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Stuck whether to do a Chinese degree or a psychology degree

My family isn't very supportive about me doing a chinese degree as it doesn't have clear job prospects. I feel rather confused as I don't know what it is that I want If I were to do a psychology degree I would probably go into academia. If I did a Chinese degree I know I don't want to be a chinese teacher or an english teacher in China or go into translation. But I feel life a chinese degree may take me places I never thought about and the fact that it has no clear path may not be a bad thing.

My aunt thinks I should only do a degree to get a job not as an interest. I thought that the purpose of a degree is to do things which interest you. I find psychology very interesting but I am struggling to make a choice as there will be no going back and I will need to commit to it.

My worst fear is doing something which I don't enjoy. The thing is I can't put my finger on what it is I would enjoy more.
(edited 4 years ago)
There's an awful lot of people with psychology degrees; there aren't many with degrees in Chinese.
Original post by Anonymous1502
My family isn't very supportive about me doing a chinese degree as it doesn't have clear job prospects. I feel rather confused as I don't know what it is that I want If I were to do a psychology degree I would probably go into academia. If I did a Chinese degree I know I don't want to be a chinese teacher or an english teacher in China or go into translation. But I feel life a chinese degree may take me places I never thought about and the fact that it has no clear path may not be a bad thing.

My aunt thinks I should only do a degree to get a job not as an interest. I thought that the purpose of a degree is to do things which interest you. I find psychology very interesting but I am struggling to make a choice as there will be no going back and I will need to commit to it.

My worst fear is doing something which I don't enjoy. The thing is I can't put my finger on what it is I would enjoy more.


The job options are far better with a degree in Chinese than they are with Psychology! it's not that Chinese has no clear path, it has so many possible paths. Whereas Psychology has a clear path, with hundreds of graduate fighting for every opportunity.
Not having a clear path is a good thing imo - I started at uni doing medicine and felt horribly trapped by essentially having the next 10 years of my life planned out, I'm now in my final year of a maths and biosciences degree and have no idea where I'm headed next but I have a lot of options! "No set path" doesn't have to mean no job prospects, any degree opens doors and like you say it could take you into all sorts of areas you hadn't thought about or don't even know exist :smile:

Languages are in high demand and you'd be well placed for a career in so many areas (politics, business, banking, NGO work). You can say the same for psychology though - academia is an option for sure, but you get options like clinical psychology, research trials, marketing, counselling, etc. Basically either Chinese or Psychology would open so many doors, I wouldn't worry about career prospects with either!

If you're not sure what you want to do, take your time deciding. No point rushing into something! There's also the option of combined honours degrees, if you're interested in both subjects I'm sure you'd be able to find places that offer psychology with a language - I'm at Exeter and I know a lot of people who study half one subject and half a language (Classics and French, Maths and Spanish, all sorts of combos) and maybe I'm biased because I'm also doing joint honours haha but I think it's such a good thing to do, it stops you having to narrow down your options early on which is great if you have multiple interests and it's good for employability to have a range of skills and perspectives.

Last thing I'd say is you have to study something you enjoy and have an interest in. You'll spend at least 3 years studying in depth and if you don't enjoy it you're not gonna have a good time and it'll definitely affect your grades too.

Try not to stress about it - easier said than done when you have family pressure - and give yourself time. No door is ever fully shut in my experience, so take your time and work out what you enjoy first and foremost. Everything else will fall into place :smile:
China is the rising world superpower that will overtake America.

Chinese will soon become the 'lingua franca' of the world. Do you want to be left as one of the few who does not know how to speak?

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