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What are the best career choices for me?

studentborn2006

I’m currently doing 3 A-Levels which are Psychology, English Literature and Sociology but I’m not sure if there are any well paying or interesting jobs that fit these criterias.

Also, outside of these subjects and school itself, I’m interested in doing makeup and hair styling, and I like to design photos even though I’m not the best at it. What would be the best career paths for me?

Reply 1

McGinger

Excellent careers website with lots of job/career profiles - Job profiles | Prospects.ac.uk

And have a look at some of the degree subjects here - Undergraduate Courses, Degrees : Study : University of Sussex - look at anything that interests you and what A level subject etc you need. Many social science subjects, including Law, do not require any specific A levels - just 3 grades.

Reply 2

MindMax2000

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by studentborn2006

Define well paid and interesting. When people ask questions like these, it immediately makes people assume that you're just doing it for the money and not for any particular role, which is really the wrong way to go about it. Also what makes something interesting for me can be completely different for you; it's very egocentric to assume everybody have the same tastes as you do.

If you want a high paying role, then you would inevitably be encountering a lot of stress, long hours, extensive study, sales, risk, and/or responsibility. You rarely get away with something interesting, carefree, and pays you loads. It's like asking for unicorns.
If you really want a high paying role, you can consider:

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Front end (sales) oriented finance roles e.g. stockbroker, financial advisor, investment banker

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Sales in general - particularly high volume or luxurious goods

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Senior management roles

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Professional advisory roles where you will require extensive study for decades e.g. medical consultants

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Extremely technical roles that only very talented people can do e.g. very senior engineers, very good programmers,

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High risk roles e.g. external auditors, explosive experts

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Roles involving long hours e.g. senior lawyers, CEOs

With A Levels in any subjects, you typically can go into about 600/800 different roles (and no, I am not going to go through all of them). Not all of these would be high paying, but you would often get by,

If you're asking the particular degrees that you can go into, the only semi-required subjects that you have are Literature and Psychology. Sociology is not a require subject. As such, you're eligible for the following degree subjects:

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Any psychology degree

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Any English degree

You are then eligible for any degree that asks for 3 A Levels in any subject, including:

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Anything in business expect for financial mathematics and actuarial science (for obvious reasons)

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Law

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Anthropology

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Archaeology

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Sociology and criminology

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Most psychology degrees

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Some degrees in creative writing and English literature

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Nonquantiative economics degrees

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Education

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Theology

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Politics

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Philosophy

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Linguistics

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Agriculture

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Some art and design degrees, including architecture

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Some geography degrees (usually ones with emphasis on human geography)

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Some history degrees

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Film

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Game design

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Hospitality

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Property and urban planning

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Journalism

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Media studies

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Nursing

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Paramedic science

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Social work

Of course, having a degree doesn't guarantee a job (it was never the point of a degree to begin with). The only degrees listed above that are a requirement should you go into the respective line of work include: anything in research, nursing, paramedic, social work, architecture, maybe law (some argue you would need it to become a barrister), psychology, and teaching. (Whilst it's nice to have a RICS approved degree for surveying, it's not entirely necessary.)

If none of the above suit you, then you would want to rethink about what you're doing.

Makeup and hairstyling won't require specific qualifications. If you want to go into these areas, I recommend finishing college before going into these areas. You can make a good living out of them if you know what to do.
Similar situation with photography and videography; you can make a good living out of it if you know what to do, but you're not going to afford living in any penthouse anytime soon.
If you are a creative person as you're implying by the choice of subjects and your side interests, I would look into the creative careers and focus less on how much money the jobs bring in (within reason).

Personal recommendation: do what you love and not what would pay the most. You can always make more money, but you can't enjoy life if that's the only thing you're working for.

If you want to check what careers that you can go into yourself, consider the following websites:
https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/explore-careers
https://www.careerpilot.org.uk/job-sectors/sectors
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles

(edited 9 months ago)