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I don't like my degree
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I received my module choices for next year yesterday, and I was reading through them and I don't want to do any of them. None of them grab my attention, none of them interest me. I haven't enjoyed my first two terms of my degree (English Language and Linguistics) very much and I don't feel motivated to do the work.
Learning languages doesn't come naturally to me, and for what I thought was an English course there is a lot of emphasis on other languages. I'm doing six modules this year, and only two of them are about English.
I chose this degree over Psychology because I did a lot better in the exam at A level and thought that an English degree might be more useful than a Psychology degree. In hindsight I think I have made the wrong choice. I can't think of anything I would use this degree for after uni, I have no ambition or idea of what I want to do with my life. At the moment all I want to do is go canoeing (!), but there aren't many jobs in canoeing, it's mainly volunteer based. I don't want to change courses because that would mean spending an extra year at uni, and I feel like I would've wasted a lot of money paying for this year and then changing. It all just seems like a waste of time. I was thinking about continuing this degree and then doing what I want afterwards - like doing coaching courses and maybe being a full time coach at a canoe club or activities centre.
Do people always feel like they have made the wrong choice around this time, or is it just me and I really HAVE made the wrong choice? I really don't know what to do about this, I feel like I don't have any options.
Learning languages doesn't come naturally to me, and for what I thought was an English course there is a lot of emphasis on other languages. I'm doing six modules this year, and only two of them are about English.
I chose this degree over Psychology because I did a lot better in the exam at A level and thought that an English degree might be more useful than a Psychology degree. In hindsight I think I have made the wrong choice. I can't think of anything I would use this degree for after uni, I have no ambition or idea of what I want to do with my life. At the moment all I want to do is go canoeing (!), but there aren't many jobs in canoeing, it's mainly volunteer based. I don't want to change courses because that would mean spending an extra year at uni, and I feel like I would've wasted a lot of money paying for this year and then changing. It all just seems like a waste of time. I was thinking about continuing this degree and then doing what I want afterwards - like doing coaching courses and maybe being a full time coach at a canoe club or activities centre.
Do people always feel like they have made the wrong choice around this time, or is it just me and I really HAVE made the wrong choice? I really don't know what to do about this, I feel like I don't have any options.
Post edited by JustV on
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Comments
It's a shame that you aren't feeling motivated but you're a smart cookie and it would be a shame to leave uni without your degree if you have no solid plans for the future.
I'm really disappointed with the degree, it definitely isn't what I thought. The work we're set is odd as well, I prefer to do research and write essays but we have booklet things and short questions for once fortnightly seminars that never seem worth doing! That sounds so bad but I like deadlines for essays, I like learning and remembering facts and things but stupid little exercises that make me feel like a year 7 really don't help me.
Want to see what I have to choose from?
I've PMd you the link because I'm not sure how happy York uni would be if I posted it on a message board!
Just thinking that tutors/admin might be more open to this as it wouldn't be scrapping your current subject altogether but just doing less of it.
Btw - are there any creative writing options on your english lang syllabus?
Lucifer devil - if I was choosing based on titles it would be ok, but the summary of each module is what is putting me off!
Aw that's a shame
Don't know how helpful I'll be but I don't mind taking a look at the list if you like.
I'm avoiding Semantics like the plague, and trying to do as little syntax as possible.
Thanks
It will be my second year, course Q302 and that's about all I can make out from reading this!
maybe you could transfer onto a different course in a similar area, and go straight into year 2 on the new course? i don't know how possible that is for you, but quite a few people from my course did that, and it meant that they stayed in a similar kind of degree, but just one that was more suited to them, and it meant they didn't have to resit a year the way muggins over here did.
I'm not sure if you can take them, but the one's which I'd take if I could would be:
Introduction to language variation and change
Methods in linguistic variation and
Forensic phonetics.
The first two look relatively interesting and as if they might have information which would be useful to take with you into the 'real world' (less abstract). Forensic phonetics wouldn't necessarily be useful later on if you're not interested in that field, but looks fascinating and it's always good to try and get something into a degree which you wouldn't know about otherwise .
Sorry if this doesn't help at all - Kentish may well have better insight
ETA - forensic phonetics looks good, I do like phonetics more than the rest of them. I'm thinking of that one, TEFL and a sociolinguistics one as well.
me too, and to start with i felt i couldnt because i didnt want to think that id wasted a year and all the money that went with it but in the end i realised that, in the long run, it would be better to do something that made me happy then spend 3 years doing something i really didnt want to do.
like kaffrin said though it may be possible to change courses and go straight into the 2nd year, either at the uni you're at now or a different one. i could have easily done that if id wanted to do a similar course to the one i was already one but i didnt, i wanted to do a completely different course, so i had to start again. and move to the other end of the country actually! but in the end, you really should do whatever is going to make you happiest.
I know uni is expensive and it may seem like you have wasted money but beleive me if you aren't happy its worth the expense. Fair enough too that you may think it was a waste of a year, i thought it was for me, but now i'm even taking a year out to do a placement i love it that much!
Obviously only you can decide what is right but from my personel experience, changes courses may be awkward and inconvenient but in the long run it was definatly the best decision i have ever made!
(hope that helps)