Does anyone else feel they're constantly making the wrong decision/FOMO?

I'm currently studying a foundation year in engineering at university. My college was very useless in helping me make the decision to go to uni and with the application process and my parents are about as clueless as I am when it comes to all this stuff. So I had to make all the decisions myself with no advice and now I'm questioning every decision I've made. First I freaked out that engineering wasn't right for me, (solved that,) but now I'm questioning if I've gone to the right uni and if I even want to go to uni (scared of being in debt) when apprenticeships are an option. I was sure of my decision when I made it and I'm loving everything about uni except from the course, which tbh is different from the actual degree as it's a foundation year. I basically am scared of spending a lot of money to do something I might hate and can't change when I could've done something different if I'd made different choices. Does anyone else feel like whichever decision they make will be the wrong one? How do you cope knowing you might not have made the best decision even if you tried your hardest?

Reply 1

Cokai88

2

can you share me a tips to pass studie abroad in uk

Reply 2

ErasistratusV

21

Are you enjoying the course?

Do you like the idea of being an engineer?

Reply 3

SANTSS77

2

Original post by ErasistratusV

Are you enjoying the course?
Do you like the idea of being an engineer?

The last question is an important one.

I have similar frustrations with OP, but the idea of building cool things keeps me going.

From what I hear, engineering can grind one down if you’re not that into it.

Reply 4

University of Bath

Official Rep

13

Original post by evie8956

I'm currently studying a foundation year in engineering at university. My college was very useless in helping me make the decision to go to uni and with the application process and my parents are about as clueless as I am when it comes to all this stuff. So I had to make all the decisions myself with no advice and now I'm questioning every decision I've made. First I freaked out that engineering wasn't right for me, (solved that,) but now I'm questioning if I've gone to the right uni and if I even want to go to uni (scared of being in debt) when apprenticeships are an option. I was sure of my decision when I made it and I'm loving everything about uni except from the course, which tbh is different from the actual degree as it's a foundation year. I basically am scared of spending a lot of money to do something I might hate and can't change when I could've done something different if I'd made different choices. Does anyone else feel like whichever decision they make will be the wrong one? How do you cope knowing you might not have made the best decision even if you tried your hardest?

Hi Evie,

Thanks for reaching out, and please try not to worry 🙂 making the leap to apply for and enrol at uni is a difficult process in itself and so the fact that you have made your own way there without support deserves a lot of credit.

You can only make decisions based on the information you have at the time, and later down the line if things turn out differently to how you expected then that doesn't mean they were bad decisions, it just means that you're having to take a few more turns to get to where you want to be. If anything, you can learn from them.

If you are really enjoying your life at uni then it seems like it was a good decision to go. If you are enjoying your course enough to carry on and are finding at least parts of it engaging then this is also good. Even if you are not 100% enjoying it at the moment, do you think it will be worth it to get to a career you may want? Even if you didn't want to be an engineer eventually, there are plenty of other careers out there that you can get into with any degree (marketing, writing/journalism, project management, comms, working with animals or children, teaching, business management).

On the point about debt, taking out a student loan for uni is not the same as taking out a regular loan. With a student loan, you only start paying it back after you reach a certain earnings threshold after graduating, in tiny monthly increments, and after a certain number of years it is written off.

Its easy to think of the 'what if?'s after you make a decision you are doubting, but who's to say that things would have been drastically different had you ended up making a different decision? Things could be better, but they could equally be worse.

Its perfectly normal to doubt yourself, and you are not alone in this. But I would still advise you to persevere and keep your head up, because you should be proud of everything you've achieved in the past year!

I hope this helps - best of luck 🙂

Holly
University of Bath

(edited 3 weeks ago)

Reply 5

Kingston Eve

Official Rep

11

Original post by evie8956

I'm currently studying a foundation year in engineering at university. My college was very useless in helping me make the decision to go to uni and with the application process and my parents are about as clueless as I am when it comes to all this stuff. So I had to make all the decisions myself with no advice and now I'm questioning every decision I've made. First I freaked out that engineering wasn't right for me, (solved that,) but now I'm questioning if I've gone to the right uni and if I even want to go to uni (scared of being in debt) when apprenticeships are an option. I was sure of my decision when I made it and I'm loving everything about uni except from the course, which tbh is different from the actual degree as it's a foundation year. I basically am scared of spending a lot of money to do something I might hate and can't change when I could've done something different if I'd made different choices. Does anyone else feel like whichever decision they make will be the wrong one? How do you cope knowing you might not have made the best decision even if you tried your hardest?

Hi @evie8956,

Your worries are completely valid; no matter how hard we might try, it's impossible to truly know whether or not we're making the 'best' decisions for ourselves in terms of our educational choices and our career paths. It's even more challenging to make decisions when we don't have the right support networks available to us, so I understand why you might have some doubts.

