Have I ruined my life by switching to these options?

I am a year 12 student who originally was studying maths, economics, biology and chemistry. So I took economics cause I was unsure if I wanted to do a medicine related degree or something else. After research, I thought that for me an economics degree would be a much better fit. However, due to reasons I could not originally do further maths and did not want to do further maths because I am not the strongest at maths. Therefore, to dedicate more time towards revising for maths for ensuring I get an A or A* in the A Level which is a requirement for any good economics course I ended up dropping chemistry biology and switching to geography because it is so easy for me to do geo. However, I have been given a lot of stigmatism for this since the last 3 weeks because everyone thinks you need chemistry but I am good at chem but it would have been hard for me to manage Chem and Maths together. Now I am really worried because I feel like I have closed all my career paths. Can someone give me advise please?? Is there a point of me to switch back to chemistry from Geo ASAP in order for me to keep my options more open?? Will good universities like Durham or Warwick likely favour a sttudent who got the same grades as me but did chemistry as their third cos its harder?

I am a year 12 student who originally was studying maths, economics, biology and chemistry. So I took economics cause I was unsure if I wanted to do a medicine related degree or something else. After research, I thought that for me an economics degree would be a much better fit. However, due to reasons I could not originally do further maths and did not want to do further maths because I am not the strongest at maths. Therefore, to dedicate more time towards revising for maths for ensuring I get an A or A* in the A Level which is a requirement for any good economics course I ended up dropping chemistry biology and switching to geography because it is so easy for me to do geo. However, I have been given a lot of stigmatism for this since the last 3 weeks because everyone thinks you need chemistry but I am good at chem but it would have been hard for me to manage Chem and Maths together. Now I am really worried because I feel like I have closed all my career paths. Can someone give me advise please?? Is there a point of me to switch back to chemistry from Geo ASAP in order for me to keep my options more open?? Will good universities like Durham or Warwick likely favour a sttudent who got the same grades as me but did chemistry as their third cos its harder?

Hello, I personally was a med applicant but I had a friend who applied for Econ so I'm just advising based on that.
Generally so long as you meet the requirements unis don't care what subjects you take, so if the requirements are just econ and maths and a third, it doesn't matter what. I would even say that geo is far more relevant to an Econ degree as you will have another kind of essay subject which is also focused on a lot of global humanities stuff (just from general knowledge of geo I didn't personally do it lol but if you get what I mean) whereas chemistry is pretty much completely irrelevant to an Econ degree. Some people might say it's "harder" but that really depends on the individual. The most you can say is it develops problem solving and maths skills a bit, but you have that covered with your other subjects anyway.
I will say that you probably have closed on medicine as an option, I think you said you're sure Econ is a better fit for you, in which case great and this is irrelevant, but if you did want to do medicine you would need chem at least and maybe bio as well.
So basically don't worry about what other poeple are saying, they're probably trying to psych you out. Focus on getting the best grades possible in subjects you actually enjoy. Maths, econ, geo is a great combination for an Econ uni application. Best of luck xx
P. S. Not too relevant to what you asked but just to add on to how you said you find maths a bit difficult. An Econ degree has A LOT of maths in it. It will be different from pure maths that you do in school, it'll be more stats based so less obscure imaginary number stuff lol, but still very maths heavy. My friend whose doing Econ has told me that, so I would just maybe reflect on that a bit - do you still like Maths despite finding it difficult and would be you be fine with doing a uni degree with a lot of maths in it? I'm sure you'll be fine and do amazing, just wanted to mention this as well.

It's not in the entry requirements and no unis i've seen have even listed it as a 'preferred subject' so I don't think dropping chem is a disadvantage at all, my brother is doing econ at LSE and he did maths, econ, geography and he says geog has been really useful in applying his degree to general things so maybe it's even an improvement. Either way, if it helps you get top grades it's definitely worth it.

