Undergraduate uni degree

lord, i'm struggling to pick a degree. I'm no good at maths. i have passions but passions don't necessarily put food on my plate. i want an employable degree to help me land a job but that it also versatile in how I can progress further. i beg someone help I'm on the verge of crying here. acc nvm I've cried multiple times. its nothing new.

lord, i'm struggling to pick a degree. I'm no good at maths. i have passions but passions don't necessarily put food on my plate. i want an employable degree to help me land a job but that it also versatile in how I can progress further. i beg someone help I'm on the verge of crying here. acc nvm I've cried multiple times. its nothing new.

Business?

1) How to Choose a Uni Subject : https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/university/courses/i-want-to-go-to-uni-but-i-dont-know-what-to-study
2) Have a look down this list of Uni subjects - https://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/ - and look at ALL the courses that sound interesting, not just those that are 'about maths' and read lots of different course descriptions. Many degree have no specific A level subjects as entry requirements - Law, Geopgraphy, Sociology etc etc.
3) You have until Jan 2022 to make this decision, so lots of time to go to some in-person Uni Open Days, listen to the subject talks about a wide range of subjects, and make a more thoughtful decision.
4) The most important thing about 'going to Uni' is that you pick a degree subject you will enjoy doing - this is actually far more important than 'career aims' - all of that stuff comes much later.
5) Think about taking a planned Gap Year. Nowhere does it say you can only go to Uni straight from school.

lord, i'm struggling to pick a degree. I'm no good at maths. i have passions but passions don't necessarily put food on my plate. i want an employable degree to help me land a job but that it also versatile in how I can progress further. i beg someone help I'm on the verge of crying here. acc nvm I've cried multiple times. its nothing new.

Hello,

I completely understand how you are feeling as I was once in this position. Before I started my Business degree at the RAU I didn't have any academic passions, it is so difficult to decide and it is normal to feel like this. You could consider studying business because it is very versatile and you could even incorporate business with some of your other passions. This degree does have some finance modules but if this isn't your strongest point then you can just spend extra time with lecturers to get more help.

Hope this is helpful.

Lauren
Royal Agricultural University Rep

hello lauren!

thank you for your reply - I was worrying that no one would bother to read haha. it really is difficult to set down on just one passion to pursue - I'm scared of heading straight into a degree.. end up regretting it.. let alone all the debt that comes with it... I've realised business can be useful in SO MANY careers however my parents and others have this stigma of business being a "soft" degree and unless it's a russell group uni... you're basically wasting £££ for nothing... how bad is the finance aspect? - as in I got a 6 in my gcse maths.. I'm good at business (i'd like to think) I'm just really worried about the maths aspect... how is ur degree like? and what about the uni - pros & cons?

Hi @Izzy566

McGinger has given some great advice here on how to decide.

I would definitely recommend trying to find a course that involves something you are passionate about so you can enjoy it whilst feeling happy and secure that it will be an employable degree as it is important that you do enjoy the course you study. Do you have any idea of the sort of area of employment you would like to enter? There is a really helpful website called Prospects (https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles) that gives you information about lots of different jobs and what sort of qualifications you'd need, the areas within that field, future career prospects, salary, etc.

As a Law student myself, if it is something that would interest you I would recommend looking into Law. It is highly employable and salaries can be quite high depending on the area of law. It is also quite versatile in terms of career progression e.g., becoming a judge, etc.

I would definitely recommend going out to open days, collecting prospectuses from different universities to see what courses are on offer. I also took a gap year to try and consider all of my options which is definitely an option to look into.

Please let me know if you have any more questions I could assist with.

Kasey - ULaw Student Ambassador

Honestly for most people your degree subject is not going to considerably affect your employability compared to the work experience you make an effort in obtaining on the degree. Unless you want to go into a field that requires a particular degree (e.g. allied healthcare professions, engineering, etc) you can study just about anything and potentially be as or more employable than anyone else. So pick a degree you have a genuine academic interest in, and then outside of that work on making yourself employable (rather than hoping the degree will do that for you - it will not for any degree except medicine) by obtaining relevant work experience, placements, internships etc.

