[Help] College Courses +rep

[Jurv]

I don't know if anyone will be able to help me with anything but I'll post anyway.

I had my college interview a few weeks ago now and from that point onwards I've been having doubts about the actual courses I've applied for and got a place in the college with. I know this isn't too much of a problem because I know that I am able to change my courses when I first go to the college and enrol. However, some of the problems I've been facing are the courses which I want to take instead. I don't know whether I'll have enough experience or whatever to succeed if you know what I mean? In the past I've always wanted an office job, something like accounting and working with finance, but over the past few weeks I've started to become a lot more interested in other things such as photography and graphic design. I have been interested in these in the past but didn't think of wanting to do them in the future, but it's sort of changed now. One of the problems with me changing my mind about everything is the fact that I don't know what sort courses I need to get into to become a photographer and whether I will be able to study to become one without taking anything related to it in secondary school. The options which I have took and am taking at the moment include Production, Business Studies, History and Geography. If you ask me I don't think that will get me anywhere with photography considering that I haven't took Art or any other subject like that.

When I applied for college the courses which I chosen were:

• Accounting
• Business Studies
• ICT
• Photography (which i was going to drop)

Whereas the courses I'm thinking of taking now are:

• Photography
• Graphic Design
• Art & Design
• Another subject which I haven't though about.

As you can see I have taken a completely different direction and I don't know whether any of those courses are going to help me either (apart from photography obvs). That's why I'm all confused at the moment and I'm not sure if any of this has actually made any sense. If anyone has any useful information about any of the courses or what courses I need to take to become a photographer then let me know please.

I'll +rep any useful answers x

[dbgtz]

Secondary school subjects will not affect your choices as long as you have get enough decent grades.

I don't know if this is quite what you're asking, but what I done was choose two subjects which were related and another two subjects which were related. This allows me to broaden my decisions when it comes to any major decisions I have to make later in life as I often switch between which sort of route I would like to go down.

[Lee]

Jurv, why don't you speak to the connections to get a detailed insight into all of those courses, you could include Accounting into the other courses you thought about swapping too.

[MKR&*42]

Jurv, why don't you speak to the connections to get a detailed insight into all of those courses, you could include Accounting into the other courses you thought about swapping too.

Yes, I'd recommend this ^ and do it quite quickly. A lot of connexions services are being axed for schools (ours is being axed in 5 weeks) so if you really want expert help, I would attempt to get it quickly.

Ultimately, it is your decision but you must attempt to keep your options open widely. Don't try and choose all subjects which could only restrict you to a few careers, if I were to recommend a final subject for you to do along with the "new" 3 - it'd be business or accounting. Both of those can get you quite far in life.

As dbgtz said, the secondary options don't really have any effect on what you can do in college (unless stated in the courses otherwise - e.g. you could need a B in geography to do a certain subject) so I wouldn't panic too much over that issue. All the courses I plan to do in college aren't offered in secondary schools (excluding psychology - some schools have GCSE psychology).

But yeah, just remember that you may change your mind about a career several times so don't be limited on your choices - also, as you did indeed ask, those are 3 pretty good courses that you plan to do if you want to be involved in photography.

[Jazz]

As said before see the connextions adviser, also there are quite interesting information on the connextions website. You could also ask your carers officer, if you have one :-)

[Jurv]

Secondary school subjects will not affect your choices as long as you have get enough decent grades.

I don't know if this is quite what you're asking, but what I done was choose two subjects which were related and another two subjects which were related. This allows me to broaden my decisions when it comes to any major decisions I have to make later in life as I often switch between which sort of route I would like to go down.

I was hoping that was the case but with me taking subjects which didn't involve anything 'creative' I was having doubts about it. At the moment my grades are pretty good so I don't think there's any reason for me to worry about it. Obviously, I'll just have to make sure I continue with he progress I'm making at the moment to ensure I get the grades I need.

Thanks for the help

Jurv, why don't you speak to the connections to get a detailed insight into all of those courses, you could include Accounting into the other courses you thought about swapping too.

I had my connexions interview quite a while ago now, which was before I changed my mind.

I'll have to try and make another appointment sometime next week.

Yes, I'd recommend this ^ and do it quite quickly. A lot of connexions services are being axed for schools (ours is being axed in 5 weeks) so if you really want expert help, I would attempt to get it quickly.

Ultimately, it is your decision but you must attempt to keep your options open widely. Don't try and choose all subjects which could only restrict you to a few careers, if I were to recommend a final subject for you to do along with the "new" 3 - it'd be business or accounting. Both of those can get you quite far in life.

As dbgtz said, the secondary options don't really have any effect on what you can do in college (unless stated in the courses otherwise - e.g. you could need a B in geography to do a certain subject) so I wouldn't panic too much over that issue. All the courses I plan to do in college aren't offered in secondary schools (excluding psychology - some schools have GCSE psychology).

But yeah, just remember that you may change your mind about a career several times so don't be limited on your choices - also, as you did indeed ask, those are 3 pretty good courses that you plan to do if you want to be involved in photography.

Thanks for all of the help!

As I said before, I'll have to try and make another appointment sometime soon. I know that there are still quite a few of the interviews going on in school so I might be able to make one next week. As for the other subject, I'm not quite sure whether I'll want to go down the business or accounting route again. I've had business for nearly two years now and it's not the best subject in the world. I think it would be nice for me to have a change. I was thinking maybe ICT or something along those lines? From the grades which I have already received I know that it is definitely one of my stronger subjects.

