What course should DD do?

[Matildatoldsuchdreadfullies]

Right. Let me start by saying this entirely a choice for DD to make. She is my fourth child, meaning any tiger-mother tendencies have long since left the building.

She was supposed to go to a RG university to read maths in September - second teir as she is realistic about her abilities, and knows she wouldn’t have got into Oxbridge, Imperial, Warwick, etc. She took A level Maths last year and achieved an A star, but has found Further Maths this year challenging, and tbh, a little boring. She (sensibly) suspects this means Maths as a degree is probably a bad idea.

She is also taking Psychology and Spanish. She’s a little meh about Psychology, and it is definitely not an option for her degree. She loves Spanish, but found out most foreign language degrees focus on literature and history, which is not really her vibe.

She is very creative, and in in my completely biased opinion is fabulous at craft activities - sewing is a particular strength (she’s entirely self taught - working on a sewing machine she picked up for a tenner on Facebook market place).

Does anyone have any suggestions for degrees, apprenticeships, or even just an old-fashioned job?

What was the post degree plan re careers? That would be your starting point in terms of apprenticeship/ jobs. Have you looked at the website notgoingtouni- lots of info there on 18+ schemes in some prestigious companies.

I think this requires a lot of thinking. If she wants to go to uni, would economics be an option for her?

But if she is not attracted by a particular type of course then she needs to think about what job she sees herself in ultimately.

you mention sewing and craft. I don’t know if design courses are an option if she has not done that at school and does not have a portfolio.

I don’t think “just getting a job” is a great idea unless she is incredibly lucky and gets some sort of degree apprenticeship.

What were her other options when she applied through UCAS? Is she taking a year out? Just most places on courses will be filled by now giving they’ll be getting their results soon. May have to go through clearing to get a space unless she’s having a year off.

Being an actuary is a great career option with a maths degree.

If she's creative, would an engineering apprenticeship appeal?

She sounds very motivated and resourceful. Problem is she has come up with reasons why she doesnt want to do each subject she studies for degree.

How about a degree in textiles, surface design...?

That said I have no idea if you need foundation courses first.

If she is good at maths and understands sewing too, would pattern drafting appeal. Scaling up and down for different sizing etc. There might be an apprenticeship option?

She applied for Maths, Maths AND Spanish, Maths WITH Spanish and (rogue one here), Spanish & Russian.

She doesn’t really know what she wants to do, which is why she’s taking a year out. As she says, she’d rather regret not going to university in September, than regret going to university next April. She has accepted a place for next year, but has no intention of taking it (her offers were all very low, as they took into account her achieved maths grade from last summer).

I actually think you may have hit on something when you say she has reasons for not doing subjects…. I do think she may just be avoiding the whole university issue.

She does have an older brother who completely changed direction after applying for Economics, which means she knows this is an option. However ds was moving towards another subject, rather than simply away from the one he had applied to.

Is textiles possible without an appropriate A level?

And @VanCleefArpels , I’ll get her to check out that website, thanks.

Can she see herself in a career doing sewing or is it just a hobby? My daughter was also very good at maths, self taught at every craft going but knew at a young age she wanted to make theatre costumes. She volunteered with amateur theatre companies for a couple of years and then did a costume degree. She is now working but it is all contract work so not a stable income at this stage but she is loving it and thriving even though its stressful - her hours are horrendous. Someone else mentioned cutting and pattern making, careers in their own right but also exist in big companies like operas. If near London she could go look at Central St Martins for ideas.

Somewhat off topic but my dh works in finance and recruits a lot of trainees - he says his firm would rather take 100% non-graduates if they could persuade young people that a degree isn’t necessary. But most of them are brainwashed at school into thinking they have to do a degree to “succeed” in a career.

A trained accountant in SE England who successfully completes a training contract will take 5 years to qualify (from age 18/19 to age 24 ish) and be on £45k approx at today’s money, by the time they qualify. With no student debt at all.

My dh says they tend to be “better” than their graduate counterparts.

I am certainly going to tell her to look at cutting and pattern making. It sounds like it might be right for her. One of those careers I had no idea even existed. So thanks.

Please invest the money in finding a career specialist to take your DD to. My friends, family and I have all taken our children to a career specialist, a person who spends time analyzing their interests and aligning them to the best careers.

You need to get personal recommendations as there is a huge variation. I only have a person in Ireland so no good to you. Believe me when I say, it is the best investment you can make right f your child has no idea what they want to do.

We have always told our dc there is life, and great opportunities, outside university. But I think there is still an immense amount of pressure to go.

I really dont know. Maybe she could do textiles in college as a one year course level and then go to uni?

Maybe look at "career" degree subjects rather than straight subjects (if that makes sense). I'm just browing Manchester Uni website (because they have a wide range of options):
Accoutancy
Architecture
Criminology & Data Analysis
Economics (can be paired with several other subjects too)
Finance
Planning
Business management / marketing
I think she'd need a science to go with her maths in order to get into anything engineering or medical based but you could look at engineering apprenticeships.

What about architecture?

Thanks for the suggestions. I will get DD to look at them, and research anything that interests her (I absolutely won’t be doing this - it has to come from her).

Check out interior architecture as well as architecture. Potentially more creative, I've been told, although I don't know much about it myself.
Or UX design is good for someone both artistic and logical.
But it sounds like a foundation year in art/design could be useful, if this still exists.

She could do the level 4 UAL art foundation at a local college. It’s free if she is normal school leaving age eg will turn 19 during the next academic year. It would strengthen an arts based application (including and architecture or design or pattern cutting) and give her a year of thinking time (or at least 6 months before applying again next year). Some arts universities run the foundation too but, unlike integrated Foundation degrees, students can’t claim maintenance loan.

Just a complete curve ball as she's interested in languages.

How about becoming a Speach & Language Therapist? Learning is university based, but sometimes there are apprenticeships via NHS on offer.

The subject also involves Statistics and Psychology so could cover all her current academic interests.

Product design engineering or ergonomics?

@thornbury, She'd need a top maths degree to become an actuary.

The art foundation course sounds a good idea. Maybe not the exact course but something craft or textile related?

Business would be probably better than economics. Modern languages aren't great for opening career options.

She should take a year or two out to work