The days of a degree, in any subject other than medicine, being enough to get you a job are long gone. It doesn't matter if you do finance, engineering, CS, Egyptology, history of art, anthropology, or economics - your employability is unlikely to be significantly different between those for generalist grad schemes in e.g. business, financial services, media, banking, the civil service, the legal sector, etc, assuming you would get a similar classification and similar work experience on all of them (and since the latter is largely dependent on you, I think that is a fair assumption - the former of course will depend on your actual aptitudes for different fields).

Something I would note, is that debt from SLC student loans is not really "debt" as you might understand it. They aren't like bank loans where you are expected to repay it within a certain time frame, and where failure to make repayments means your things may be repossessed etc. It is essentially impossible to default on SLC loans, and you only make repayments when you are earning above a given threshold, and your repayments are proportional to how much you are earning - so you will never be paying more than you can afford to.

Also if you are a PAYE worker (i.e. most salaried positions) this is just taken out of your paycheque automatically with NI contributions and taxes. It is essentially a graduate tax in all but name. The only way you might be chased for repayments is if you are self-employed and misrepresent your earnings, or you leave the country without notifying them. Additionally 30 years after you take out the loans, or when you reach state pension age (whichever comes first), the remaining loan balance is written off. They also aren't factored into your credit score or taken account of when getting a mortgage etc.

So there is really no need to worry about the "debt" after you graduate - the more tricky part of student finance is making sure it stretches to cover your costs during the course. Once you graduate you can pretty much forget it even exists (unless you are self-employed/a contractor, or move abroad ). Months where I was just earning slightly over the threshold before I would usually only be paying back about £20-30 towards my student loans, so not something I really missed!

edit: just checked my last payslip and I paid £1 towards my student loans for a week of wages

thank you for your reply - i've come to realise that too whilst talking to different professionals. i guess I just feel like a weight is on my shoulders having to think about so many aspects when choosing a degree, that almost blocks my vision and it feels quite daunting for me.. may I ask what you proceeded to pick and go ahead with?

When I first went to uni I tried to go the STEM route; in school before I applied I had no idea what I wanted to do and changed my mind it seemed every week.
In the end I didn't apply in the normal process and applied via clearing. I had considered some more humanities/social sciences courses but was worried about "employability" so went with STEM. I spent some years moving between different (related) STEM fields before realising I hated what I was studying and that in combination with much worsening mental health issues meant I withdrew.

After working for some years I've now gone back and am studying ancient languages (albeit I'm doing a CertHE first, not a degree - yet!), broadly, plus some related topics, which I've found much more enjoyable even though it's not ostensibly "employable". Since I've realised my degree subject won't actually affect that, I'm now studying things I'm actually interested in and it's improved things a lot for me

In retrospect, I wish I had taken a gap year (or two or three!) before going to uni to work out what I actually wanted to do, and do make sure I was doing it for the right reasons. Also I think taking some time out to work would've helped me adopt a healthier approach to my studies of not just being resigned to continuing in "school 2" at uni, but actually it being a deliberate choice which I put the effort into trying to not only do well, but avail myself of interesting opportunities that presented themselves and not just purely study for an exam!

hello kasey,

interestingly i've been to a ULAW taster session thing? just before summer (online) and was considering law - i'd love to hear about your experience? pros and cons about law? any honest opinions? things you wish you had known before attending law school? I'm a bit worried about the fact that I haven't done the LNAT which is needed by most top law schools so... employment wise I'm a very laid-back person as in I love trying new tasks rather than a monotonous desk job - right? perhaps it's my laid-back personality that's keeping me behind with figuring myself out at the age of 17. in terms of law however I don't see myself as a judge or barrister or even solicitor... i know that there are many pathways with a law degree and i was perhaps thinking on a more humanitarian lense - help the disadvantaged. i have no interest in the BIG CASE where u can gain £££

Hi @Izzy566

It’s great to hear you are considering studying law! I have really enjoyed studying it so far.

In terms of the pros about studying law, not only do you learn law based skills such as how to properly read the law and cases (which is great to have that sort of crash course learning about the law so even if you haven’t studied it before you learn the basics), it teaches you transferrable skills such as communication, public speaking and time management etc which are great skills to have in life.

