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Have I made a bad degree choice?

I've been torn between studying biology and history at university for a while, but recently I’ve decided that to study history. I was studying History, English, Biology, and Chemistry, but I’ve since dropped Chemistry so I can focus on getting 3 good A-level grades.

Now, though, I’m second-guessing my decision.

I love history and am really passionate about a career in academia, but I’m open to other fields like journalism, publishing, teaching and politics if that doesn’t work out. And, I think doing history degree would provide me with the skills needed for these fields.

But, I also love biology, especially genetics. But, overtime I’ve found that the idea of doing research and making new scientific discoveries only sounded fun on paper, and in practice it’s not for me. I like learning about biology, but it’s more of an interest than a career path for me.

However, now I’m worried I’ve made the wrong decision. A lot of people at my school are very judgmental if your not interested in a STEM degree or law, and I’m worried I’ll struggle to find a job after my degree..

Any advice?
I don't see why you think you made a wrong decision. You clearly stated you're not that interested in the biosciences and research in practice, and you are really interested in history as an academic subject, and are aware of the varied areas you could go into afterwards even if you don't pursue a graduate degree in history.

Also because of the poor employability of bioscience graduates the government commissioned an inquiry into that (and some other STEM subjects) about 10 years ago. The reality is your degree subject doesn't actually make a difference in whether you will get a job (and research has found that STEM and non-STEM graduates have equivalent career outcomes within 10 years of graduation). Also the majority of graduate employers simply don't care what subject you studied as most grad schemes are generalist schemes for any grad, including many in the civil service, investment banking and management consulting, accountancy and other financial services sector roles, the media, other corporate roles in e.g. management, sales, marketing etc, legal roles (you can become a lawyer of either variety with any initial undergraduate degree with certain additional steps), teaching, etc, etc.

You aren't going to have a better or worse chance of getting a job after graduating because you did or didn't do a STEM degree. What will make a difference is what you do to make yourself employable, regardless of your degree subject, by aggressively pursuing work experience opportunities, internships, etc throughout the course. As well as engaging in e.g. leadership roles in societies or similar to develop relevant transferable skills/concrete examples of where you've demonstrated the behaviours employers are looking for, and preparing for the psychometric tests and other assessment centre exercises which will be used to screen applicants.

At the end of the day employers aren't screening applicants by saying "candidate A did Y degree and candidate B did X degree, therefore we won't continue with candidate A", they are going to be looking at those other things - performance on the psychometric tests and assessment centre exercises, how well you are able to convey in interview the relevant behaviours and skills through examples where you demonstrated them from whatever activity (academic, co-curricular, or ideally professional) and work experience i.e. internships and similar with references.

Reply 2

Original post
by artful_lounger
I don't see why you think you made a wrong decision. You clearly stated you're not that interested in the biosciences and research in practice, and you are really interested in history as an academic subject, and are aware of the varied areas you could go into afterwards even if you don't pursue a graduate degree in history.
Also because of the poor employability of bioscience graduates the government commissioned an inquiry into that (and some other STEM subjects) about 10 years ago. The reality is your degree subject doesn't actually make a difference in whether you will get a job (and research has found that STEM and non-STEM graduates have equivalent career outcomes within 10 years of graduation). Also the majority of graduate employers simply don't care what subject you studied as most grad schemes are generalist schemes for any grad, including many in the civil service, investment banking and management consulting, accountancy and other financial services sector roles, the media, other corporate roles in e.g. management, sales, marketing etc, legal roles (you can become a lawyer of either variety with any initial undergraduate degree with certain additional steps), teaching, etc, etc.
You aren't going to have a better or worse chance of getting a job after graduating because you did or didn't do a STEM degree. What will make a difference is what you do to make yourself employable, regardless of your degree subject, by aggressively pursuing work experience opportunities, internships, etc throughout the course. As well as engaging in e.g. leadership roles in societies or similar to develop relevant transferable skills/concrete examples of where you've demonstrated the behaviours employers are looking for, and preparing for the psychometric tests and other assessment centre exercises which will be used to screen applicants.
At the end of the day employers aren't screening applicants by saying "candidate A did Y degree and candidate B did X degree, therefore we won't continue with candidate A", they are going to be looking at those other things - performance on the psychometric tests and assessment centre exercises, how well you are able to convey in interview the relevant behaviours and skills through examples where you demonstrated them from whatever activity (academic, co-curricular, or ideally professional) and work experience i.e. internships and similar with references.


Thank you!!!
Original post
by Anonymous
Thank you!!!