As said before see the connextions adviser, also there are quite interesting information on the connextions website. You could also ask your carers officer, if you have one :-)

I'm going to try and make an appointment at school next week, hopefully that'll give me some more information.

I'll also take a look at the website in a minute, thanks for the help!

[MKR&*42]

As I said before, I'll have to try and make another appointment sometime soon. I know that there are still quite a few of the interviews going on in school so I might be able to make one next week. As for the other subject, I'm not quite sure whether I'll want to go down the business or accounting route again. I've had business for nearly two years now and it's not the best subject in the world. I think it would be nice for me to have a change. I was thinking maybe ICT or something along those lines? From the grades which I have already received I know that it is definitely one of my stronger subjects.

Yes, I've done business as well and it isn't the best subject in the world nor is it that fun to learn (in my opinion - it's probably just that I have an appalling class) BUT it would increase your options even more than accounting. Accounting limits you to (usually) only accounting/finance but with business studies you could go on to develop skills in a variety of areas of business, not just finance.

Business combined with IT is an amazing combination in my opinion. IT skills are being required by businesses even more so it'd be great to already have the skills when/if applying for a job in business.

Also, try not to base every single school grade on your future. Just because you are good at something does not mean you should definitely choose it in college and as a career - e.g. I'm in one of the higher sets for maths and I'm quite good at it, but I don't plan to continue you it throughout life. But if you do thoroughly enjoy and are good at the subject (IT in this case), then yes you should consider it but don't feel that you MUST go down that route.

[Jurv]

Yes, I've done business as well and it isn't the best subject in the world nor is it that fun to learn (in my opinion - it's probably just that I have an appalling class) BUT it would increase your options even more than accounting. Accounting limits you to (usually) only accounting/finance but with business studies you could go on to develop skills in a variety of areas of business, not just finance.

Business combined with IT is an amazing combination in my opinion. IT skills are being required by businesses even more so it'd be great to already have the skills when/if applying for a job in business.

Also, try not to base every single school grade on your future. Just because you are good at something does not mean you should definitely choose it in college and as a career - e.g. I'm in one of the higher sets for maths and I'm quite good at it, but I don't plan to continue you it throughout life. But if you do thoroughly enjoy and are good at the subject (IT in this case), then yes you should consider it but don't feel that you MUST go down that route.

I think I've already developed enough skills during the two years which I've been taking the option for. It's not something which I want or feel like I should take as a course in college. I know it may help me with other things but it's personally not something which I want to study in college. I want to study other things which I am interested in and want to get a job with in the future. If you take a look at the subjects I have chosen I am not limiting myself to one career path. I can do a whole range of different things within those subjects and continue to study them at university. At the moment photography is something which I am quite passionate about and is something which I can picture myself doing 10 years from now. If all doesn't go down well I can always become a graphics designer or something involving graphics design. I've got plenty of months to figure out what I want to study in college and even then I'll be able to speak to someone at the college which will help me out.

As for your other point about basing my grades on my future, that's where you're wrong. If you think that you're good at a certain subject which you enjoy and want to do in the future I don't see why it's a problem to take the course. I'm not sure whether you know this or not but the fourth course I choose will end up getting dropped anyway. There's nothing to lose. I don't think even if I take it as a subject I'll have to go down that route either. I want to go down the route of photography and if I happen to take ICT it doesn't mean I'll have to go down that route too.

[MKR&*42]

I think I've already developed enough skills during the two years which I've been taking the option for. It's not something which I want or feel like I should take as a course in college. I know it may help me with other things but it's personally not something which I want to study in college. I want to study other things which I am interested in and want to get a job with in the future. If you take a look at the subjects I have chosen I am not limiting myself to one career path. I can do a whole range of different things within those subjects and continue to study them at university. At the moment photography is something which I am quite passionate about and is something which I can picture myself doing 10 years from now. If all doesn't go down well I can always become a graphics designer or something involving graphics design. I've got plenty of months to figure out what I want to study in college and even then I'll be able to speak to someone at the college which will help me out.

As for your other point about basing my grades on my future, that's where you're wrong. If you think that you're good at a certain subject which you enjoy and want to do in the future I don't see why it's a problem to take the course. I'm not sure whether you know this or not but the fourth course I choose will end up getting dropped anyway. There's nothing to lose. I don't think even if I take it as a subject I'll have to go down that route either. I want to go down the route of photography and if I happen to take ICT it doesn't mean I'll have to go down that route too.

Why to the bit in bold?

I may have confused you by what I said in the last paragraph, I was trying to say that if you are good at something in school it doesn't mean you have to/should do it in college unless you are passionate about that course and wish to have something to do with it in the future

And I'm not trying to say that you need to limit yourself to business or IT at all - I only recommended it out of accounting and business studies because it is likely to open more career paths to you If you wish and if you're sure that you want a future job in photography or design then so be it.

At the end of the day, it's 100% your decision, I can't force you to do something

[JerseySafety]

I would go with accounting and the first lot of studies. Mainly because if photography or graphic design doesn't work out it would be good to be able to drop back on the business side of things.

I'm also going to be taking the same sort of courses as you.