Unsure what to do after A levels

IHere are my options:

Go to Bristol uni in September to study Pharmacology: I applied for pharmacology through UCAS last year and met the conditions of my offer and have been offered a place. Pros: I go to uni now and don't have to wait a year. Cons: I am not that interested in the subject, i am only doing it so that i can do graduate entry to veterinary medicine. This would mean spending 8 years at uni. I don't want to spend this much time studying and not working and have massive debts afterwards. If i don't get in as a graduate to veterinary medicine then i will have a degree that i dont think will be very useful.

Don't go to Bristol this year but instead apply for D108 at Bristol and D100 at Surrey and RVC for 2018 entry: Pros: If i get in it means less time at Uni ergo less debts and less of my youth spent studying and not earning money i also get to be a vet quicker. Cons: If i dont get in it would be a waste of a year of my life. some of my family do not approve, they dont think i will bother going back to studying after a year out. I am all set and have everything arranged to go to uni in September, if i pull out now i think i will feel like i am an idiot for passing up an opportunity to study at a russel group uni. i just feel like it is stupid to back out now i am so close to going.

So my real question is: Do i take option one and study for a degree that doesn't really interest me knowing that i probably wont be able to see out the whole 8 years at uni but it means that i get to go to uni sooner. Or, do i take a risk and apply to study my true passion for 2018 entry meaning that i could possibly waste a whole year of my life if i don't get in?

Or do i do something else entirely?

I got A in bio and BB in chem and maths and have 5 weeks animal related work experience.

I am really Stressed out over this, even losing sleep.

Thanks for reading and sorry if this is hard to make sense of.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 1

Danny Dorito

20

Original post by djwec

IHere are my options:

Go to Bristol uni in September to study Pharmacology: I applied for pharmacology through UCAS last year and met the conditions of my offer and have been offered a place. Pros: I go to uni now and don't have to wait a year. Cons: I am not that interested in the subject, i am only doing it so that i can do graduate entry to veterinary medicine. This would mean spending 8 years at uni. I don't want to spend this much time studying and not working and have massive debts afterwards. If i don't get in as a graduate to veterinary medicine then i will have a degree that i dont think will be very useful.

Don't go to Bristol this year but instead apply for D108 at Bristol and D100 at Surrey and RVC for 2018 entry: Pros: If i get in it means less time at Uni ergo less debts and less of my youth spent studying and not earning money i also get to be a vet quicker. Cons: If i dont get in it would be a waste of a year of my life. some of my family do not approve, they dont think i will bother going back to studying after a year out. I am all set and have everything arranged to go to uni in September, if i pull out now i think i will feel like i am an idiot for passing up an opportunity to study at a russel group uni. i just feel like it is stupid to back out now i am so close to going.

So my real question is: Do i take option one and study for a degree that doesn't really interest me knowing that i probably wont be able to see out the whole 8 years at uni but it means that i get to go to uni sooner. Or, do i take a risk and apply to study my true passion for 2018 entry meaning that i could possibly waste a whole year of my life if i don't get in?

Or do i do something else entirely?

I got A in bio and BB in chem and maths and have 5 weeks animal related work experience.

I am really Stressed out over this, even losing sleep.

Thanks for reading and sorry if this is hard to make sense of.

Just tagging a few people in

Original post by djwec

IHere are my options:

Go to Bristol uni in September to study Pharmacology: I applied for pharmacology through UCAS last year and met the conditions of my offer and have been offered a place. Pros: I go to uni now and don't have to wait a year. Cons: I am not that interested in the subject, i am only doing it so that i can do graduate entry to veterinary medicine. This would mean spending 8 years at uni. I don't want to spend this much time studying and not working and have massive debts afterwards. If i don't get in as a graduate to veterinary medicine then i will have a degree that i dont think will be very useful.

Don't go to Bristol this year but instead apply for D108 at Bristol and D100 at Surrey and RVC for 2018 entry: Pros: If i get in it means less time at Uni ergo less debts and less of my youth spent studying and not earning money i also get to be a vet quicker. Cons: If i dont get in it would be a waste of a year of my life. some of my family do not approve, they dont think i will bother going back to studying after a year out. I am all set and have everything arranged to go to uni in September, if i pull out now i think i will feel like i am an idiot for passing up an opportunity to study at a russel group uni. i just feel like it is stupid to back out now i am so close to going.

