Not sure what to study at Uni

[megor1234]

Hey everyone,
I graduate high school in 2016 with an altar of 98.9. I had initially (year 11-mid year 12) intended on studying biomed/pursuing a career in medicine, however late in year 12 began to have doubts that it wasn't the course for me, and decided on an arts course at ANU. I took a year off to earn money, but have since decided that the languages/int relations at ANU is too expensive for me.

However, despite my year off, I'm still at a loss as to what to study. I love languages, they are my passion. I studied french and japanese in high school and scored 43 and 41 respectively, and did extension in Japanese as well. I am also very interested in foreign relations and politics. However, because i love helping people I am reluctant to close my mind to medicine, as I like the idea of helping people first hand.

My parents are pushing me to do biomed so as not to close off any options, however i have never liked chemistry or science for that matter (though i did alright in VCE). Or, my dad has suggested arts/law at Monash. While some aspects of law seem interesting (Human rights, migration etc) I don't think i would do a 5 year degree with compulsory subjects that don't interest me at all (constitution, torts, property) just to have a "generalist" degree behind me (which I'm not sure it is anyhow)?

I am strongly considering arts at Melbourne (politics, arabic and french) and hoping to get a career with a government department (DFAT) or UN. However I know this is unlikely so want to keep my options open. I have Biomed at monash as first preference, but will put arts at melbourne down as second preference.

Sorry for the long post, just wanted to know if anyone has been in a similar boat to me or has any advice they can offer, especially if they have studied any of these courses?
I've been weighing up the pros/cons of each degree for more than a year now and am still in a rut

Best of luck to everyone for their first round offers!

PS. sorry if I posted this in the wrong section

[Vaike]

Hey there,

Firstly, welcome to ATAR Notes! Congratulations on your outstanding ATAR! Ultimately, you're the only one who can really figure out what you want to do. I know that's a cop out but no one, not your parents, nor anyone here, knows you better than you. That being said, advice can be helpful too.

Whilst it can be confusing and difficult to choose with so many factors at play, to me it sounds like you know what you really want. I'd strongly suggest against picking as a result of parental pressure. If you've never liked science (especially chemistry), I'd guess you'd find it really hard to enjoy biomedical science, and with how competitive I hear it is, it might be difficult to do well.

My advice would be to follow your heart and pursue an arts degree at Unimelb (or Monash), it sounds like you believe it to align with your interests perfectly. It'll be much easier to go to Uni every day knowing you're doing something you love, and if you work hard, there's a good chance you'll be able to make your way into the DFAT or the UN.

[brenden]

Hey Megor!

Firstly... Not doing Biomed would not close off any options for you. As far as I know (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) - you can enter graduate medicine from any undergraduate degree, so long as you satisfy the subject prerequisites (and do well in the GAMSAT/interview ofc). So... there is simply no reason to do Biomed *unless* that is the course you most want to do. You could do Arts and then enter Medicine. It might be slightly more inconvenient than Biomed->Med given that Biomed automatically satisfies any subject prerequisites for postgrad Med, but it'd be better to take that inconvenience than to take the inconvenience of a 3-year degree you don't truly want to do.

Think less about pros/cons and more about what's going to satisfy you for the next three years. It seems like you'd almost prefer Arts to Biomed? If that's the case, then do Arts. If you have a stronger desire to do Biomed, leave it #1.

There are a lot of people on this forum with relevant insight... hopefully a discussion here can help you nut out what it is you'd like to study

[strawberries]

Hi,

I'm about to enter my 2nd year at uni, I've done subjects in international relations and politics but I did do them at ANU so perspective may differ versus Melbourne. I do love what I'm learning, and it isn't too difficult to score reasonably, and even though I've been getting quite okay marks I know it's still gonna be difficult to get like DFAT jobs (which is what I sorta wanted before but now I understand it's unrealistic. But I'm still gonna pursue studying political subjects). Even if I don't end up with a career in like foreign service (which I probably won't), I've already appreciated a lot of what I've learnt.

I would personally recommend doing arts because I loved it. It's just really opened up my mind a lot (esp studying politics/IR stuff).

I would definitely say chase your dreams and do what you're interested in the most. You can always change your mind later

good luck

[megor1234]

Thanks everyone for all your replies! I really appreciate your help
I think I'm pretty much decided on arts at melb uni, but after telling my parents was told that it was a waste of potential and/or atar.
While I'm obviously not basing my decision on their thoughts, I am worried that if I do arts, it will be too hard/expensive to ever do law/medicine again.

