Should I stay at Uni?

[Pagey279]

Wasn't sure whether to put this in the Opinions section or this one, so mods feel free to move it as you see fit.
The reason I am doubting whether to stay at uni is because reflecting on the decision to go, now it seems like a bit of a mistake. I have never had any idea as to what I want to do for a career. I've toyed with a number of ideas, going into law, training to be an architect, a journalist. But I decided to do a degree in History. I have loved History ever since I was a little kid, but in hindsight I think I’m starting to realise my love for History should have stayed as a hobby.

I am enjoying the course, I find most of it quite interesting, but I don’t think I want to spend another 2 and a half years studying it, it just seems like a waste of time. When I tell people I am doing a degree in History they always reply with “Oh so you’re planning to go into teaching then?”, and the thing is, I’m not. I have no interest in teaching whatsoever, so with that in mind it looks like I chose to come to uni just to get a degree under my belt. But is a degree in something that I’m losing interest in, that might not actually get me anywhere in life worth it?

Talking with other students here they are all dead set on what they want to do, the people studying sports education want to become P.E teachers, the people studying music want a career in music, the people studying psychology want to become psychologists. I’m studying History, but I don’t want to be a historian, I don’t want to be a teacher.

On a more personal level I’m not particularly enjoying life here, living by myself is refreshing, and a nice change from living at home for 20 years, but it’s come at the cost of leaving my girlfriend back at home (it’s a pretty serious relationship). I’m not that great socially, I only have a couple of friends here but no one I can really call my best friend.
Also looking at my friends back at home most of them are doing really well for themselves, because they know what they want in life and they know what they want to be.
Some of you may say stick it out, a degree will get me further in life, no matter what it’s in. And yes it may do but as I said I like learning about History, but now I am realising perhaps I don't like it enough to carry on with this degree.

Basically I am worried that coming to uni was a big mistake, but I am unsure whether to carry on regardless or to call it a day to try and decide what I actually want to do. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Ibonibo]

I tried 3 unis and degrees until I was happy.

I was dead unhappy in 2 places, then went back home and studied closer to home, made a lot of friends and enjoyed it. (I lived 8 years in border school in a different country, so no not a mama boy )

It's hard to give you a yes or no, but maybe starting from scratch somewhere else in a different field might be something you really enjoy later.

If you don't see yourself continuing in this directing now, take a break, find a job for this semester and that will give you maybe a good hint for what to study in the future

 

[ETID]

Move to Eastbourne and you can rent my garage out, £10 a week? I'll supply two meals a day.

The offers on the table.

Get back to me at the.garage.murderer@gmail.biz.ru

 

[Lizard]

Well. History is something that is a good degree even if you don't go into that field as many people use it as a clear example of the many skills you pick up from it like researching skills. Also bear in mind that History degrees can get you into government/council jobs (By council I don't mean street cleaner.) as history is mostly politics unless you are doing specialised history in something.

Also this is rather scary to me. I am going to university next year and you are here saying there is a chance I will hate it.

 

[Exorcet]

College isn't a requirement, so don't feel compelled to go. Some people will do fine without.

You said that you like History and that's good, but you are losing interest. Is that because the more familiar you become with the subject, the less it's interesting you, or is it because everyone is saying you'll go into teaching?

I'm not very familiar with the field, but when I went to school the history professors I had seemed very enthusiastic. Teaching was not all they did, so I'm sure that you will be able to find other things to do than teach, but I don't know if you'll be able to avoid teaching completely.

If you concern is your career after graduating, perhaps you could focus on another degree and make history a minor, or concentration, or something.

 

[Pagey279]

It's hard to give you a yes or no, but maybe starting from scratch somewhere else in a different field might be something you really enjoy later.

Seriously considering this right now.

Well. History is something that is a good degree even if you don't go into that field as many people use it as a clear example of the many skills you pick up from it like researching skills. Also bear in mind that History degrees can get you into government/council jobs (By council I don't mean street cleaner.) as history is mostly politics unless you are doing specialised history in something.

