Switching course/degree

[KIRN]

Hi Mumsnet,
Asking on here as I am the only person in my family who was born and raised in the UK, as well as having attended uni, so I don’t really have anyone to ask for advice. I did a foundation course at a different university for entry into any humanities degree available within the same faculty of my foundation. I then transferred universities to study an English degree, however I did not complete English A Level (silly me, I know).

It is the end of first year now and honestly I’m not sure if I am interested enough to continue my course for the next two years to the best of my abolify. I haven’t found the content as interesting or engaging as I thought I wouldve found it. I thought second/ third year content was more interesting, so I’m wondering if first year was just the driest part of the degree. We had to start from Medieval Literature, and I prefer contemporary literature (which I did in an optional unit & was the only 1 out of 5 I enjoyed this year) meanwhile first year mandatory units has focused on older texts. Looking at the later years units, there seems to be opportunity to study things that I’m genuinely interested in, so I don’t know whether it was just because I had a difficult first year or if I’m on the wrong course. I’m also thinking about the potential extra costs, the fact I will be two years behind my agemates (watching them graduate meanwhile I’m still in first year), spending three years as a fresher (even though I switched unis and my first year wasn’t a degree) and whether I will face similar issues with a different course.

I regret not choosing my favourite subject in school which was History, even though I never did well in exams due to unmedicated disabilities & no accommodations for it.

I probably add that I had recently diagnosed disabilities which were unmedicated, which worsened my ability to complete assessments (my uni is aware of this). My goal is to proceed with a law conversion (which requires good grades) or to enter consulting (which also requires good grades), as my university is prestigious enough to enter the latter to welcome my humanities degree.

Sorry, this is just my night thoughts (which means this post wasn’t written to the best of my ability) & also probably me overthinking. Can someone offer advice? Thank you and have a good night!

Your interests don't really matter at this point. That's a very Gen Z response.

What you commit to doing and doing well is what matters. It does help if you're interested in it, but no one actually cares about that except you.

Thanks for your input, you seem to be the quite interested regarding how I study, considering I wasn’t responding to you. I was simply appreciating someone’s advice which was actually helpful instead of a belittling opening statement. I noticed you were also passive aggressive to another poster who simply said that they didn’t study certain texts in their degree either, is passive aggressiveness a common theme for you? I think my interests do matter when I spend the equivalent of a full time job (readings, seminars, rewatching lectures & assignments) and £9-10k+ on it. Would it not be obvious that I would do much better if I was also interested? I don’t think there’s a point of studying something to undergraduate level if you weren’t interested in the subject. That would be a mentally and financially draining approach. I think the idea that “no one actually cares about that except you” is a bit silly considering seminars discussing various forms of literature would be bland if everyone was only interested in doing well rather than being actually interested in the content of the degree. I also think it’s a silly response considering I am the one studying the degree, not you or anyone else, so it does matter to me, that I am actually interested. If my interests or anyone’s didn’t matter at this point, I don’t think my degree would’ve given its students more choice in second & third year to build their studies towards their interests. At least whoever I was responding to was actually giving helpful advice without attempting to belittle those younger than them.

Well-argued! Bodes well for the law conversion. Good luck with it all...

Thank you, good luck to you too. I didn’t realise the idea of people going to university and pick their subject/units based on what they’re interested in was a Gen Z concept foreign to everyone born before the late 90s…

I did the law conversion course and history is definitely a better degree to spring to law from that English lit. If you can swap or add it as a minor, I would. That being said, it is important to remember that year 1 of a degree is always a foundation level, designed to bring everyone to the same stage. Because of that, everyone has to do things they don’t enjoy. Years two and three allow you to specialise in the parts of your subject that interest you. I’m certain you’re over the worst of it now op.