I don’t know what I want to do at uni

9

Hi!
I’m in year 12 and take Biology, English Literature and Language, German and History. If you can’t already tell by my A levels, I’m really indecisive.
I love humanities but also love science as well. I’m interested in animals and zoology, but I’ve always loved history and writing. I genuinely don’t know how I can pick one or the other at uni. Because of this, I have no idea what career I want to get into either. All I know is that I would hate an office job and need something fairly active and that feels like I’m making a difference.
Does anyone have any advice?
Thank you so much!

Reply 1

McGinger

20

Firstly, remember that you do not have to go to Uni next year, and if it takes you a few extra years to work out what you want to do in life, and why, that's totally fine. Nowhere does it say that you can only go to Uni straight from school, and plenty of people go a few years later, or even many years later.

Career. Most people now planning going to Uni do not have any idea about what they might do on graduation, and that only become clear once they are at Uni, or once they graduate. You will find people from all sorts of degree backgrounds working in all sorts of career areas - so you dont need to have any Big Ideas about this right now.

Also, you do not necessarily have to make a stark choice between Humanities or Science etc at Uni.
There are plenty of Uni courses that allow you to study across a variety of subjects or disciplinary areas. Here are some examples :
Arts and Sciences - Undergraduate Degree - Y000 - University of Birmingham
Combined degrees - Undergraduate - University of Liverpool
Natural Sciences - Lancaster University
Biology and History and Philosophy of Science BSc | University of Leeds
Undergraduate | Department of European & International Studies | King’s College London (kcl.ac.uk)
American Studies, undergraduate courses : University of Sussex

Reply 2

larsss

OP

9

Original post

by McGinger

Firstly, remember that you do not have to go to Uni next year, and if it takes you a few extra years to work out what you want to do in life, and why, that's totally fine. Nowhere does it say that you can only go to Uni straight from school, and plenty of people go a few years later, or even many years later.
Career. Most people now planning going to Uni do not have any idea about what they might do on graduation, and that only become clear once they are at Uni, or once they graduate. You will find people from all sorts of degree backgrounds working in all sorts of career areas - so you dont need to have any Big Ideas about this right now.
Also, you do not necessarily have to make a stark choice between Humanities or Science etc at Uni.
There are plenty of Uni courses that allow you to study across a variety of subjects or disciplinary areas. Here are some examples :
Arts and Sciences - Undergraduate Degree - Y000 - University of Birmingham
Combined degrees - Undergraduate - University of Liverpool
Natural Sciences - Lancaster University
Biology and History and Philosophy of Science BSc | University of Leeds
Undergraduate | Department of European & International Studies | King’s College London (kcl.ac.uk)
American Studies, undergraduate courses : University of Sussex

Thank you so much! This is really helpful. I had no idea you could do combined degrees! :smile:

Reply 3

TopBun

20

^ what they said :smile:

I would encourage you to get along to some Uni Open Days this year (even if you aren't interested in the Uni itself), ideally ones which have a subject fair (took my eldest to Exeter a few years ago and it was super useful having every subject in one room). Talk to the staff and students about what you study and where it might take you.

With both of my children (and my own first degree choice) I encouraged multi disciplinary courses and diversity - it leaves your options open, and the odds are you will discover at Uni you have a talent for something you haven't even thought about yet.

One theme that cropped up more than once in helping my children make their choices was cross discipline careers. At Manchester we got chatting and the students told us Biomedical Science and Journalism go well together. At Sheffield they do a variety of Biology / Ecology / Conservation courses with video film making - we kept hearing the whole area of scientific communication is short of people who can write well and understand the science properly.

Reply 4

Scotney

20

Original post

by larsss

Hi!
I’m in year 12 and take Biology, English Literature and Language, German and History. If you can’t already tell by my A levels, I’m really indecisive.
I love humanities but also love science as well. I’m interested in animals and zoology, but I’ve always loved history and writing. I genuinely don’t know how I can pick one or the other at uni. Because of this, I have no idea what career I want to get into either. All I know is that I would hate an office job and need something fairly active and that feels like I’m making a difference.
Does anyone have any advice?
Thank you so much!

Son works for an Ecology charity.No two days are the same but very competitive to get into.Also essential to learn to drive for these sorts of careers.I would also recommend delaying uni while you try out a few jobs first.Took me two years to figure it out.

Reply 5

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

18

Original post

by larsss

Hi!
I’m in year 12 and take Biology, English Literature and Language, German and History. If you can’t already tell by my A levels, I’m really indecisive.
I love humanities but also love science as well. I’m interested in animals and zoology, but I’ve always loved history and writing. I genuinely don’t know how I can pick one or the other at uni. Because of this, I have no idea what career I want to get into either. All I know is that I would hate an office job and need something fairly active and that feels like I’m making a difference.
Does anyone have any advice?
Thank you so much!

Hi @larsss
Like McGinger has mentioned, there's definitely combined courses that you can look into. Lancaster has a major/minor system which is where your major would be your degree and your minor is a smaller subject that you study on the side (that you pick so long as it works with your timetable). You would need to check with your department since not all of Lancaster's courses offer this (eg medicine, biomedicine, engineering) however most of our courses offer this system (I'm pretty sure biology and humanities subjects offer this, but again check). This could be another way you could study two completely different subjects! Our next open day is October 12th 2024 if you would like to speak in person with different departmental staff.

Hope that helps!
Rachel, Lancaster University Student Ambassador.

Reply 6

larsss

OP

9

Original post

by Lancaster Student Ambassador

Hi @larsss
Like McGinger has mentioned, there's definitely combined courses that you can look into. Lancaster has a major/minor system which is where your major would be your degree and your minor is a smaller subject that you study on the side (that you pick so long as it works with your timetable). You would need to check with your department since not all of Lancaster's courses offer this (eg medicine, biomedicine, engineering) however most of our courses offer this system (I'm pretty sure biology and humanities subjects offer this, but again check). This could be another way you could study two completely different subjects! Our next open day is October 12th 2024 if you would like to speak in person with different departmental staff.
Hope that helps!
Rachel, Lancaster University Student Ambassador.

Thanks!

I don’t know what I want to do at uni

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