How do you choose a degree?

[lunavix]

I've always wanted to go to Uni, if only for the possibility of having a job that isn't minimum wage! The only problem is I have no idea what to study. Dh just chose his degree as he 'quite liked it at school' and I think it's a hard decision to make at 18.. and I'm older and still have no clue.

I know I want to be a primary teacher but I don't want to do a B Ed because I don't want to limit my options - if I hate it I'd like a more generic degree to fall back on. So I'd rather do a degree then a PGCE if I still feel the need to teach.

I'd love to do languages BUT with a lack of qualifications it looks like I'll need to do an access course first. Then to do the language course I'm looking at I need to do a two year pre-course to get up to speed as I don't have any language Alevels. Then the degree is four years.... so if I wanted this degree plus a PGCE it's 8 years!!! Of studying.

I think a 3 year course is more realistic I just don't know what to do. I'm not really interested in anything math-y, I don't want to do anything medical, and I can't really do a degree like English as I am apparently unable to 'read between the lines' according to a teacher many years ago

Any ideas? I'd love to do a religious degree, but I don't think dh would support that choice as I'm not religious and he'd think I was 'trying to be funny', I'd also love to do drama but I don't think that is really a sensible degree choice.

I am interested in computing, but I can't sit for 8+ hours a day staring at a computer, as it gives me migraines.

Anyone just want to tell me what to do?

speech pathology? interesting and lots of jobs (but it's a 4 year course usually).

psychology? many job possibilities but interesting for its own sake.

something like history/ art history/ classics/ humanities

Lunavix - I studied Marine Biology! Haven't used my degree since though.
But if you study Biology you can do another year of Teacher Training and become a Biology or Chemistry Teacher.

Or study Environmental Science and become a Geography Teacher. Thats what my friend did.

Do Sciences interest you?

You don't have to be religious to do theology.

Oooh, yes, what about art history?

Sciences are unfortunately a bit mathy for me. I was looking at speech and langauge therapy but obviously it has a lot of math and science in it which I think would put me off.

I'm just being a pain.. I have no idea how people choose what careers they want!!

I work with children at the moment which I love but I do NOT want to do a child-related degree. I'm planning for a big family and I'm worried a few more children down the line I may wake up and never want to work with kids again...

QF - I would do primary not secondary education so I don't think that would really matter would it?

snafu - I know you don't need to be religious but I really don't think dh would take me seriously, or support that choice. Plus - what can you do with a theology degree?

DO you have to do anything arty for an art degree? If not I'll look into that. Arts are not an option as ds (14 months) can draw better than me!

You don't need to do anything arty to study art history, no. I studied it for my first year at uni and loved it.

I do see your point about dh's support - very important if you're returning to study

philosophy? Might help your ability to read between the lines! Not sure where philosophers end up though!

history of art degree here

i like the sound of this too

Only art history Lunavix but having studied that myself I wouldn't recommend it if you have more mundane interests in mind like getting a good salary on the other hand... I have enjoyed my studies a lot.

Some universities offer tests that allow you to make a short list of possible options suitable for your personality and interests, I don't remeber the name of the test but I wouldn't be surprised if you can find some good selections in an UCAS related web site. HTH

That's the problem... the more interesting humanities IMO (philosophy, theology, etc) have limited prospects. I do want something that offers an alternate career.

You could do an access course over one year - then look around for a three year degree that you 'fancy' followed by a one year PGCE - still a long time, but cuts time down to five years.

I did an access over 9 months, my degree over three years (doing a basic teaching quaklification at the same time as my final degree year) then my PGCE over 9 months. Bloody hard work, but well worth it in the end.

Your choice of degree might be affected by what you want to teach, and the age that you are interested in teaching. Admission requirements for some ages and subjects are quite rigid - so perhaps that needs to be your starting point.

As for the religion thing, I know where you are coming from on this one. I am not a religious person, but interested in religion as a subject and would love to go on and study it academically.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

hmmm... well how about studying this then?

CHandra - I'm not interested in high salary, but I am interested in being able to find a job, should I need one, without feeling I wasted 4 years studying a subject that turned out to be not very relevant to much at all....

Hmmm, not necessarily imo. To a certain extent a degree is a degree is a degree. It shows a level of learning and understanding and the acquisition of certain skills. It doesn't necessarily matter what the subject is unless you want a specific career in, say, medicine.

starlover - love the first link, but it says you do an exhibition! Of other peoples work I hope!!!!!

Hi

Well, I have just doen an Access and am off to do a religion degree in September if I can help!

I am doing Religion and Philosophy, which is like religious studies / comparative religion in that it isn't for religious people particularly, I am studying as I want to teach about all faiths.

Bath Spa, Newport (where I am going), Cardiff and Bristol all offer this course, I also have some module syllabuses so if you pm me I can scan them in and let you have?

Second link is definately something to think about although the modules seem a little uninspired.

hmm, well it is claimed that you don't have to believe in God to be a C of E viar, so maybe there is a career for you after a theology degree

peachyclair - sounds great! But what do you want to do with it? Be a secondary school RE teacher? Do you know what else it could lead to? I sort of know something doing theology at Cambridge, but she says it leads on to internships at Christian Aid etc which would not be up my street!

joash - glad someone doesn't see me as crazy! How did you do an access course in 9 months? Think I saw one advertised for a year way back when, but aren't they mostly 2?

It was quite a while ago, before access courses became 'fashionable' It should have been over a year, but basically I worked my backside off.

The academic year was then constructed into three terms (instead of the current two semesters).We had to do a certain number of subject areas each term and I took the subjects from the third term and divided them between the other two. Which meant that I was finished three months early.

My access course was one year 'full' time (very loose defo of full, I never even went in on Mondays or Fridays!), or two part time.

I will probably do a PGCE in post 16 so I can work educating companies / charities etc on religious faiths and cultures but I may also do a PGCE secondary. You can do a PGCE primary too, and then take a subject co-ordinator role within a primary school. There is a HUGE shortage of RE Teachers at all levels.

In my first year I do Eastern religion (Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism) and Western religion (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) plus two other modules from something else- so you could select education or child development modules, it's your own choice. In the second year we develop it further, and the third is philosophy too.

I started out planning to do a B-Ed as I was on a teaching access course, but was really inspired by the multicultural angle of the course.

In my