To be a bit worried my year 12 DS doesn’t know what degree/job he wants to do?

[Billfortune]

Is it normal for them to not really know what career they want at this stage of year 12. DS is 17 and not sure but also doesn’t really want to talk about or explore options. He’s doing A’levels and wants to go to university so doesn’t he need to be thinking about this now? Feel like I’m being a bit pushy asking him about it when he’s clearly not keen to discuss it at the moment.

Don't worry! A year ago my son (Y13) was not sure what he wanted to do at Uni but it's come together since then and he's got his UCAS in and has offers. Has the school recommended Unifrog to them - there are so many different options out there.

Have you looked into school leaver programmes? A few companies offer 12 month 'gap year' placements between A Level and uni to give people experience in the workplace whilst they decide what to do

DD1 is the same.

We are thinking of taking her and other children to big careers fair in NEC - but really trying to keep her options open as much as possible.

She likes one of her A levels more than others - so thinking she can do that at degree and it will keep doors open for her.

I have a year 12. She does know what she wants to do, but most of her friends haven't a clue, so I don't think your ds is unusual.

You're right to encourage him to start thinking about this now. He'll need to have submitted university applications by this time next year if he wants to go straight on to university without a gap year. That doesn't leave a lot of time, and for some subjects/universities, he'll need to be able to demonstrate how he has shown an interest in the subject that he wants to study.

Keep it light for now and try to explore what he likes and dislikes about his current choice of A levels.

Very common- I chose my degree subject (English) simply because I enjoyed it. No idea about jobs until I finished my degree.

I don't think it's necessary to know what you want to do in Y12. I do think it's worth talking through all the options- what degrees there are (IME a lot of kids aren't away of the range and think only in terms of their A level subjects) and which career areas would be open or closed based on their choice.

Wow! He's 12!! He'll be fine.

It might be worth looking at universities that offer joint honours degrees, @Billfortune. I studied at Keele (way back in the dark ages, admittedly) and all their degrees were joint honours, and you could put together some really broad combinations - I read Politics and Music, and know people who read Music and Computer Science, or Politics and Russian. We also did a subsidiary subject in our first year, and that had to balance the rest of our subjects - so someone like me, doing two Arts and Humanities subjects had to do a science subsidiary - I did computer science. Someone doing two sciences had to do an Arts or Humanities subsidiary.

Something like this would give your son a wider range of options once he graduates.

Of course they dont know at that age, very few do!!

@miltonj

Wow! He's 12!! He'll be fine.

He is year 12. Not 12.

Oh sorry! Misread. But still! Year 12 is still perfectly normal, don't worry. I don't think life has to always have a set path. He'll figure it out.

He should have a pretty good idea of what area of work he would like to pursue by the time he chose his a levels, as he cannot decide freely on what he want to study at uni if he has the wrong a levels for the course he wants.

I really don’t understand how schools and parents do not pay more attention to this, by the time they realise that the combination of a levels matters it is sometime too late.

My year 12 daughter began to get some ideas after having a sleepover with her older sibling in their university town. At that point, she seemed to realise university might actually be fun. Then she realised she could just carry on doing the subject she likes best at school ... while also having fun.

That's fine as far as we're concerned. At least it's some sort of plan for the next step. Which is more than I had at her age.

I'm trying not to dwell on the fact that she really fancies dropping out and living in a camper van once she's got her degree. If it happens, I will blame Sue Perkins.

I think those who have a clear view tend to be influenced by their parents but very few 17 year olds really have an understanding of what a specific career might entail.

Not always the case that those with a clear idea are influenced by their parents. I had actually expected that dd would go in a completely different direction to what she has chosen, because we are extremely similar and I thought she would go in a similar direction to me. Turns out that she had other ideas!

I have never known. At most, I get an idea that lasts a few months at most. Am now in my 40s.

GrandmasCat my eldest is in their second year at university and still has no very clear idea what they want to do for work. But they are loving their university course and that will do for now.

I do agree that A levels should be chosen carefully - but choosing good solid subjects that will get you onto all sorts of courses is also a reasonable approach, if you really aren't sure.

I didn’t have a clue what I was going to do until the last year of my maths degree. Then I discovered a masters I wanted to do and during that found an actual career.
I chose maths as my degree as it was pretty employable but non specific.

I didn't know what I wanted to do until I was 28...by this point I'd been forced to choose a career and had been to university....I'm starting again from the bottom. Do not push your child knto choosing anything. If they wait a few years its no big deal.

I think its a process that starts in year 12 for quite a lot of people tbh. Did for me, but I still ended up doing a general Engineering degree rather than anything hugely specific.

He's 12 for God's sake. It's perfectly normal!

Apologies just realised he's in year 12.

@AChickenCalledDaal

GrandmasCat my eldest is in their second year at university and still has no very clear idea what they want to do for work. But they are loving their university course and that will do for now.

I do agree that A levels should be chosen carefully - but choosing good solid subjects that will get you onto all sorts of courses is also a reasonable approach, if you really aren't sure.

That’s the problem, there is no such thing as a solid subject if you choose a good uni that is clear about the particular background knowledge they want their students to have.

It is not rocket science, either. A simple leaflet saying “if you want to study XYZ, consider A levels on these subjects…”

I was surprised that from six 6th form colleges we visited only one bothered to include such crucial piece of information in their school’s handouts.

It's a very rare person I think who knows at 17 or 18 what they want to do for the rest of their life.

I agree.

I actually knew what I wanted to be since I was 5 years old and it never changed.
Unfortunately life got in the way and I wasn’t able to do it and I ended up doing something completely random which lead to the career I’m in now which I absolutely love and I’m glad my original plan didn’t work out.

Any degree or job he gets will be experience that can help improve his chances for a different job in the future.

What do you work as?

@GrandmasCat

He should have a pretty good idea of what area of work he would like to pursue by the time he chose his a levels, as he cannot decide freely on what he want to study at uni if he has the wrong a levels for the course he wants.

I really don’t understand how schools and parents do not pay more attention to this, by the time they realise that the combination of a levels matters it is sometime too late.

DD1 taken ones she good at and enjoys and kep options open as much as possible. They seem okay for most things she considered so far she might take at university.

It's not that we haven't paid attention - school was pushing low paid work - and then law at her - we felt a bad fit for her but didn't so NO obviously. We've made some suggestions - she currently likes and current A-level are fine for and fully support her finding something else - and most would need MSc on top anyway. I think covid hasn't helped and college doesn't seem to be doing much.

I completely changed fields after first degree and DH slowly moved over from his area to where he is now. So it's not like changes can't be done.

I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to do at that age. As it turned out, I was completely wrong and now have a degree that bears no relation to my job.

If he can't make his mind up between uni and work, he should choose work for now. Maybe in a few years he'll have a clearer idea of what's right for him.

I never knew what I wanted to be growing up.

During my A-levels I found a degree course that sounded really interesting. Then during my degree I did a module that I loved, and went onto to an MSc in it... and then a PhD, and 15 years later I still work in the field.