Hello, I personally was a med applicant but I had a friend who applied for Econ so I'm just advising based on that.
Generally so long as you meet the requirements unis don't care what subjects you take, so if the requirements are just econ and maths and a third, it doesn't matter what. I would even say that geo is far more relevant to an Econ degree as you will have another kind of essay subject which is also focused on a lot of global humanities stuff (just from general knowledge of geo I didn't personally do it lol but if you get what I mean) whereas chemistry is pretty much completely irrelevant to an Econ degree. Some people might say it's "harder" but that really depends on the individual. The most you can say is it develops problem solving and maths skills a bit, but you have that covered with your other subjects anyway.
I will say that you probably have closed on medicine as an option, I think you said you're sure Econ is a better fit for you, in which case great and this is irrelevant, but if you did want to do medicine you would need chem at least and maybe bio as well.
So basically don't worry about what other poeple are saying, they're probably trying to psych you out. Focus on getting the best grades possible in subjects you actually enjoy. Maths, econ, geo is a great combination for an Econ uni application. Best of luck xx
P. S. Not too relevant to what you asked but just to add on to how you said you find maths a bit difficult. An Econ degree has A LOT of maths in it. It will be different from pure maths that you do in school, it'll be more stats based so less obscure imaginary number stuff lol, but still very maths heavy. My friend whose doing Econ has told me that, so I would just maybe reflect on that a bit - do you still like Maths despite finding it difficult and would be you be fine with doing a uni degree with a lot of maths in it? I'm sure you'll be fine and do amazing, just wanted to mention this as well.

Thanks so much for your reply I liked chemistry as a subject like but all the jobs related to chemistry do not seem as appealing to me. I think to be honest it just feels a bit weird that because I always used to revise bio and chem for GCSE"s and that I don't do them in my life anymore, I guess my brain is just associating to herd mentality because chemistry is like the most popular A Level in my school but I guess it'd be better for me to spend more time improving my maths skills I would say. I mean the area of maths I like the most is statistics because I just love analysis tbh. The reason I was thinking to switch back to chemistry is because Geography just feels light and easy for me and that just feels weird. The only thing is that maths and econ are only going to get harder, and If i don't want to do a medicine related career tbh so I guess that I should just focus on improving my maths skills over my A-Levels. I just got to a really competitive school haha so I don't want to rue my chances to got a good university to be honest. So in your experience does securing the top grades like A* AA etc matter more too universities than what you get that third grade in??
Thanks so much. Your message was truly lovely and made my day!!!! Honestly so stress relieving haha was having a meltdown last night! I was feeling that not doing maths with a science makes me like inferior idek why
What university do you go?? Do you like uni life?? Is it better than A Levels or is uni just overhyped lol??

Thanks so much for your reply I liked chemistry as a subject like but all the jobs related to chemistry do not seem as appealing to me. I think to be honest it just feels a bit weird that because I always used to revise bio and chem for GCSE"s and that I don't do them in my life anymore, I guess my brain is just associating to herd mentality because chemistry is like the most popular A Level in my school but I guess it'd be better for me to spend more time improving my maths skills I would say. I mean the area of maths I like the most is statistics because I just love analysis tbh. The reason I was thinking to switch back to chemistry is because Geography just feels light and easy for me and that just feels weird. The only thing is that maths and econ are only going to get harder, and If i don't want to do a medicine related career tbh so I guess that I should just focus on improving my maths skills over my A-Levels. I just got to a really competitive school haha so I don't want to rue my chances to got a good university to be honest. So in your experience does securing the top grades like A* AA etc matter more too universities than what you get that third grade in??
Thanks so much. Your message was truly lovely and made my day!!!! Honestly so stress relieving haha was having a meltdown last night! I was feeling that not doing maths with a science makes me like inferior idek why
What university do you go?? Do you like uni life?? Is it better than A Levels or is uni just overhyped lol??

P. S. You asked some questions about myself.
Just some context, I'm from Scotland so we have 12 years of school in total and many people chose to go to uni after only 11 years. If you want to go to uni in England though you need to do 12 years and do Advanced Highers (which are our equivalent to A Levels).
I'm currently on a gap year! I did my AHs last year and applied to uni, I got an offer from Cambridge to study med but because of the whole 12 years v 13 years thing I was too young to start the course this October, hence the gap year and I will, God willing, start next October.
I'm currently just tutoring, doing some university prereading (or trying to lol), and haunting tsr. I'm hoping to start work soon.
Hopefully that all makes sense. Best of luck with your studies xx

In your experience then is doing chemistry A Level if you don't want to do medicine pointless?