Also this is rather scary to me. I am going to university next year and you are here saying there is a chance I will hate it.

It is a good degree to have but I'm not really enjoying it, I find it interesting but I don't go to bed every evening looking forward to getting up and going to lectures. In fact it's the opposite.

And don't worry, everyone else I know is loving uni because they have chosen the right degree for them. Make sure you make the right choice and you should be fine 👍

College isn't a requirement, so don't feel compelled to go. Some people will do fine without.

You said that you like History and that's good, but you are losing interest. Is that because the more familiar you become with the subject, the less it's interesting you, or is it because everyone is saying you'll go into teaching?

The only way I can describe it is this:
Take your favourite book, you've read it a few times maybe and you really like it. But if you study it in real detail, picking everything apart it changes your view on it and it stays on the bookshelf never to be read again.
That's kind of what this is like. I like History, I like watching films, documentary's and reading books about it but now that I'm studying it day in day out it's losing it's appeal.
Hopefully that makes sense.

 

[TB]

While a degree is good to have, if you can't make a living off of the education, it's not doing you any good. As you're already in college, surely you have the general classes out of the way. That said, switching majors isn't difficult to do, is it?

 

[Lizard]

Seriously considering this right now.



It is a good degree to have but I'm not really enjoying it, I find it interesting but I don't go to bed every evening looking forward to getting up and going to lectures. In fact it's the opposite.

And don't worry, everyone else I know is loving uni because they have chosen the right degree for them. Make sure you make the right choice and you should be fine 👍



The only way I can describe it is this:
Take your favourite book, you've read it a few times maybe and you really like it. But if you study it in real detail, picking everything apart it changes your view on it and it stays on the bookshelf never to be read again.
That's kind of what this is like. I like History, I like watching films, documentary's and reading books about it but now that I'm studying it day in day out it's losing it's appeal.
Hopefully that makes sense.

If that is how you feel speak to someone about switching your major, this isn't too hard is it?

 

[Sureboss]

Don't beat yourself up over not knowing what you want to do, it's a very common life thing (as I'm sure you'll know) and there will be people who retire not knowing what they ever wanted to do.

Being honest with yourself is a great way in finding out what it is you want to do, what do your lecturers think, the guidance people at uni, the girlfriend? Could you find out what course you may be suited for?

You've clearly spent a bit of time thinking about this, just ensure it's not an impulse decision.

 

[F1GTR]

If your heart isn't in it, don't spend the next two or so years studying something you hate. That being said, don't be dissuaded by people asking you what career you'll be going into either: History is a versatile degree, and most people at uni don't actually go into a related field (save for the obvious medics and engineers). It's something to put on your CV so that you meet a HR check when you apply for jobs. I'm in my final year studying English Lit, and there were times when I hated it. But now, coming into my final semester I've realised how valuable an experience it was. I'm still not 100% sure what I want to do after I graduate, but one thing's for sure is that doing this degree has opened up more career paths than it has closed - in fact some that I thought were closed when I finished my A-levels opened back up.

As for personal life, don't feel too stressed about making best friends - personally I have a tight knit group of friends that I can rely upon, and I met them all before going to uni. But that didn't stop me from talking to everyone I met: first year is where you just meet everyone, the other years are where you really get to know people and find out who they really are!

TL;DR: Study something that you find gratifying, get to know people as you never know when they'll come in handy.

 

[Pagey279]

While a degree is good to have, if you can't make a living off of the education, it's not doing you any good. As you're already in college, surely you have the general classes out of the way. That said, switching majors isn't difficult to do, is it?

General classes as in ones that introduce you to the course and ease you in?

If that is how you feel speak to someone about switching your major, this isn't too hard is it?

It wouldn't be that difficult no, I guess I would have the options of doing 2 semesters at once to catch up on the work load, or wait until September for the new academic year to commence.