So my real question is: Do i take option one and study for a degree that doesn't really interest me knowing that i probably wont be able to see out the whole 8 years at uni but it means that i get to go to uni sooner. Or, do i take a risk and apply to study my true passion for 2018 entry meaning that i could possibly waste a whole year of my life if i don't get in?

Or do i do something else entirely?

I got A in bio and BB in chem and maths and have 5 weeks animal related work experience.

I am really Stressed out over this, even losing sleep.

Thanks for reading and sorry if this is hard to make sense of.

Hey @djwec,

Having read your post, I think you already know what you'd prefer to do. From what you've said (correct me if I'm wrong):

1) You're not really interested in studying Pharmacology
2) You don't want to graduate with loads of debt or spend 8 years at uni
3) You know that you want to be a vet
4) Some family members don't think you'd go back to uni after a year out
5) You're worried about wasting a year of your life if you don't get in to study vet med in 2018

I'm going address each of the above with some thoughts based on my own experiences and what I've heard from other students and our own admissions team.

Just a quick side note - for Surrey's Vet med programme (like most vet courses) we require a grade A in Biology and Chemistry as well, so you'd have to retake Chemistry if you wanted to get an offer to study here. You can read about our entry requirements for Veterinary Medicine here.

1) You're not really interested in studying Pharmacology
Studying something that you're not really interested in, in my opinion, is a bit of a recipe for disaster. If you're not interested in your subject, you're probably going to find it extremely difficult to motivate yourself to study, go to lectures etc. This could result in you not reaching your full potential, or even flunking out, which would waste time and money. It could also be detrimental to your own happiness. I spent 3 years studying a subject I didn't enjoy and, although I eventually got a job in something I was interested in, I often find myself wondering what would have happened if I had bitten the bullet and dropped out to study something I was more passionate about. Although I loved being at Surrey, I didn't enjoy my degree, and that affected my personal wellbeing a lot. Some people are willing to put up with studying something they're not crazy about to get where they want to be in the long run though, so it's up to you to decide if it's worth it.

2) You don't want to graduate with loads of debt or spend 8 years at uni
This is a legitimate concern for a lot of students. What is especially important in your case is that, as it stands at the moment, Student Finance won't give you a loan for a second Bachelors degree when you've already received funding for your first degree. So if you did Pharmacology and got your loans for that, you would have to fully self-fund your Vet Med degree. The Vet Med programme is quite intensive so it would probably be difficult to work more to fund the course. Are your family willing to help cover the costs, or would you have to take on private loans to cover the costs associated with doing a second degree?

3) You know that you want to be a vet
It seems pretty obvious to me that you're passionate about becoming a vet, and you've already got some work experience to back it up, so you know the work that's involved in the job. Because you know you have something to work towards, I feel like you would probably be a lot more motivated to study and hopefully get the grades needed to gain a course on the vet programme of your choice.

4) Some family members don't think you'd go back to uni after a year out
This is also a legitimate concern. Some people get a taste for earning money when they spend a year out working and don't end up going to uni. However, I'm a firm believer that if you want to work in a particular field that requires a degree, you will work to achieve that goal. My boyfriend had a lifelong dream of working in motorsport racing, but wasn't very academic. He left school after doing his GCSEs and did an apprenticeship to become a mechanic. For various reasons, he ended up leaving and worked in bars for nearly 10 years before doing an Access course and completing his degree in Automotive Engineering. He now works for McLaren, and travels to tracks all over the world as a race car mechanic for the team.

Look at it this way - a year out will allow you to save up some money to put towards living costs when you go to uni, taking some of the strain off your family. It will also allow you time to put together some contingency plans in case you don't get a place on the programme of your choice.

5) You're worried about wasting a year of your life if you don't get in to study vet med in 2018
This one is easy. You can 'waste' a year of your life gaining work experience (which will look great on your application for vet med if you find work with animals) and working to improve your A Level grades. In real terms, a year flies by, so as long as you spend it doing something productive it won't be wasted. If you 100% know that you don't want to study Pharmacology and might not end up completing the degree, going for a year and then dropping out would be a much bigger waste of time.

A final word of advice: This decision is yours and yours alone. It affects your future, so although you should consider your family's opinion and respect it, ultimately you have to do what you think is best for you.

All the best,
Ashley

Unsure what to do after A levels

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