How to help direct DD

[massistar]

DD is just starting Y13, it’s going to be UCAS time before we know it and she really doesn’t know what she wants to do and is feeling a bit overwhelmed. She’s doing a levels in maths, biology and chemistry alongside Welsh Bacc. She got A* in those subjects at GCSE and got As in maths and Welsh bacc and B in chem and bio at AS level. She was originally thinking vet med but struggled a bit with chemistry and unlikely that’ll go up enough to get A or A star in her sciences. She loves maths and in retrospect would’ve been better off doing further maths but she can’t pick that up in a year at her school.

She’s now thinking marine biology but I feel that this is based on a bit of a romantic idea of swimming with dolphins (we do live by the sea and she’s always been fascinated by sharks etc). I think she’d be better off doing engineering or computer science (DH and I both in IT) but she’s adamant she doesn’t want an office based job.

Any ideas as to how I can help direct her a bit as it all seems a bit too open. A lot of her friends know exactly what they want to do (medicine/finance etc) but she’s been swayed by the promise of boat trips and scuba diving.

You can go on to do maths without further maths with a degree that has a foundation year I think.

I'm interested to hear more responses. I'm a senior lecturer but in the arts. Clueless about maths and science careers and my y11 child is that way inclined!

Two of my DD’s flatmates do marine biology at Aberystwyth. They seem happy and well grounded girls. I’d rather my dd was doing that than computer science. Someone has to be a marine biologist, there is no reason why it shouldn’t be your dd.

@RitzyMcFeeyes I understand that but there aren’t that many jobs out there for marine biologists and it seems quite restrictive in terms of career prospects. Just worried it’s a bit of a whim that she’ll regret later on.

My degree is in the arts and I ended up in IT! That’s the world I know and it’s been a great, well paid and flexible career for me. I don’t really know anyone in engineering on the other hand.

She'd be fine without Further Maths at a Scottish university as there's an extra year and none of the home students will have taken it as it isn't available here.

Ironically I’m Scottish and if we hadn’t bloomin moved away she’d be getting it for free! That’s not a bad shout though.

Not just Scottish universities - many English universities (including Russell Group unis) don't require Further Maths A level. Check the entry requirements for the specific university.

If she likes maths and isn't sure what she wants to do, studying maths is a well respected subject that can take you in a variety of directions.

Go to subject talks at open days. If in doubt have a gap year.
Lots of graduate roles are just a 2.1 in any degree.
It sounds like she wants something with animals and outdoors.

Is it restrictive, or is that just your guess? Look at marine biology courses and ask questions about careers people go into. I would guess that many go on into the same office-based jobs she might get after maths (and doesn't want anyway) but there might be more ecologist type possibilities. And surely better to keep open the possibility of a career she'd love, than not?

She could have a look at apprenticeships for inspiration.

I searched with no location or search terns then filtered by level higher levels and there were 280 results.

If your daughter doesn't know what she wants to do maybe she doesn't need to run up 70k of debt getting a degree (unless you are funding her fully of course).

https://www.findapprenticeship.service.gov.uk/

She could also look at recruitment at places like GCGQ, Civil Service, large corporations etc for training places.

Aren’t computer science most at risk of disappearing because of AI?

While I agree with you with regards to marine biology, environmental issues are going to be increasingly important so work in environmental issues like sustainability are probably a job growth area. Some of those degrees (environmental science ? Ecology? ) might have marine biology modules that she could explore. IIRC ecology is an A-level Biology module.

If she loves Maths - then Maths! Plenty of decent unis don’t require FM. Could use for careers in environmental or conservation modelling if that’s what floats her boat.

I think you need to take a step back and not direct your DD. She isn’t you, and trying to steer into the same life path you ended up on probably won’t have the same results you had. Not just because you’re different people, but also because times have moved on.

I’d not recommend IT and CS, that is a field where jobs are disappearing as fast as glaciers are melting. Yes, there will always be jobs in this field but they’ve already entered the region of 10x the people with degrees than there are jobs. (even graduates with a 1st from Cambridge or Imperial in CS are having trouble finding jobs in the field)

Anything bio sciences, environmental sciences or engineering are great choices especially of the degree courses includes project management modules as well.

UCAS has a careers finder questionnaire that may throw up other ideas for her to explore:
https://www.ucas.com/explore/career-quiz

She can also expand certain degree courses to look at the actual modules and then pick a degree that has the most interesting modules to her.

You are right @NullaEffugium, perhaps direct was the wrong word. I just want there to be some kind of a thought process behind it which she doesn’t seem to have at the moment. When she was 7 she created a whole bunch of penguin fact cards and could reel off every shark name and its characteristics so there’s definitely an interest there. And I’m well aware of the impact of AI on IT jobs unfortunately. It’s more thinking she could do more with the maths as she seems to find it easy.

She is planning a gap year so I do agree this will help hopefully.

Yes, there are some really interesting degrees in all these areas and very topical at the moment.

I work for a global medical manufacturing company and I can think of a couple of my colleagues who did marine biology undergrad.
We have people from all sorts of biological sciences/chemistry backgrounds.
If she isn’t fixed on a particular career she should do a degree that interests her and could lead into a lot of different paths, which marine biology does.
Engineering is a great career but if she’s not interested in it there’s not much point, you need to like physics/maths to do well in an engineering degree.
If her favourite subject is biology stick with that

She certainly sounds intelligent and degree material. I'd advise going for a more mainstream degree that still leaves marine biology as an option potentially at masters level, such as doing a standard biology degree, or maybe ecology/zoology as it would leave more options open. It's good she is doing a gap year, is she planning on doing a marine type project, think there's quite a lot of that sort of voluntary work available so it might help her chat to those involved and help her decide if it's what she would like to do

Maths is her favourite and strongest subject, hence my thinking of engineering as she loves the practical application of maths. I just think it’s so hard when you don’t really know what you want to do.

She is clever and, more to the point, academic and enjoys studying. Unlike her big brother who did ok in his a levels but went on to an apprenticeship as uni wasn’t right for him. I think more generic would be better too. She is hoping to do some conservation projects in her gap year.

Thanks to everyone who has commented so thoughtfully. It’s been really helpful!

Lots of marine biology roles, but very very few in sharks or dolphins. How does she feel about mackerel, farmed salmon, sea snails or seaweed? Its a big ocean.
But the kids who are only interested in the charismatic megafauna are very likely to disappointed.
Some marine biology courses also include diving certification which is useful.

Edit to say maths is really helpful for environmental modelling which is always in demand.

I'd also look at Environmental Science. Universities near the sea often have marine biology modules but Env. Science has much wider applications that could lead to lots of different jobs.

The practical applications of maths includes in environment and conservation….

Marine biology will lead to a variety of interesting things afterwards.

But set aside the rest of her life: what does she want to study intensely for 3 years?

A gap year might be a solution here. She could do paid work and save for her university costs, and also seek out volunteer work with organisations that work with sea animals, or rescue, or the like?