Yet I think what's important here - as pointed out above - is whether or not you're enjoying yourself. You mentioned that you don't enjoy the content of your Foundation year, but know that the degree itself will be different. Would it be worthwhile waiting until you start the first year of your degree to see whether or not you still have the same doubts?

Holly made a great point about student debt. It's not viewed in the same way as traditional debt and functions more as a graduate tax. If you want to read more about that topic in particular, I'd recommend looking at Martin Lewis' articles on the MoneySavingExpert website.

Hope this was helpful and best of luck!
Eve (Kingston Rep).

Reply 6

Muttley79

20

Original post by evie8956

I'm currently studying a foundation year in engineering at university. My college was very useless in helping me make the decision to go to uni and with the application process and my parents are about as clueless as I am when it comes to all this stuff. So I had to make all the decisions myself with no advice and now I'm questioning every decision I've made. First I freaked out that engineering wasn't right for me, (solved that,) but now I'm questioning if I've gone to the right uni and if I even want to go to uni (scared of being in debt) when apprenticeships are an option. I was sure of my decision when I made it and I'm loving everything about uni except from the course, which tbh is different from the actual degree as it's a foundation year. I basically am scared of spending a lot of money to do something I might hate and can't change when I could've done something different if I'd made different choices. Does anyone else feel like whichever decision they make will be the wrong one? How do you cope knowing you might not have made the best decision even if you tried your hardest?

Could you apply for an apprenticeship now?

Reply 7

cksiu

Universities Forum Helper

14

Original post by evie8956

I'm currently studying a foundation year in engineering at university. My college was very useless in helping me make the decision to go to uni and with the application process and my parents are about as clueless as I am when it comes to all this stuff. So I had to make all the decisions myself with no advice and now I'm questioning every decision I've made. First I freaked out that engineering wasn't right for me, (solved that,) but now I'm questioning if I've gone to the right uni and if I even want to go to uni (scared of being in debt) when apprenticeships are an option. I was sure of my decision when I made it and I'm loving everything about uni except from the course, which tbh is different from the actual degree as it's a foundation year. I basically am scared of spending a lot of money to do something I might hate and can't change when I could've done something different if I'd made different choices. Does anyone else feel like whichever decision they make will be the wrong one? How do you cope knowing you might not have made the best decision even if you tried your hardest?

Don't look back. All decisions were badly made from hindsight.

Is your foundation integrated to an undergrad course, or you have to make fresh applications? Whatever it is, you probably got offers by now. So it is time to return to your studies to meet the conditions of progression.

Uni education is about life education but not vocational training. Uni prepares you gor all the challenges ahead. Engineer is not the only way out for engineering graduates. Many engineering graduates were recruited by i-banks and management consultants, because engineering students are trained to generate options and to think of all possible scenarios.

Look forward. There is always a way ahead.

Reply 8

ErasistratusV

21

If you enjoy designing, creating, optimising and repairing things or processes then engineering is for you. However, it is a very broad church including a huge variety of very different fields and the span of these themselves is immense also. You're sure to find something in there that appeals to you given that engineers are involved in basically everything whether the relatively everyday process of drop forging a spanner out of tool steel right through to building a bridge or a power-station. Even the materials involved near boggle the mind, I have relatives who are engineers, one specialises in carbon-plastic and GRP composites that end up in things like SunSeeker yachts, the other designs and builds heat exchangers made from stuff like Inconel for the petrochemical and nuclear industries. A former client of mine was a chemical engineer and was paid big money as a consultant to try to optimise chemical processes to drive production costs right down to fractions of a penny per unit output. It's clever stuff and these kinds of skills can take you around the world, especially if you speak additional languages.

Reply 9

LapizLearner

3

Original post by evie8956

I'm currently studying a foundation year in engineering at university. My college was very useless in helping me make the decision to go to uni and with the application process and my parents are about as clueless as I am when it comes to all this stuff. So I had to make all the decisions myself with no advice and now I'm questioning every decision I've made. First I freaked out that engineering wasn't right for me, (solved that,) but now I'm questioning if I've gone to the right uni and if I even want to go to uni (scared of being in debt) when apprenticeships are an option. I was sure of my decision when I made it and I'm loving everything about uni except from the course, which tbh is different from the actual degree as it's a foundation year. I basically am scared of spending a lot of money to do something I might hate and can't change when I could've done something different if I'd made different choices. Does anyone else feel like whichever decision they make will be the wrong one? How do you cope knowing you might not have made the best decision even if you tried your hardest?

shouldve done an apprenticeship imo atleast u can go to freshers fairs and have fun

Does anyone else feel they're constantly making the wrong decision/FOMO?

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