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A little help
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
*long read, sorry*
I'm not usually the type that asks for help, but I'm gonna start having too.
I am a fairly intelligent lad, and thats probably the only aspect of life that i rate myself fairly highly in. Things were swimming along nicely, until the late years of high school. Various episodes of depression (thats a whole different thread, lol), fatigue and illness has had a extremely negative effect of all walks of life.
I sit here now a week before i return to the sixth form where things really started to slide. A combination of bullying, rapidly decaying self esteem and a general atmposhere of dreading the whole routine of study, socialising and the general conformist atmosphere of teenage life and indeed the school.
This may sound desperate, I still have a healthy array of GCSE's to fall back on, and a couple of AS levels. I'm now 17, the final A level exams are coming up in June. I've been off school since November of last year, and this has put much of my previous hard work pretty much down the drain. University seems very daunting, and I have no real clue as to what I want to do if I actually make the decision. I'm really not sure now that I'll be able to get into a good university, and even if I get into a lower caliber of uni, is it really going to be worth the hassle, time and money by doing so? The whole scene of beer and parties really isn't my thing. Ooh and debt too.
I sat the first A level exams in January, and as expected my results were poor considering that my revision was pretty non-existant due to illness and much of the module work was covered during my abscence
I have been studying the following subjects at A Level:
Government and Politics (B at AS level) (D in Module 4)
ICT (A in Module 1, C in CW Module)
Economics (biggest mistake of my life) (Ungraded in first AS attempts, improved with the retakes (suprisingly) but still not enough. I have now dropped it, although a risky strategy, the department are in agreement, and by dropping it I will have more time to concentrate on salvaging the only A level still open to me, Politics. The reason being, the ICT A level coursework deadline has passed. I'm gutted, because the department agreed that i was a strong candidate, and was unlucky to get marked down on my first coursework assignment)
There is of course the option to re-sit the year, but that is VERY unlikely.
Politics is my strongest subject and takes up alot of my freetime and general interest. I got a D in the first A level module, which was dissapointing for me, yet okay seeing as I was off for such a long period. I will be retaking it in June along with the final modules.
For those in the know, realistically what are my options with these potential qualifications:
GCSE Maths- C
GCSE SCIENCE Double Award- BB
GCSE English Lit- B
GCSE German- C
GCSE English- B
GCSE Business- A*
GCSE History- A
Key Skills Level 2 ICT (equivilent A-C GCSE)
AS Genral Studies-C
AS ICT-C
AS Politics-B
A2 Politics
With regards to actual career goals, I have no set targets. Those on a shortlist would be:
RAF (most roles require 2 A levels, correct me if I'm wrong)
Local Government (yes i'm a boring fella) that includes ultra local (specific boroughs/wards) and london government (being a londoner)
Freelance Photography (another interest of mine)
Photojournalism (journalism itself is a no-no, i really hate much of the media)
Starting up my own business (have always been keen on it, and wish I did Business at A level)
Marketing (fascinating)
Computer repair/teaching (although i've gone off the idea)
I would love to pick up some sort of business degree at university, but wouldn't they require numerous A levels. Wish I could role back the clocks and start again.
Advice, comments, encouragement would be much appreciated
I love to hear about people's view on University. Is it really a neccessity? And are their any particular arguments about waiting out on taking the plunge into a uni?
I sort of fell pressured to do it. Will the large increase in graduates effectively put me behind in terms of job competitiveness or actually decrease the value of a degree. I fell lucky enough to have parents and relatives who will help towards the costs and have worked hard to get into a position to do so. My sister quit college despite strong opposition against it (she's was again very capable, but hated college life), and so I feel like I should go to uni to make up for it.
I'm not usually the type that asks for help, but I'm gonna start having too.
I am a fairly intelligent lad, and thats probably the only aspect of life that i rate myself fairly highly in. Things were swimming along nicely, until the late years of high school. Various episodes of depression (thats a whole different thread, lol), fatigue and illness has had a extremely negative effect of all walks of life.
I sit here now a week before i return to the sixth form where things really started to slide. A combination of bullying, rapidly decaying self esteem and a general atmposhere of dreading the whole routine of study, socialising and the general conformist atmosphere of teenage life and indeed the school.
This may sound desperate, I still have a healthy array of GCSE's to fall back on, and a couple of AS levels. I'm now 17, the final A level exams are coming up in June. I've been off school since November of last year, and this has put much of my previous hard work pretty much down the drain. University seems very daunting, and I have no real clue as to what I want to do if I actually make the decision. I'm really not sure now that I'll be able to get into a good university, and even if I get into a lower caliber of uni, is it really going to be worth the hassle, time and money by doing so? The whole scene of beer and parties really isn't my thing. Ooh and debt too.
I sat the first A level exams in January, and as expected my results were poor considering that my revision was pretty non-existant due to illness and much of the module work was covered during my abscence
I have been studying the following subjects at A Level:
Government and Politics (B at AS level) (D in Module 4)
ICT (A in Module 1, C in CW Module)
Economics (biggest mistake of my life) (Ungraded in first AS attempts, improved with the retakes (suprisingly) but still not enough. I have now dropped it, although a risky strategy, the department are in agreement, and by dropping it I will have more time to concentrate on salvaging the only A level still open to me, Politics. The reason being, the ICT A level coursework deadline has passed. I'm gutted, because the department agreed that i was a strong candidate, and was unlucky to get marked down on my first coursework assignment)
There is of course the option to re-sit the year, but that is VERY unlikely.
Politics is my strongest subject and takes up alot of my freetime and general interest. I got a D in the first A level module, which was dissapointing for me, yet okay seeing as I was off for such a long period. I will be retaking it in June along with the final modules.
For those in the know, realistically what are my options with these potential qualifications:
GCSE Maths- C
GCSE SCIENCE Double Award- BB
GCSE English Lit- B
GCSE German- C
GCSE English- B
GCSE Business- A*
GCSE History- A
Key Skills Level 2 ICT (equivilent A-C GCSE)
AS Genral Studies-C
AS ICT-C
AS Politics-B
A2 Politics
With regards to actual career goals, I have no set targets. Those on a shortlist would be:
RAF (most roles require 2 A levels, correct me if I'm wrong)
Local Government (yes i'm a boring fella) that includes ultra local (specific boroughs/wards) and london government (being a londoner)
Freelance Photography (another interest of mine)
Photojournalism (journalism itself is a no-no, i really hate much of the media)
Starting up my own business (have always been keen on it, and wish I did Business at A level)
Marketing (fascinating)
Computer repair/teaching (although i've gone off the idea)
I would love to pick up some sort of business degree at university, but wouldn't they require numerous A levels. Wish I could role back the clocks and start again.
Advice, comments, encouragement would be much appreciated
I love to hear about people's view on University. Is it really a neccessity? And are their any particular arguments about waiting out on taking the plunge into a uni?
I sort of fell pressured to do it. Will the large increase in graduates effectively put me behind in terms of job competitiveness or actually decrease the value of a degree. I fell lucky enough to have parents and relatives who will help towards the costs and have worked hard to get into a position to do so. My sister quit college despite strong opposition against it (she's was again very capable, but hated college life), and so I feel like I should go to uni to make up for it.
Post edited by JustV on
0
Comments
As for RAF,I think to be a pilot or something quite technical you just need 5 A-Cs of GCSE standard. :chin: But if you want to join the reg then you need nothing because infantry dont use their brains!!! :razz:
Apply for Uni, no harm, gives you more choices, if you haven't decided by the time enrolement comes around- I'm sure there are options to defer for a year. There are other study options though- vocational ones, short skill based courses, apprenticeships, distance learning, etc.
You sound like you're fed up with being depressed and down, but feel lost when it comes to what else you can do or be. Who do you admire and what do they do? How did they get to where they are, and how could you? Ask people around you, find out what their lives are like and if that's the kind of thing you want to do.
Have you looked at careers that don't need degrees? I'm guessing you don't go for a weekly coffee with the local careers advisor...
Only you know what you want to do though, and if you don't know it can be frustrating. What are you interested in personally- is there a career to be carved out there?
You might find it a bit easier to get into one of those lines of work if you did a related degree, possibly a sandwich course with a placement opportunity in it. That way you'd at least have experience as well as the booksmarts.
Otherwise why not look at combining some of them. A lot of government positions are flexible with job share and all that, so you could work part time there and maybe do some unpaid or low paid photography work to build up a portfolio of work.
Probably far too late, but:
Is it not possible to drop out of 6th form now and return in September and resit the year again?
The RAF has always been an option for me. It seems the frontline pilot roles need 2 A levels, but others such as Support crew, navigators etc do not. I know quite a few people in the armed forces that love it, you are looked after, travel the world etc. Pay is also fantastic with basic after training being around 30k.
Thankyou for your comments, advice etc.
I think my next step is just to get my head down and secure this A Level. And will investigate the uni route.