The Student Room Group

Struggling to make up my mind?

Hello, all. Long post ahead, so be prepared for a journey.

For some brief background, I am a 23 year old student currently enrolled at college, and have a confirmed place at a university for September 2021.

I am currently a student doing a course in Forensic Science, and only have around two and a half months left of my studies before university. I have applied to universities and made a decision for my firm and insurance choices, but now I am unsure about my decision.

Back in 2015, I had initially started the course for forensic science but had to drop out after a few months due to mental health reasons, which led to a couple of years getting help and treatment in order to go back into the real world. I applied for college in 2019 with the goal in mind to study Animal Management, as I absolutely adore working with animals. Now, I have adored science in many forms since I was a young child, and so when I reapplied to college four years after dropping out, I did not expect to see the tutor from then being on the interviewing team. She had mentioned how bright I was and how great my work had been back in 2015 when I had started the forensic science course, and despite being interviewed for animal management I ended up switching courses to try and complete what I started on the forensics course. This decision was made more along the principle of “I need to show myself that I can do this, despite what has happened in the past.” And I was happy with the change.

I thought this was what I wanted, as talking to the tutor during the interview process we made the decision that Forensics was clearly for me. I have thoroughly enjoyed the past two years on this course despite all of the Covid-19 complications, but now I am unsure if this is actually a career path I want to pursue.

For university, I have chosen to study criminal and forensic psychology as this is something that I am intrigued by. I have applied to five universities, and all five came back with conditional offers. After some deliberation, I chose my firm choice and my insurance choice based on what the universities each had to offer and what modules they covered on their courses. But I have recently come to realise that I do not actually want to be working in such a field, and do not want to be wasting my time with university, student loans, accommodation... Only to be unhappy. I do enjoy psychology and applying this to a criminological setting, but I cannot actually see myself working with people to apply this knowledge... I feel like I am not suited for that sort of career, and not for lack of trying.

I guess my question is, is it too late to change my mind and start all over again? Should I try and talk to someone to see if there is any way I can make this forensic science and psychology work for me? Or do I try and pursue the animal care and veterinary science path instead, since that appeals to me much more than the psychology?

Any advice will be very much appreciated, and I do realise that this is probably the worst time to be having such a dilemma about my education and career path.
Original post by AmberMary97
Hello, all. Long post ahead, so be prepared for a journey.

For some brief background, I am a 23 year old student currently enrolled at college, and have a confirmed place at a university for September 2021.

I am currently a student doing a course in Forensic Science, and only have around two and a half months left of my studies before university. I have applied to universities and made a decision for my firm and insurance choices, but now I am unsure about my decision.

Back in 2015, I had initially started the course for forensic science but had to drop out after a few months due to mental health reasons, which led to a couple of years getting help and treatment in order to go back into the real world. I applied for college in 2019 with the goal in mind to study Animal Management, as I absolutely adore working with animals. Now, I have adored science in many forms since I was a young child, and so when I reapplied to college four years after dropping out, I did not expect to see the tutor from then being on the interviewing team. She had mentioned how bright I was and how great my work had been back in 2015 when I had started the forensic science course, and despite being interviewed for animal management I ended up switching courses to try and complete what I started on the forensics course. This decision was made more along the principle of “I need to show myself that I can do this, despite what has happened in the past.” And I was happy with the change.

I thought this was what I wanted, as talking to the tutor during the interview process we made the decision that Forensics was clearly for me. I have thoroughly enjoyed the past two years on this course despite all of the Covid-19 complications, but now I am unsure if this is actually a career path I want to pursue.

For university, I have chosen to study criminal and forensic psychology as this is something that I am intrigued by. I have applied to five universities, and all five came back with conditional offers. After some deliberation, I chose my firm choice and my insurance choice based on what the universities each had to offer and what modules they covered on their courses. But I have recently come to realise that I do not actually want to be working in such a field, and do not want to be wasting my time with university, student loans, accommodation... Only to be unhappy. I do enjoy psychology and applying this to a criminological setting, but I cannot actually see myself working with people to apply this knowledge... I feel like I am not suited for that sort of career, and not for lack of trying.

I guess my question is, is it too late to change my mind and start all over again? Should I try and talk to someone to see if there is any way I can make this forensic science and psychology work for me? Or do I try and pursue the animal care and veterinary science path instead, since that appeals to me much more than the psychology?

Any advice will be very much appreciated, and I do realise that this is probably the worst time to be having such a dilemma about my education and career path.

@AmberMary97
Hello! This is quite a challenging one, I would talk to people relating to the career that you want to pursue. I would say that I know a lot of people who have done the animal care and veterinary science route and they found out that employment opportunities were very limited. Some of the voluntary sector covers this area such as the RSPCA with the 'third sector' of the economy often facing rapid changes.

My MSc is in Psychology, so I know a tiny bit about criminal and forensic psychology. This would be a good option if you were eyeing a career in the police, however experience is important in this area. The police typically want a degree for starting out, and they have fast track management/detective programs too where a Master's is a big advantage.

Have you considered doing a general psychology degree instead, there is a lot more sciency stuff than you might realise. https://arden.ac.uk/our-courses/undergraduate/psychology-degrees/bsc-hons-psychology-bps

Marc
Arden University Student Ambassador

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