[Sine]

I'm currently a 2nd year biomed student @ monash (2018) and had a similar situation to you tbh. I really had no idea what I wanted to do and still don't(still deciding between med/law/actuarial studies)

doing a course you aren't happy with in order to not "waste your atar" is probably up there alongside the worst arguments in history...Although I do understand the "wasting potential" one which really won't be dependent on what degree you choose.

If you have never liked chem/science biomed--->med seems a poor choice to me since med will just be applied science but yes there is a lot more to it like communication, teamwork etc. You also allude to helping people, med definitely isn't the only course that allows you to do that (you really don't even need a degree to do it) also going into med for those reasons is little idealistic imo.

I love languages, they are my passion.

Obviously your answer lies here but i know sometimes it may be difficult given parental pressure if that is a factor.

I think I'm pretty much decided on arts at melb uni, but after telling my parents was told that it was a waste of potential and/or atar.
While I'm obviously not basing my decision on their thoughts, I am worried that if I do arts, it will be too hard/expensive to ever do law/medicine again.

It shouldn't be more expensive (as far as i know) at least if you are eligible and have marks high enough for a CSP spot.  Heaps of people do Arts @ UoM --> JD (law) and some (a lot less though) go from non-science backgrounds into post grad medicine.

[spectroscopy]

i'd say follow your heart. if you dont like chem or bio or anything like that then dont sign yourself up to doing something you dont like for a few years and possibly longer in your life. arts at melbourne is a good degree and there are heaps and heaps of jobs you can get from it outside of government jobs. Parents might not always know what arts leads to but it leads to alot,  and if you decide you do want to help people you could always do something later on like psychology/counselling/social work that come out of arts degrees. you can help people in way more ways than medicine. I think arts/international relations at anu would be a great pick, and although it might be more expensive to live there instead of living at home, centrelink + savings from your gap year should make it just fine and also I think the happiness you'll get out of it in the future would make it worth.  i'd definitely pick arts at melb above biomed or arts/law. if you really need somethign to add onto later on you can do law post-grad, but for someone who doesn't know what they want to do for the rest of their life but knows what things they enjoy it should be a no-brainer in my opinion.  if you get good grades post grad programs wont be too expensive cos you will get a commonwealth supported place. I would personally pick the ANU option but thats just me. I also liked the idea when i finished high school of getting away from my parents for my degree although I chose against it in the end

[extremeftw]

 I know it's difficult but you need to ignore your parents' wishes and choose what you want to do. It's your life, not theirs. Do not do a degree if you are not truly passionate/interested in it because I can almost guarantee you will end up regretting that decision.

 Here's my opinion about so-called 'useless' degrees: 1. they almost never are as 'useless' or unemployable as people claim and 2. if you do what you are actually interested in then you are far more likely to achieve good marks and get involved in related activities that will make you more employable anyway. I am sitting in Poland right now doing an internship at a top European museum that was organised through the Arts faculty at Monash; there is always opportunities no matter what you decide to do.

 For example, imagine someone who loves humanities but is worried about employment prospects so they choose to instead enroll in an engineering course to 'play it safe'. However, since this person isn't actually interested in engineering, they have a relatively high chance of just scraping by in their studies and getting burnt out. Alternatively, they could have just done what they actually wanted to do and done much better.

 Before I enrolled at university I decided I wanted to do economics despite never studying it before at all. Understandably my parents thought it was a pretty stupid idea and tried to talk me out of it. Eventually they acknowledged it was my decision to make and so I made economics/arts my first preference. This was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

TLDR: Do what you want to do, not what others want you to do. Only you know what you actually are interested in; choose your course accordingly. Place zero value on what other people tell you to study.

[megor1234]

Thanks so much everyone for all your help!
I've decided to study arts at Melbourne (apply for 2nd round offer) and maybe go to ANU from second year depending on how my course goes.
Thanks again for all your insights, I think i'm much better suited to arts-discipline subjects!
x

[brenden]

Thanks so much everyone for all your help!
I've decided to study arts at Melbourne (apply for 2nd round offer) and maybe go to ANU from second year depending on how my course goes.
Thanks again for all your insights, I think i'm much better suited to arts-discipline subjects!
x

Happy to hear this