Don't beat yourself up over not knowing what you want to do, it's a very common life thing (as I'm sure you'll know) and there will be people who retire not knowing what they ever wanted to do.

Being honest with yourself is a great way in finding out what it is you want to do, what do your lecturers think, the guidance people at uni, the girlfriend? Could you find out what course you may be suited for?

You've clearly spent a bit of time thinking about this, just ensure it's not an impulse decision.

I've made an appointment with the careers advisor. But one of the reasons I came on here is so people could point out the pros and cons from an unbiased perspective.

 

[Lizard]

Also it is purely the subject? I have known people to just do the course at a different university and enjoy it loads more.

 

[Pagey279]

Also it is purely the subject? I have known people to just do the course at a different university and enjoy it loads more.

The subject mainly I guess, but partly the place. While Chichester is a nice place to live, it's incredibly boring, and then there's the distance to home.

 

[PeterJB]

The adjustment to studying here has been very difficult for me too. At this point I'm more or less accustomed to it, though part of me does wish I could stay at home, even though I have nothing to do there.

You're right though that Chichester is quite dull, there's basically nothing here! The university is small one but has a increasing reputation around the country. Your field of study is more open-ended than mine, but I am pretty certain about the career path I'm taking.

I've found the majority of people here to be really friendly and inviting, though my Asperger's has suddenly become far more obvious to me again because this is a very social and largely unfamiliar environment. The history department is far smaller than the music department as well so I guess the social element isn't there quite as strong.

I'd say you should at least stick it out for the rest of semester, because once you've had a whole year here you may feel differently, cause I believe the first year is really there for you to find out what you're really interested in and go for it. Another option is to switch to a joint course with History (whatever they may be).

 

[Omnis]

Majoring in history, philosophy, or other humanities is a dead end unless you want to go to graduate school and become a professor. If you don't want to be an academic, change majors to something that has more utility in the highly-skilled industrial or service sectors.

 

[Beeblebrox237]

How easy is it to switch programmes in the UK? I know that their degree programs are far more specialised than any American programme.

 

[Pagey279]

The adjustment to studying here has been very difficult for me too. At this point I'm more or less accustomed to it, though part of me does wish I could stay at home, even though I have nothing to do there.

You're right though that Chichester is quite dull, there's basically nothing here! The university is small one but has a increasing reputation around the country. Your field of study is more open-ended than mine, but I am pretty certain about the career path I'm taking.

I've found the majority of people here to be really friendly and inviting, though my Asperger's has suddenly become far more obvious to me again because this is a very social and largely unfamiliar environment. The history department is far smaller than the music department as well so I guess the social element isn't there quite as strong.

I'd say you should at least stick it out for the rest of semester, because once you've had a whole year here you may feel differently, cause I believe the first year is really there for you to find out what you're really interested in and go for it. Another option is to switch to a joint course with History (whatever they may be).

Yeah the actual opportunities to get to know the people on the course are quite limited, the sports people have socials and music might do to I'm not sure. But even if I ignore that side of it I'm struggling to find reasons to carry on with the course.

Majoring in history, philosophy, or other humanities is a dead end unless you want to go to graduate school and become a professor. If you don't want to be an academic, change majors to something that has more utility in the highly-skilled industrial or service sectors.

I feared it would be a dead end, looks like I rushed the decision and didn't think it through properly.

How easy is it to switch programmes in the UK? I know that their degree programs are far more specialised than any American programme.

It would be fairly easy to switch courses I should think, but this uni (which is the smallest in the country) doesn't offer that many at all.

 

[sesselpupser]

As harsh as it is, you should probably forget about your girlfriend, it won't last. Every single person I knew who was all like 'I'm going to uni but we'll stay together because of reasons' had broken up by the third year, and definitely don't give up on doing a degree because of her, that would be A Bad Move. As I said, it's harsh but that's what I've seen, with my school friends, my uni friends and other peoples' uni friends.

