say that getting some work experience in law would be really useful, but also to really look at the courses offered in international law. I wasn't sure on medicine until about halfway through Year 12 - I was very nearly sure, but had my moments of doubt at times! - but now that I've decided, I'm immovable.

I wouldn't worry too much (if this is possible) about the people who've known that they want to do course X since a very young age - it's often actually better not to be sure because then you have a very open mind and aren't blind to the flaws of your chosen course. I think that being open-minded will help you a lot in deciding - and also remember that you don't have to submit your UCAS form until the start/middle of Year 13, so you don't have to have decided until then (and if you're really not sure, you can just take a gap year and apply in your gap year!). I know how awful it is to feel like you have to know what you want to do - I spent so long worrying about my future/university courses during Year 11 because I wasn't sure at that point - but I would say that an open mind is probably the best thing at this point.

I wish you the very best of luck! :biggrin:

Reply 7

lilGem

I changed my mind a fair few times, in retrospect now it was in year 10, I just wish I followed through with it with my A-level choices initially!

Fortunately/ Unfortunately- whichever way you want to look at it I ended up being ill during my time in year 12 and ended up doing a third year it was during this time that made me realise how much I miss studying biology which I took up at AS in year 13. I completed it in my third year alongside AS chemistry and psychology; I eventually finished A-levels (with some early) with A*A*A* (General studies, Japanese, Hebrew) A (Economics) BBbd (Human biology, history, psychology chemistry).

I'm now in my final year at university graduating in summer and I'll be applying for PhDs next year after gaining more lab experience, aspiring cancer researcher :woo:

Reply 8

Origami Bullets

When I was in primary school, I was convinced I'd study vet med. In reality, my fourth AS (politics) became a subject that I carried on to A2, and it eventually became my degree subject. I didn't settle on it until the summer holidays after Y12, and it turned out to be a perfectly good decision (loved my course and graduated with a high 2:1).

It's absolutely fine to have lots of ideas, no idea, a few ideas, or whatever at this stage. Go out, explore them, but keep an open mind - there are about 40,000 degree courses on offer in the UK and it's impossible to be certain at this stage which one is right for you. Bear in mind that if you want to study law and have ambitions to work in the legal sector, you'd need to do an LLB law degree, which covers far more than just international law.

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Reply 9

jchampjchamp

I could never have imagined not applying for university, although I only decided what course it was about a year ago.

At 29 yrs old :u:

I'm 21 now and I only came to the realisation that I wanted to go to university when I was 19. I'm on an access course at the moment which is tailored to mature students (19+) so everyone on my course have only very recently decided that they want to go to university.

It's completely unrealistic for society to expect all 15/16 year olds to 100% know what they want to do with their future, when I was your age I was clueless on what I wanted to do, it took me a few years in and out of college and a few jobs to realise that university is the best way forward for me.

Count yourself lucky that you've found an interest in a potential career path at your age, some of us weren't so lucky, if you feel that this is what you want then pursue it! Put your all into it and study hard!

Reply 12

kkboyk

End of yr12 affter doing lots of research. Although I have 5 offers, I still feel a bit uncertain on whether to change to a different course or not.

Reply 13

Speckle

By mid year 11 when I chose my A-levels I knew I wanted to study engineering.

By mid year 12 I had changed my mind to Economics.

Reply 14

sjohnson98

I knew what I wanted to do when I was 8 years old (history), but I was very fortunate to be brought into a community of historians. Were it not for their support and encouragement, I likely would have decided on medicine/law, like my parents wanted.

Reply 15

Sandtrooper

Volunteer Team

Officially Y12 but it was the same subject I wanted to do when I was 4 . . . !

Reply 16

Plagioclase

Pretty late. I only actually found out my subject existed as an academic discipline half-way through Year 12!

Reply 17

BlackSweetness

Original post by Plagioclase

Pretty late. I only actually found out my subject existed as an academic discipline half-way through Year 12!

Same, my mum threw me into a level 3 electrical engineering course, i didn't care about it that much at the start.
Then i started to love it and mid way through the first year, i realized id love to do this as a career.

Reply 18

Changing Skies

Wanted to study history in year 11. Then planned to do vet med in year 12. Hated chemistry so got a bad grade. Decided on history again. Realised I would miss biology too much. Then decided to find a course where I could kind of combine the two, so I applied for biological anthropology. I got my offers and realised I made a mistake, so switched to a joint honours in history and biological sciences. Thought I was happy with this. Started uni and for some strange reason decided to swap the history half to ancient history. Stuck it out for a year despite hating it and finally dropped it before Christmas, leaving me studying just biology. So now, in the second half of my second year at university, I know what I enjoy and want to study. It was a long road but I'm finally happy :lol: