My last year of high school begins in a few days (shoot me now) and I still haven't decided what I want to do afterwards. The only things I find really interesting are psychology, literature and philosophy. Literature and philosophy are dead-ends really, even though it's interesting to study. After studying psychology for 7 years the pay really isn't that good, unless you become a really successful psychologist, but I don't like leaving things to chance. I've been considering studying medicine as well. Medical doctors are paid really well, even though I'm not very interested in it and the job seems a bit too hectic for me. Psychiatry seems incredibly depressing, so it's not really an option. Sitting in a room and listening to and analyzing a patient seems much more interesting to me. What do you think I should do? I know there are way too many threads like this on here but I felt I should post my own as well. What is your current occupation, how do you feel about it and what would you suggest for me? I know money isn't everything, but it does provide you with freedom over your life, it provides you with opportunities. I don't want to end up miserable because I made the wrong decision in my teen years.
Also, if you have any experience with studying in Britain, I'd be interested to know a little more about what it's like. I was thinking Oxford, although I'm not quite sure how to apply or what they find important. Not even sure Oxford is worth it either, I mean what's wrong with a normal university, it's the same education, is it not?
Oxford. You will apply through UCAS service at ucas.com
The deadline is October 15th for all applications to Oxbridge and medicine/veterinary courses. All other courses and unis has a deadline of January 15th next year.
When applying, you need to write a personal statement, have recommendations from teachers, predicted grades of exams and your year-11 results. Oxford is a highly competitive place(how do I know? I was rejected this year). The admissions process starts on November if you need to pass entrance tests(such as MAT for sciences or TSA(thinking skills assessment) for others). Then if you scored high enough you will be invited to participate in interview which is mandatory to come. There, you will be asked questions from your Personal statement but they are going to be short intro and then you will go straight to solve problems with professors and admissions people. If you excel their, you are likely to be made offer you must achieve in order to become admitted. The offers are very high( as an example, my country people are required to have straight 10/10 grades and 95/100 from all exams they take from which two are mandatory for admission process). The interview time is hard. You will be asked questions you have no knowledge about(unless you are well ahead of the pack). One guy I met who wanted to study astrophysics said that they fetched a TV set and turned on "Armageddon" and asked the dude to spot mistakes in this movie(wrong facts about astronomy etc)
Overall, it is designed to see how you think and test your motivation on studying your subject.
The offer rates are low: 1 in 10 people get one.
Now here is my opinion. Oxford is not worth it. The tuition fees are high(if you are international) and the 3 years course is extremely painful due to Tripos. 3X8 weeks of studying. You learn whole year's material in 24 weeks while in other unis you generally spend 30-38 weeks there.
My only advice on finding what you want is to be proactive and go to try many things. If you live in a city, you have no excuse to not attend some seminars, workshops and similar events. Talk with people in a profession you want to get into and decide for yourself.
Also, Britain system is not like US one. There, you can take general classes for two years and then declare major in third year. In the UK, you wrote personal statement for a subject and there is little possibility to transfer UNLESS it is similar course(English Literature/Phylosophy, Chemical engineering/Electrical engineering) You can't transfer from biology to Italian language.
If you are from EU, I encourage you to apply for Scotland unis. There, you pay no tuition fees because Scottish government pays Scotish and EU people bills
That's EU law lol. In Scotland, you have more flexibility in choosing majors and you can easily switch from Italian to engineering in second year. From there, you must decide what you want.
If you don't decide what you want, take a gap year and explore yourself more. Some people say that you can find yourself in uni, i say bollocks! It is too expensive to go to uni to search for yourself nowadays. You are better off getting a job in a field you want(apprenticeships, internships). In my country, Barclays opened a branch and takes all high school graduates who want to learn programming for 2 year course there. They are paid salary and learn from experts. There many opportunities, just apply where you want and show a desire to learn.
Also, don't take anyone's suggestions on what to study. Just explore what we offer. If you don't like it, don't do it. Nowadays you can make a living from your passion online. You must find what you love. It is mandatory. After that, you must determine to not quit and do anything you can to build your business, it will require courage but everyone can do it. If you want to read true story of how once rich young guy became homeless and rebuilt himself through months of hard work with 40 bucks in his bank account, read "From rats to riches" free pdf online.
So my suggestion is: if you are INTP, try software engineering. Just do it. Don't think "meh, I hate computers" , I hated physics in school, now I really like it because MIT teaching was amazing(online course on my gap year).
Enough rambling.
