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choosing sociology or changing to fashion business/Media communications?

I am an international student who studied Sociology Yr1 in Uni and I am going to apply to 2024 UCAS Yr 2 as a transfer student . I am in gap year now and I found fashion business seems interesting and fancy but I heard that fashion is a quite competitive industry. So, is it really hard to find jobs in fashion industry in the UK / Manchester( I live in Manchester)? I am considering continue to study sociology or choosing fashion business/ media and communications. It is a really important decision because it is a bit unaffordable for my family to support the tuition fee so I cannot change my major or repeat after I back to campus.

As far as I known, entering fashion industry to become a buyer/ PR/ HR/ marketing manager doesn't require a specific degree, which can be traditional degree e.g sociology,business management ,media communications apart from fashion degree. Media communications degree is the common prioritised choice for recruiter apart from fashion degree and I have a bit experience with studying media communications. But I think sociology is theoretical and it usually makes simpple things become complicated, not as pratical as business or media. My assignment grades for Yr 1 sociology are just fair, the average marks are only fifty something ( maybe because I didn't get used to it in the beginning, but I improved a lot in the second semester because I can at least submit the assignments in the 2nd sem compared to non-submission in the 1st sem). At the end of Yr 1, I can finally get used to it and so I think Sociology is okay for me , at least I don't hate it and there are some modules and topics seem interesting to me. Also, Sociology should be the subject that is easier for me to transfer credits. However, I am not confident in my performance when I study Yr2 or Yr 3 Sociology in the future. Although I spent a lot of effort and time on doing the essays, most of the grades are just fair (around second hon lower).

For fashion business/ media communications, these are the subjects that I have never studied before so I don't know whether I can perform well in these subjects even though they are practical and should be easier to understand. Another important thing is I can write my favourite topic fashion as my dissertation topci for these subjects. But I am a bit afraid that suddenly changing to a subject that I have never studied before will make me cannot handle it when I study it in the future or lowering the possiblity of admission team to accept my application as I just have sociology background. I am worried about the worst scenario --- my fashion business/ media comminications application will get all rejected at the end. But I am really interested in fashion knowledge and fashion career right now. From what I seen so far, fashion business seems more interesting than sociology and I am passionate with it . I am just interested in some parts of sociology. But at the same time, I am also not so confident in fashion industry as the competitiveness is strong and I am not living in London( more opportunities in London). Therefore,to conclude, my ideal and favourite subject is fashion business, but the more rational choice( seems) is sociology. And I don't know how to decide which one is the best chocie for my situation now and what is the most important factor I need to consider.

Thank you all for reading this long paragrpahs. I know these contain a bunch of complicated information so hope you guys don't mind :smile:)
(edited 1 week ago)
Hey I was in your position. I got into a Russel Group to do sociology at uni of Sheffield I’m from Manchester too so going elsewhere always felt a bit of a downgrade to me because I like the bustle of Manchester. I did a gap year because I just wanted to asses my options.

I found over the year I wanted to go into business maybe a fashion buying role and would naturally gravitate towards jobs that were like analyst or buying roles within businesses but retained an element of creativity. So I decided to do business with law to keep my options open but I didn’t feel it was creative enough so I transferred to fashion business. I really enjoy the course and I find it gives me motivation because I genuinely enjoy it and you find because it’s so specific it really helps to work towards a career and keeps you driven. I do plan on doing a masters in sociology however just for my own personal development because I still feel it’s important to me to explore that field and have a well rounded education in something more broad.

I think you have to remember that this subject you choose is what you’ll be expected to be a mini expert in once it’s completed so I would do the thing that you want to go into a role in and are passionate about. It’s really vital that you actually enjoy what you study and you’re interested in it because if not you’re going to dread university and stop engaging and feel like the whole experience is not for you. It’s a really big grounding technique when other things aren’t going your way if at the core of it you enjoy your subject you feel like you are the right path it suddenly feels better.

With sociology you can most definitely go into marketing but you just have to remember the people that have studied that directly and can prove they have the best understanding and passion for the area will most likely be the best candidates naturally.

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