Completely lost

I'm entering my second term at uni and the fact that I really don't know what I'm doing with my time here is starting to set in, hard.

I'm doing a creative subject and I just don't feel like I have the drive to pursue it, I don't really like the job instability and I feel like I'm not actually very interested in the subject, I just took it because I knew I didn't want to work a desk job but I haven't avoided that by picking a subject I'm not enjoying.

In an ideal world, I would drop out at the end of this year and go and do an animal management course - I love animals and think that a job taking care of them would be much more suited to me - more job security, more certainty, less reliance on my creativity which is being drained just by me thinking about having to do it for a living...

However, I know my parents will be furious if I drop out. They have helped me so much already financially that I know they would be so mad if I came home without a degree. BUT I also don't want to stay on for the next two and a bit years doing something that I can't see myself having a career in.

Any advice from people who dropped out or changed their courses in the same way, or even have just felt the same way I do right now would be much appreciated.

I think you’d be surprised at your parents response. Have you tried talking to them about being unhappy and disappointed with the course you’ve chosen? They might be more supportive if they feel involved in the decision.

I briefly mentioned the topic to my mum, something along the lines of "I'm not particularly looking forward to going back to uni", to which her immediate response was "well don't drop out!"

She has always been supportive but I can still imagine that she would resent me for dropping out - out of my three siblings I was "the smart one" with plans to go and study and get a good job and I feel like she'll see that image shattered if I leave... although I still have three years of SFE so I could just return to a different course in a years time...

There's a difference between arranging to restart on a different course and "dropping out" with no plan and nothing to do.

I suppose so! I guess it depends on if she sees it that way...

I'm going to spend some more time deliberating before I make any decisions as I have pretty much up until the end of the year to decide what I'm doing, but thank you for the reassurances!