DD degree subjects?

[Whenthebeatkicksin]

Nc'd, but have been here since the pom bears and wolef days.

DD, Year 12, has no idea about what she'd like to do at university and as a career. She's our eldest child and neither DH or I went into higher education, so we don't know how to advise her.

She's taking A Level English Literature, Drama and Music and will do an EPQ too. She got a 9, 8s and 7s in 10 GCSEs. She has a Diploma in cello and two Grade 8s.Grade 8 LAMDA.

Her hobbies are playing in music ensembles and just listening to music really. She likes reading too. She also plays netball in a team but I think she'll drop this soon.

She has a Saturday job in New Look.

She thinks that an English degree is the most sensible career-wise, but really has no idea what she wants to do.

From this very brief description what do you recommend she thinks about doing at university?

What kind of careers could she be looking at?

The school are a bit useless with this sort of thing.

Thank you.

Do any of these degrees interest her? They have some examples of career paths on each page.

Business of the Creative Industries (BA) - Undergraduate, University of York

Theatre: Writing, Directing and Performance (BA) - Undergraduate, University of York

English and Music BA | Undergraduate study | The University of Sheffield

Has she done any work experience she enjoyed? She could try finding some now. You get the degree for the job you want, not the other way round

Also, what are her innate talents? What is she good at? She can look up jobs that require such skills

It sounds like she's a gifted musician, ignoring her sensible "English will get more jobs" what will make her happy? Could she pursue music and apply for the music schools?

Liberal arts? Might allow her to do English and music in some places.

Does she want to become a cellist? She sounds good enough?
Does she enjoy script writing?
Does she want to become an actress?
Does she enjoy journalism?
Does she enjoy theatre? ie sound design, producing shows etc?
Could she be a teacher?
Is she interested in the publishing world?

She's a range of A levels that could really lead to a lot of areas.

Maybe look at what courses LIPA offer, and see if anything takes her fancy?

Woukd she do a degree in music? Not conservatoire/ performance necessarily. You can do all sorts of music degrees including theory/history and composition or production.

I have a English Lit degree but I think it's harder to get jobs with nowadays.

I don't think it's a good idea to go to uni without an idea of a career in mind. You'd want to be getting work experience and doing placements etc in each year.

The National Careers Service has a self assessment tool. This might give her some ideas https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/discover-your-skills-and-careers/

What I would say is don’t go to uni just because it’s what everyone does. It’s expensive and there are other ways to get a degree e.g. apprenticeships.