Personally I think you should try and change courses, it'll be extra work but it's still early, I knew a few people who changed more than three times in their first year and one person who changed at the start of second year. Don't give up on the degree completely, but do think long and hard about what you want to do. Also, don't think that because you didn't do, for example, engineering the whole time at school you can't do engineering now so you shouldn't consider it, do consider it if you're interested and talk to the course leaders about it and see if they think you could handle it.

Ultimately a degree is proof that you know how to learn and work a certain way, not just proof of what you've learned, and it's extremely common for a graduate to work in a totally different field to the one they were trained in.

 

[Pagey279]

Personally I think you should try and change courses, it'll be extra work but it's still early, I knew a few people who changed more than three times in their first year and one person who changed at the start of second year. Don't give up on the degree completely, but do think long and hard about what you want to do. Also, don't think that because you didn't do, for example, engineering the whole time at school you can't do engineering now so you shouldn't consider it, do consider it if you're interested and talk to the course leaders about it and see if they think you could handle it.

Ultimately a degree is proof that you know how to learn and work a certain way, not just proof of what you've learned, and it's extremely common for a graduate to work in a totally different field to the one they were trained in.

Changing courses would probably mean changing uni, if that's what I decided to do. Chichester only offer a handful of other courses, none of which interest me in the slightest.


I think right now I'm leaning towards leaving Chichester, think extremely hard about what I want to do and re-enrol in September to a uni closer to home.

 

[trackripper123]

Thought I'd just give my two cents.

As far as I'm concerned, you go to uni to study what you're interested in, not necessarily to study something as a stepping stone to a career (unless medicine obviously). I'm going next year to Oxford to study Music, and people always say "You'll have such a hard time finding a job!" So what? It's what I want to study, it's what I'm interested in, and I'll deal with the "finding a job" hurdle when I come to it.

If you're genuinely not happy with what you're doing, then perhaps consider switching degrees, but if you're just worried about job prospects
and work, and still love what you're studying, don't drop out.

 

[sesselpupser]

Changing courses would probably mean changing uni, if that's what I decided to do. Chichester only offer a handful of other courses, none of which interest me in the slightest.

I think right now I'm leaning towards leaving Chichester, think extremely hard about what I want to do and re-enrol in September to a uni closer to home.

In that case get on the phone to some other unis. Don't just plan to re-enrol in september because you'll be competing with everyone else, it would be wise to see if other unis will accept you now because you never know, the course you want might be massively undersubscribed for this year... And if they all say no just try again in September. Worth a try anyway. Also if you re-enrol, don't you have to pay for an extra year anyway? I guess you probably will if you change uni too, but still. I suppose you could pack it in now and get a full time job until September to cover the cost, you may even find that you'd rather not even go to uni; I think a lot of people are urged to and that's why people like you and I get a bit like 'err, what am I supposed to be doing exactly?'... Not going to uni straight out of school is still a perfectly valid choice, it just gets harder to study when you have a mortgage, loans, kids, a wife... Not impossible though, if you find you want to do it.

Just think long and hard about it while you still have time, I mean I know you will anyway but take it from me, there's nothing quite like reaching the age of 25, looking around and seeing what your friends are doing and then looking back at your degree and thinking 'what the hell was I doing?'. But even if you do end up in that situation it's not terminal, my tutor at uni dropped out of his degree, worked in a bike shop for seven years then applied for an architecture job out of the blue and got it, now he's the vice dean of the university I was at.

So basically don't worry too much (and definitely don't panic) but don't coast either.

 

[Bram Turismo]

I was going to say that you shouldn't quit university and finish the studies to have a degree and diploma in something, but then I read you are only 6 months into your first year it seems. Lots of people drop out after one year because they chose a wrong study. That's life, if you really don't like it, switch over. But if you only had a year to go I would've said you to finish it so you at least have a degree in something. Degrees always help on your CV no matter what it is when you're after a job.

