Primrose Kitten
Anna work very hard during year 12 and year 13, she managed to get A-Levels in Chemsitry (A), Art (B) and Spanish (B).
The one thing anyone knows about me is that I love lists. During the summer of year 12, the walls of my bedroom were covered in lists – pros and cons about the different courses and lists of qualities I have and how they lend themselves to each prospective course. When I was reflecting on what I wanted to do, I spent a week writing an A4 pages listing my strengths and weaknesses, and next to each quality I wrote which courses I thought each one was suited to. From this I figured out that I ultimately wanted a job where I was directly involved in healthcare, which led to several more lists and some difficult self-reflection—but through this process, years later I’ve ended up doing something I truly enjoy. Even if lists aren’t your style, writing things down is a great way to sort through your thoughts and help you come to a conclusion.
Even after this process, I was still between choices for a long time—for a period of at least a few months. What helped me decide was speaking to people who had done the course and who were now working in the field. I spoke to lots of people involved in pharmacy one way or another—whether they were currently studying the subject or working in a related position. I even spoke to those who had studied it and dropped out or were now working in an unrelated career entirely. Each of their experiences helped guide me all the way from the application to the enrolment stage.
The other thing to look into is career prospects. Whilst there’s nothing wrong with studying for the sake of learning, I definitely chose my degree based off prospective salary and career opportunities. If you enjoy a subject matter but couldn’t see yourself doing it (or a related job) for the rest of your life, then it might be worth reconsidering your choices. University is a big step but it does have its downfalls—I couldn’t possibly have worked full time whilst studying, and I didn’t have help from my parents, so it proved to be very financially straining. I currently have 4 years’ worth of student loans putting a dent in any future earnings as well. I tried to make a decision based on long-term benefits, so that the difficulty during my student years would be worth it.
I do want to add that if you don’t want to commit yourself to just one course, or you’re between very similar courses, you could always apply to more than one. The downfall is that you can only submit one UCAS application to all of your choices. I didn’t do this because I was set on the course I wanted to do, and also because it’s very risky. Most of the time admissions boards can tell that you're not applying directly for their course, but I know of others who have successfully done this and got it right. The key is to apply to courses that are very similar to begin with, and make sure that you write something that is applicable to all. This way, once you get to your interviews and visit the universities in question, you can make a better-educated decision on what feels right for you.
