Son has not a clue what he wants to do

[aroundincircles21]

My son is waiting for his AS results so is at the Planning for Uni stage but he has absolutely no clue what he wants to do! He's doing Maths, Physics, History and Classical Civ at A level but will drop one of these for next year. It's almost certain that either History or CC will be the one that goes as he has a mild learning disability (he receives extra time at exams) that makes essay writing a real problem. He seems to do quite well at Maths and Physics so everyone keeps pointing him towards engineering but it's not sparking any real interest from him. The alternative is to go with an essay based subject that he might find more interesting but we are both worried that he'll find the essay writing too big a problem in the end. I don't know how to advise him! he stress is beginning to mount as, until he can decide on the type of course, he can't decide on which Uni's to apply to...never mind start writing his personal statement!

As a university lecturer I'm with User here. All degree study nowadays needs the ability to communicate via writing.

Well, good luck at getting through the weekly reports for physics labs without being able to structure your thoughts. And getting through project work, group work, dissertations etc in maths and physics. (Even leaving aside the issues of understanding/constructing proofs in pure maths etc.)

Pretty hard to organise your lecture notes in maths and physics without being able to organise your thoughts and write them down, as well.

I don't accept that physics and maths at university are the subjects that require least structuring of thoughts. I think people misjudge this because the school subjects are very different and because university study has changed considerably over the last 20 years.

Without wanting to restate the obvious there is a not so subtle difference between structuring thoughts in economics, history or even biochemistry essays compared to structuring thoughts mainly in symbols and occasional lab reports.

My son did a queapstionairre at school called " Course-finder " (we had to pay). As a result, we have a large booklet with 20 suggested courses and the universities that offer them.

Does your school offer any of these career questionnaires?

www.ucas.com/ucas/16-18-choices/find-career-ideas/buzz-quiz

www.ukcoursefinder.com

www.morrisby.com/course-finder/

I think the one my DS did was the last of the three links, but the others may help also (disclaimer - not actually used them).

Also, look at the Smallpeice website. They offer courses for pupils in different areas of engineering. Although a lot of the courses they offer are for,younger years, it may give him an idea of how wide engineering can be.

www.smallpeicetrust.org.uk

The Smallpeice courses are 3-5 day 'holidays', usually based at universities, covering a particular aspect such as automotive, energy, aviation etc. My eldest son has been on a couple and loved them.

My DD is dyslexic and dyspraxic, with working memory, processing and speed of writing all in the bottom ten percent but ability in the top ten. Certainly shared your son's issues. She just graduated with an upper second in English from one of the top universities for the subject. She did get DSA but I gather that has stopped now but there was much better support available at university than at school. In the end she developed her own coping strategies because she was motivated by the chance to study the subject in such depth. People with SpLDs are actually overepresented amongst academic historians, as well as CEOs! Possibly the result of often having a particular skill in being able to analyse situations in a holistic way.

Perhaps you need to sit down with your son and focus on what he is good at, what he is motivated by. Dyslexia and Dyspraxia are challenges to be overcome but they should not stop you doing what you are good at.

I am dyslexic, it was much more of an issue at school than uni and in the workplace, where ideas and the quality of your intellectual thinking become more important. The terrible punctuation is by the way my iPad refusing to switch to the number and punctuation keyboard!

Thanks to all for your kind advice. It certainly helps to know that support will be available if needed and confirms that he should be quided by his interests and not his own perceived ability or lack of!
Petalflowers - yes, he also did a questionnaire that pointed him towards Engineering. I'd never heard of smallpeicetrust, wish we had earlier but will certainly look at it for the future.
evenstrangerthings - I didn't know about major/minor courses but have now sent off for the UCL prospectus as that sounds really interesting.
sendsummer - thanks for the link, this looks really helpful.
Thanks so much for opening our eyes to the possibilities and some excellent opportunities.

Just to add, my nephew is in the RAF and is doing very well on a degree level apprenticeship. He has Dyslexia and has had brilliant support.