 

[Pagey279]

In that case get on the phone to some other unis. Don't just plan to re-enrol in september because you'll be competing with everyone else, it would be wise to see if other unis will accept you now because you never know, the course you want might be massively undersubscribed for this year... And if they all say no just try again in September. Worth a try anyway. Also if you re-enrol, don't you have to pay for an extra year anyway? I guess you probably will if you change uni too, but still. I suppose you could pack it in now and get a full time job until September to cover the cost, you may even find that you'd rather not even go to uni; I think a lot of people are urged to and that's why people like you and I get a bit like 'err, what am I supposed to be doing exactly?'... Not going to uni straight out of school is still a perfectly valid choice, it just gets harder to study when you have a mortgage, loans, kids, a wife... Not impossible though, if you find you want to do it.

Just think long and hard about it while you still have time, I mean I know you will anyway but take it from me, there's nothing quite like reaching the age of 25, looking around and seeing what your friends are doing and then looking back at your degree and thinking 'what the hell was I doing?'. But even if you do end up in that situation it's not terminal, my tutor at uni dropped out of his degree, worked in a bike shop for seven years then applied for an architecture job out of the blue and got it, now he's the vice dean of the university I was at.

So basically don't worry too much (and definitely don't panic) but don't coast either.

Great advice, thanks neema

I was going to say that you shouldn't quit university and finish the studies to have a degree and diploma in something, but then I read you are only 6 months into your first year it seems. Lots of people drop out after one year because they chose a wrong study. That's life, if you really don't like it, switch over. But if you only had a year to go I would've said you to finish it so you at least have a degree in something. Degrees always help on your CV no matter what it is when you're after a job.

Yeah I've completed the first semester, which was only 3 months of work.

 

[Meatbrish]

You don't need a degree to do well. Lots of my friends and I earn over 40k a year and we didn't even have higher education.

That's £40k not $.

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

A degree in history is almost useless.

 

[Lizard]

A degree in history is almost useless.

Not in Britain it isn't. I mean even our last Prime Minister studied History.

I have met several people who studied History and got good jobs. One owns his own business, One is a high ranking manager.

 

[Joel]

Thought I'd just give my two cents.

As far as I'm concerned, you go to uni to study what you're interested in, not necessarily to study something as a stepping stone to a career (unless medicine obviously). I'm going next year to Oxford to study Music, and people always say "You'll have such a hard time finding a job!" So what? It's what I want to study, it's what I'm interested in, and I'll deal with the "finding a job" hurdle when I come to it.

If you're genuinely not happy with what you're doing, then perhaps consider switching degrees, but if you're just worried about job prospects
and work, and still love what you're studying, don't drop out.

I disagree. You go to University to learn employable skills (at least when you're young), and perhaps minor for purely educational pursuits. You don't need to drop 80 grand on a degree to learn History (and that's without the opportunity cost of your degree as well).

That being said, a History degree doesn't doom you to being a fry cook at McDonalds, but it's not exactly an in demand field.

 

[edawg456]

I was in the same situation as you. It just happened to me over this fall quarter. I felt miserable in my time at college. I was thinking about dropping out for some time before I actually did. I can tell you this from personal experience, talk to someone. I talked to my parents about it and they were for the most part ok with my decision. Just think about what you want to do.

 

[trackripper123]

I disagree. You go to University to learn employable skills (at least when you're young), and perhaps minor for purely educational pursuits. You don't need to drop 80 grand on a degree to learn History (and that's without the opportunity cost of your degree as well).

That being said, a History degree doesn't doom you to being a fry cook at McDonalds, but it's not exactly an in demand field.

Fair enough, I see your point. The other danger there is that you get a lot of people going off to do vocational degress purely so they can get a good job and make money at the end of it (like I said, medicine springs to mind). However, if you ask them whether they enjoy it or not, a lot of them will say "No, not really." That I disagree with, I think you need to be happy and want to do whichever course you choose as well as perhaps factoring in what that degree will bring and/or where it might take you.