No worries, hopefully you can feel more confident in following your choice of course and what you are interested in! :smile:

Reply 4

Original post
by Anonymous
I've been torn between studying biology and history at university for a while, but recently I’ve decided that to study history. I was studying History, English, Biology, and Chemistry, but I’ve since dropped Chemistry so I can focus on getting 3 good A-level grades.
Now, though, I’m second-guessing my decision.
I love history and am really passionate about a career in academia, but I’m open to other fields like journalism, publishing, teaching and politics if that doesn’t work out. And, I think doing history degree would provide me with the skills needed for these fields.
But, I also love biology, especially genetics. But, overtime I’ve found that the idea of doing research and making new scientific discoveries only sounded fun on paper, and in practice it’s not for me. I like learning about biology, but it’s more of an interest than a career path for me.
However, now I’m worried I’ve made the wrong decision. A lot of people at my school are very judgmental if your not interested in a STEM degree or law, and I’m worried I’ll struggle to find a job after my degree..
Any advice?

I find finding a job most important but in your situation you should do history, you’ll be spending a few years studying it and eventually your entire life so do what you enjoy too. You’ll be happier too having a degree you enjoy so you should do history. Also you’re young if you have to take a gap year to decide then do it, also on results day, you can always call up on clearing and choose sociology if you wanted to so don’t stress, just focus on your exams and mocks. Also you could always get a PGCE after doing history, it’s one year you’ll be a qualified teachers and you could become a teacher if that ever interests you in the future. Ignore your school, next year they won’t even know who you are, in 2 years they’ll forget about your existence so your college should be the last of your worries.
Original post
by Anonymous
I've been torn between studying biology and history at university for a while, but recently I’ve decided that to study history. I was studying History, English, Biology, and Chemistry, but I’ve since dropped Chemistry so I can focus on getting 3 good A-level grades.
Now, though, I’m second-guessing my decision.
I love history and am really passionate about a career in academia, but I’m open to other fields like journalism, publishing, teaching and politics if that doesn’t work out. And, I think doing history degree would provide me with the skills needed for these fields.
But, I also love biology, especially genetics. But, overtime I’ve found that the idea of doing research and making new scientific discoveries only sounded fun on paper, and in practice it’s not for me. I like learning about biology, but it’s more of an interest than a career path for me.
However, now I’m worried I’ve made the wrong decision. A lot of people at my school are very judgmental if your not interested in a STEM degree or law, and I’m worried I’ll struggle to find a job after my degree..
Any advice?

Hi Anon,

Honestly, as someone studying biochemistry, if I was not passionate about this then it would be a nightmare to study. I would never recommend someone studies a subject that they don't enjoy, it just makes life so much harder and university can already be a difficult, busy, time. It sound like history is the right degree for you and you have lots of potential career ideas too.

Good luck with your applications!
Rebecca (Lancaster Student Ambassador)

Reply 6

Original post
by Anonymous
I've been torn between studying biology and history at university for a while, but recently I’ve decided that to study history. I was studying History, English, Biology, and Chemistry, but I’ve since dropped Chemistry so I can focus on getting 3 good A-level grades.
Now, though, I’m second-guessing my decision.
I love history and am really passionate about a career in academia, but I’m open to other fields like journalism, publishing, teaching and politics if that doesn’t work out. And, I think doing history degree would provide me with the skills needed for these fields.
But, I also love biology, especially genetics. But, overtime I’ve found that the idea of doing research and making new scientific discoveries only sounded fun on paper, and in practice it’s not for me. I like learning about biology, but it’s more of an interest than a career path for me.
However, now I’m worried I’ve made the wrong decision. A lot of people at my school are very judgmental if your not interested in a STEM degree or law, and I’m worried I’ll struggle to find a job after my degree..
Any advice?

Hi Anon,

I'm sorry to hear this situation is worrying you.

The most important part of picking a course is choosing something you will be passionate about, as you are heading on a path towards your future career. I highly recommend not letting yourself be swayed by peers judgements. Honestly, once you leave school everyone will be on their individual path towards their goals, so once you're on your course any past judgement will feel irrelevant.

Also if your concerned about not getting a job after a history degree I recommend researching into various career prospects. In fact, to make it more personal to your future, I recommend seeing stories of past students from the university you are interested in and seeing the careers their in now! If possible, attend an open day and talk to academics and students from both the subjects you are interested in to gain more insight. If this isn't possible, drop an email to the course leader to ask your questions.

Good luck with your decision, please feel free to ask me any questions,
-Sophia (Business and Management)

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