In terms of cons, some people may find the reading and independent study to be different from what they are used to so may find it overwhelming. However, it can be easier to approach if you develop and work on time management skills which I had to do myself.

The thing I wish I knew before starting the course is how to study and revise effectively. I did not have a method that worked for me, so I ended up trying to find methods that work for me during my first year. In hindsight, I wish I had experimented with different methods of study before starting my degree, so I knew what worked for me.

I wouldn’t worry about not having done the LNAT. I did not do it either. However, if there is a certain university you are interested in, I would check their websites and go to open days, etc to see if it is a requirement.

I wouldn’t worry about feeling like you don’t have yourself figured out yet. You have plenty of time and university is a great place to start trying to learn more about yourself.

I agree with you in the fact that I don’t see being a barrister or solicitor either. However, I would recommend visiting the Prospects UK website to see all the different careers you can do with a law degree.

Ultimately it is all about you and what you want out of the course. I would recommend as I said earlier going to different open days to see what modules the universities offer too to see if they teach modules you would be interested in in terms of the more humanitarian side.

Please let me know if you have any more questions.

Kasey – ULaw Student Ambassador

Thank you for the reply Kasey!

What tips do you give for writing a personal statement? I'm a hard worker and all but I feel like I'm at a disadvantage of not know what I want to be... It's hard - I'm curious about various things yet I have no clear goal to strive towards and it's difficult to say what I could be good at and would like to be in the future... I'm also scared about Uni - I feel like everyone's on top of their game and know what they're doing.. I'm just there going with the flow and all...

Hi @Izzy566!

Just thought I'd chime in on this one because it can be useful to have a range of experiences from students to look at when approaching these things. I can see why you're hesitant with writing the statement given that you're not firm on your career choice yet, yes it can definitely help if you already know what you want to do and makes it easier but don't worry that you don't- lots of people are in the same position as you. On one hand, it can be good to be flexible with choices that way you can take the time to be really sure about what you want to do. To be honest when I was in college I really didn't know either, I kept changing decisions and ended up writing a personal statement about aviation- now I'm doing law! It's possible like with me that you change your subject choice last minute but it's only really effective when writing your personal statement to have an area to focus on. That way it will be clearer to the reader what you want to do and ends up being better quality because it's not all over the place about multiple topics. I know you're still uncertain but try to keep an array of choices in mind so that if you do change your mind later on you still have a plan.

In order to get a flavour of potential subject choices I would recommend attending as many webinars/taster days as possible of areas that interest you to get the best idea of what you might want to do. Additionally, doing work experience in relevant sectors can give you a good taste of what it's like doing that job. Of course, clearing is always a way to make any changes later on if you no longer want to do the subject/go to that university- so don't feel that your personal statement is absolutely determinative of what you will do later in life. Like I said, my personal statement had no mention of law whatsoever yet here I am!

Use the experiences you gain to demonstrate your willingness to find out more about the subject area when you write about it in the personal statement, that goes a long way to show how determined and keen you genuinely are about the subject. Another tip I would recommend is keeping it short and concise- make sure to include all important parts but don't go on a tangent!

In relation to university, don't feel scared because no, not everyone is on top of their game. Yes there are people ahead of others and who know what they want to do. But not everyone is at the same pace because many people don't necessarily have a plan and decide later on during university what they want to do next. Honestly sometimes it can feel almost like a competition, in terms of grades or securing those grad schemes- everyone wants to do best. But it's important to not let that get to you and focus on yourself to do your own best, remember to take it slow sometimes and enjoy university life without putting on that pressure. Sure, go with the flow if that suits you and see where it takes you, you'll eventually end up making a plan- everyone has their own timing.

Sorry it's a very long answer but I hope that helped give you some ideas and good luck with writing your personal statement. If you have any further questions please let us know!

-Sarah
ULaw student ambassador

Thank you for the reply Sarah - I really needed to hear that especially since I know no one in terms of having gone through the Uni experience in the UK...

Any advice for when you do enroll in uni? Tips? Tricks?