The Student Room Group

So many different interests with no suitable career to fulfill them all...

Note to mods: Please do not change the topic of where this is posted, I'm specifically looking for help from people who have completed most of their studies and not the A-Level forum where everyone just comments without knowing what they're saying or copy-pastes it from the Oxford/Cambridge website.

My interests:
Computer Science, Mathematics, Psychology, Medicine(specifically Psychiatry), Creative Writing, Philosophy, Theology, Criminology, and Music.

I'm currently struggling to pick the right career. Each pathway sacrificez one for the other so it's getting difficult to pick my A-Levels. I know it's common to struggle when picking as most don't know what they want to do in the future, but for me it's different. There's so much I want to pursue, it's easy when I'm at home researching since I can 'Major' in whatever subject I please at that particular time. None of the degrees I've seen allow me to reasonably study so many different subjects so my A-Level options are getting quite overwhelming to figure all. To put into perspective HOW overwhelming this has been, I spent an entire year thinking about this.
(Though this was largely because I'd been experiencing difficulties with depression that disabled me, taking a long time to stabilise on medication to be able to move properly again. I'm still not able to function much but doing nothing isn't going to help get me anywhere.)

At the moment, I know that I'll be studying Mathematics and Further Mathematics as those skills are relevant in the majority of my interests and even fulfill some aspects of Philosophy that will allow me to pursue it later on, which leaves the final 2 options.

If I take Chemistry and Biology, I'll be the Jack Of All Trades. Being able to pursue almost any interest as I'll meet the subject entry requirements for most courses. The downside to this option is that I'm not particularly interested in chemistry or biology but I know that I can get an A* in anything if I put my mind to it(something I haven't done for years, even at GCSE's I didn't put any effort into it which was most in part due to my health and so I deservingly got unexceptional grades: 8,7,7,6,5. That's not a humble brag either, those grades were TAGs so I just got lucky. I probably would have barely passed in all of them if Exams were still happening in 2020.) Another problem with this route is that I only have a reasonable GCSE in Biology, not Chemistry or physics. I have a beggars Grade 8 in Biology so the sheer effort that I'm considering in my state of health would be the equivalent of someone with a heavily fractured arm having to write 10 different essays, that's not an exaggeration either and is probably even an understatement to my mental health right now. Regardless, I do have resolve somewhere deep down which could potentially manifest into the power I need if pushed to the brink of death.

If I take Physics and BTEC Engineering, I can focus on my Computer Science interests while sacrificing the subjects needed for entry onto medical degrees(Chemistry and Biology) so I'd basically be giving up on that side of things. But I think my quality of life would go up since I'm pursuing my direct 1-1 interests, I can't really think of anything that could truly bore me here(save for difficulty and effort, which is just a matter of self-discipline rather than incompatibility). I do not have a reasonable GCSE in Physics however it is something I'm confident in and can easily keep up with due to interest.

If I take Psychology/Applied Psychology and BTEC Engineering, I'll be able to potentially explore most of my interests. It balances our difficulty and interest with a similar benefit and sacrifice to opportunities. Further Mathematics is considered one of the hardest A-Levels so to balance it out with less stressful scientific subjects would lead to a much higher liklihood of the 3 A* and 1 D* that I'm hoping to get(not for some stupid bragging rights or to firmly choose nothing but OxBridge, but to prove to myself that my slowdown isn't because I've lost my intellectual ability, rather that the depression stole 50% of the energy I need to function and then continuously lie to me and manipulate me into thinking I don't have what it takes. I do and I don't need OxBridge to believe that.)

I released that I personified my Depression in the last paragraph...though the point does still stand.

I guess the overall question I've been dragging out for you all is: Do I stay simple and safe with my career with the potential risk of being unsatisfied? Or do I dive right into my interests, knowing that I may not make it out alive but potentially reaching the satisfaction that I've always wanted?
Reply 1
Sorry for any grammatical errors. I'm sure they don't do me good justice but I assure you that I usually take a lot more pride in my work 😅
Talk to a career advisor
Reply 3
Original post by tinyperson
Talk to a career advisor


Ah, that's a good idea. I'll be sure to do that, thanks.
I know this is old but can I ask what u ended up doing?

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