"I want to be an accountant! … No, I want to be a photographer! ...Actually, I want to be a doctor" (Anjola Sofuyi).
Does this dilemma sound familiar? For many teenagers across Ilford this tough decision has to be made soon. Students are feeling the pressure to decide their futures as early as year 11, as this is when they choose their A-Levels. Once you have decided on your A-Levels, you have entered a limited pool of possible careers as a result of your chosen subjects.
Understandably, this is where the root of the stress and tension over this decision comes from; to decide what you want to do for the rest of your life from an age as young as fifteen is petrifying. With the average life expectancy in the UK being eighty-one years old, deciding in approximately the first eighth of your life what you want to do for the other seven-eighths of it is daunting. Obviously, a lot of thought must be put into this decision: specific science subjects must be taken to be able to study Medicine at university; essay-based subjects need to be taken in order to do a Law degree at university; Art and Physics are needed to become an architect; the list is endless.
However, is this necessarily the case? - Not in all scenarios! There are plenty of alternatives, for example any degree can be converted into a Qualifying Law Degree through doing a conversion course, which would require an extra year of university but can be used to eventually do Law if that is what you decide upon later. Similarly, not all sciences are necessary in order to do Medicine, for example you could only take two sciences (Chemistry and Biology) and still get into university for Medicine! Although this may be a harder route, this alternative does exist!
Also, if you desperately want to change your A-Level subjects, you can do so within the first month of studying them, so you have plenty of time to sit through lessons of your current subjects and decide whether or not they are the right ones for you. There is also the possibility of re-doing year 12 with completely different subjects, as fellow peers of mine have done this year. It is the long route through this dilemma, but you should know that this option is there!
You have plenty of chances to change your subjects and career aspirations. If you simply have no clue what career you would like to do, have a discussion with your school's Career's advisor, or discuss with family and friends; research further into careers you may be interested in, and you could even do Career quizzes to see what options may be appealing to you! Don't feel as if you are stuck in a profession once you have made the choice- there is always a solution.
By: Mahnoor Shoaib, Woodford County High School
