Help needed please! Geog or History degree?

[Horsemad]

DS is applying for 2017. He is studying Maths, Geog & History. Is reasonably good at all 3 but has no 'passion' for any of them.

AS results were AAC (C in Geog which was a surprise as he put a lot of work in but wasn't far off a B).
For background, he got A at GCSE for Geog & A* for History.

Doesn't know what he wants to do. Doesn't want a gap year.
Had been considering Geog after visiting several open days. Is now undecided whether to do Geog or History and is a bit 'rabbit in the headlights' as he needs to write a PS and doesn't know which subject he will apply for!

I think his C in Geog has made him reconsider but not sure what to advise him.

Any ideas please?

I think it's hard for school pupils to really grasp this, because if you do A level history then everyone is teaching to the same syllabus for that exam board , maybe just with a choice of project .

And so many vocational courses teach pretty much the same stuff, just in different ways, because they are accredited by the professional body .

I did geography as a mature student DS1 is currently doing history. I'm completely biased (of course) but to my mind geography is not only absolutely fascinating buy it also gives you lots of useful skills, you have to be able to write well obviously, but we also wrote reports, did environmental assessments, had to draw, and use Geograohical based information systems on this we did everything from flood towns to plot fish movements we also did loads of computer based statistical analysis. If you do a mixture of human and physical geography there's something for everyone including history.

DCs of a number of friends of mine have recently graduated from top unis (Durham, Bristol, Edinburgh) with History and Geography degrees. All of them are living back at home, pondering what to do. It really is better to focus on where the degree might lead. The job market is tough!

I did a history degree at York and ended up in a career in Corporate Banking. I'm just about to start an MBA. Before stumbling into banking I had offers to work in manufacturing, accountancy, on a law conversion course, or the ultimate fallback, teaching! Point is, my degree wasn't limiting in anyway. I just did the course I thought I'd enjoy most.

We haven't embarked on this stage of life yet, but there are themes emerging for me. The student (not the family) needs to know why the course is worth spending/investing £50k for starters.

As a geriatric, degree awarded 1977, having a decent BSc (Econ) from an RG university meant you were qualified for most non-technical professional jobs. Then, a degree was relatively rare; now it's common place. The jobs available haven't changed much (most graduates end up in teaching, which is by far the largest employing sector) and it is still the energetic, and the well connected who do well after their degrees. Either they are obsessive about the subject, or they are capable of deeply gritty application, or they are truly brilliant (1%). Most of us end up as worker bees, seeking satisfaction in our personal lives.