Literature or Chemistry?

[miyukiaura]

Hey guys, I'm currently in a bit of a dilemma. I'm currently trying to choose between literature or chemistry. My other subjects are bio 3/4, psych, methods, spesh, and mainstream english. I am equally interested in and willing to put the effort into both subjects, and I'm reasonably good at both of them as well (based on year 10 english and chem). If I choose chemistry, I won't be able to get into biomedicine or pharmaceutical science at e.g. Monash Uni. At this stage I'm leaning more towards a Bachelor of Science at either Monash or Melbourne, although I can see myself doing biomedicine and wouldn't mind doing that either. However, I'm interested in doing something outside of the biomedicine course like astrophysics or maybe neuroscience. So I guess the question should be whether or not I want to do biomedicine or not???

Sorry if I'm kind of rambling but I'd greatly appreciate a reply on this. Is it worth doing chemistry just for the sake of keeping my options open? And for the literature people: is english + literature in year 12 doable??? Was the workload high and did it take up a lot of time?

Thanks so much

[caffinatedloz]

From what you've said, it sounds like keeping the chemistry around would be good, especially if you think you may be interested in biomed. But, hopefully someone who knows the subjects better will be able to give you some more concrete advice.

[angrybiscuit]

Is your school able to let you transfer from mainstream English to literature? That way you can do both? (As I'm pretty sure you can just do literature and not English)

[miyukiaura]

Yeah, I think it'd be a good idea to keep chem just in case. But I still want to do literature 
My school lets you do either english or lit in year 12, but in year 11 you have to do english as well as lit.
I might do chemistry and then transfer from mainstream to lit in year 12... but I'm not sure if doing the 3/4 without the 1/2 is the best option

[caffinatedloz]

Yeah, I think it'd be a good idea to keep chem just in case. But I still want to do literature 
My school lets you do either english or lit in year 12, but in year 11 you have to do english as well as lit.
I might do chemistry and then transfer from mainstream to lit in year 12... but I'm not sure if doing the 3/4 without the 1/2 is the best option

Yeah, I've heard that it's not wise to transfer from 1/2 english to 3/4 lit, but what does your school say about it?

[colline]

And for the literature people: is english + literature in year 12 doable??? Was the workload high and did it take up a lot of time?

While I do not have experience with doing both 3/4 Literature and 3/4 English at the same time, I believe that the workload will be doable. For the record, I think Literature and Chemistry have similar workloads so in the end it would come down to whether you prefer doing practice questions or writing essays.

I'm reasonably good at both of them as well (based on year 10 english and chem)

Just want to warn you that Literature is a very different subject to English. Being good at English doesn't automatically make you good at lit and vice versa. Literature has a different set of criteria and the style of writing and the type of assessments in Literature are different to what you're used to from year 7-10 English.

Is it worth doing chemistry just for the sake of keeping my options open?

Potentially. In year 11 I didn't do chemistry but then I became interested in another course which had 3/4 chemistry as recommended background knowledge, so I had to drop one of my subjects to swap into chem in 3/4. Looking back I do kind of wish I had just started with chem 1/2 to save myself the hassle.

From purely the info you gave, chemistry sounds like a better choice. I think some questions you should consider are:
- Can you see yourself doing courses which would have chemistry as a prerequisite?
- Are you willing to learn a new style of writing for VCE Literature?
- What subject do you think you would enjoy more?

[sweetiepi]

Hey! If you're interested in biomed or pharmaceutical science- chemistry is a prerequiste for both degrees, so if you're keen on either, best to continue with chemistry.

If you're looking for a general science course at uni, either would be okay- however, I'm not familiar with the literature!

Let me know if you have any questions about pharmsci!

[miyukiaura]

Yeah, I've heard that it's not wise to transfer from 1/2 english to 3/4 lit, but what does your school say about it?

One of the lit teachers said that it was slightly difficult, but definitely not impossible. There was one person who did it and I'm pretty sure they ended up fine.

While I do not have experience with doing both 3/4 Literature and 3/4 English at the same time, I believe that the workload will be doable. For the record, I think Literature and Chemistry have similar workloads so in the end it would come down to whether you prefer doing practice questions or writing essays.
Just want to warn you that Literature is a very different subject to English. Being good at English doesn't automatically make you good at lit and vice versa. Literature has a different set of criteria and the style of writing and the type of assessments in Literature are different to what you're used to from year 7-10 English.
Potentially. In year 11 I didn't do chemistry but then I became interested in another course which had 3/4 chemistry as recommended background knowledge, so I had to drop one of my subjects to swap into chem in 3/4. Looking back I do kind of wish I had just started with chem 1/2 to save myself the hassle.

From purely the info you gave, chemistry sounds like a better choice. I think some questions you should consider are:
- Can you see yourself doing courses which would have chemistry as a prerequisite?
- Are you willing to learn a new style of writing for VCE Literature?
- What subject do you think you would enjoy more?

I'm aware that being good at english doesn't mean that you'll be good at literature, but how exactly do the two subjects differ in terms of writing style and criteria?
And for the courses with chem as a prereq, I can see myself doing them, however, at this stage I'm not 100% into having a career in medicine or research etc. I would equally enjoy chem and literature- although I've heard that the lit teacher for year 12 is really good, and I find that having a good teacher really makes a difference in how much I enjoy/dread a class

[miyukiaura]

Hey! If you're interested in biomed or pharmaceutical science- chemistry is a prerequiste for both degrees, so if you're keen on either, best to continue with chemistry.

If you're looking for a general science course at uni, either would be okay- however, I'm not familiar with the literature!

Let me know if you have any questions about pharmsci!

I've never really considered pharmaceutical science - what made you choose this course?

[sweetiepi]

I've never really considered pharmaceutical science - what made you choose this course?

Fair enough!

I initially chose it for a variety of reasons that I've since forgotten all about, aside from being interested in medicines and making medicines better haha!