Oh no absolutely not, like obviously if you want to do another science degree, related to chemistry, biochem, neuroscience, whatever, chemistry is a very useful science A Level. Even if you just want to do it for interest, I mean it definitely develops transferable skills.
But if you don't want to do something science related and you don't find it more interesting than another subject, I wouldn't do it just to have another "hard" A Level, that's not how unis think and it won't impress them more than Geography, for example.
Hope that makes sense, just my 2 cents.

I know I’ve like takes too you too much now haha
But honestly at 16 it’s so confusing to decide on what to do with your life choosing a levels is like the first time you really choose something for yourself and yeah it’s just really hard to decide I cannot lie, I guess at the very most if I end up feeling to unhappy with my decision I’ll just sit an a level on my own

Yeah I understand it's hard to decide your life fully at such a young age, but don't worry about it too much. I would say you are just broadly deciding what areas you are interested in and nothing is completely closed to you like you said you can always pivot and take more A Levels later on, but I'm sure you'll love whatever you end up deciding to do.
It sounds like you're passionate about economics so for now I would focus on that and reevaluate at the end of y12

I am a year 12 student who originally was studying maths, economics, biology and chemistry. So I took economics cause I was unsure if I wanted to do a medicine related degree or something else. After research, I thought that for me an economics degree would be a much better fit. However, due to reasons I could not originally do further maths and did not want to do further maths because I am not the strongest at maths. Therefore, to dedicate more time towards revising for maths for ensuring I get an A or A* in the A Level which is a requirement for any good economics course I ended up dropping chemistry biology and switching to geography because it is so easy for me to do geo. However, I have been given a lot of stigmatism for this since the last 3 weeks because everyone thinks you need chemistry but I am good at chem but it would have been hard for me to manage Chem and Maths together. Now I am really worried because I feel like I have closed all my career paths. Can someone give me advise please?? Is there a point of me to switch back to chemistry from Geo ASAP in order for me to keep my options more open?? Will good universities like Durham or Warwick likely favour a sttudent who got the same grades as me but did chemistry as their third cos its harder?

This has turned into quite 1 on 1 haha you don't have to keep replying
Once I start talking I cannot stop to be honest
I think I will switch back to chemistry just because its an intuition stuck in my brain now haha
No one knows what holds for us in the future and there is no way to guarantee that I will do well geography and get an A star, I think that A Level is about building skillsets and that geography so far has been to passive for me personally I would learn more over the 2 years doing that. This will probably make my life harder in some ways but I can't fixate too much on results to be honest, lol I am probably the most confused person on Earth
Also, An year off?? You should try to make the most of it!! You can really work and have so much fun in that time perhaps get rizzy 😂 ( I am messing) Nah what a brilliant time that must be you've got your grades you just have to wait
Are you looking forward to university life?? What has your friend said uni is like?? Personally I am so scared cos like firstly you have to move away from your parents typically, then like the idea of being away from home and then not making any friends scares me haha, then I have to make sure I build my personality and stay healthy and that haha
Hopefully it all works out I hope!!

Oh don't worry about it I like replying to people. If you think taking chemistry is best for you then by all means go for it. You do seem pretty stuck on it so maybe that signals you would regret not taking it lol. Just remember to pace yourself and not burn out and all that stuff.
Also, yeah a year out was not part of my plan until recently (I only found out I was doing one in August) but I'm glad it's ended up this way. Especially since I'm only seventeen anyway so age isn't an issue. I'm planning on working full time and saving money mostly as well do some prereading for first year since medicine is known to be such an intense degree but hopefully I'll get some time to relax as well.
Tbh I don't speak to my friends from high school that much. They're all in uni and doing their own thing and other than the occasional message idk what they're up to lol. Most of them actually haven't moved away from home either. The general consensus is that uni is quite hard and it's mostly the context and expectations that's different, like at A Level you have a set course and you just have to learn everything on the specifications but at uni it's more self directed. But if you're smart enough to get in you'll be smart enough to figure it out.
I totally get being kind of scared to move away and make new friends and everything. I think what I always remind myself is everyone will be in the same boat so they'll all want to to make friends, uni is a fresh start for everyone. I'm also quite comfortable in my own company and I love reading and studying (ik boring lol but I do) so I think it's nice to have that assurance that even if I don't make best friends for life or anything I can still enjoy myself and succeed on my own.
Anyways, I'll stop there. Hope my rambling was useful or at least interesting in some way.