Choosing My University Course

As you may have noticed, I cannot decide on a University course. Over the past few months, I have attempted to select a course by reading books, researching select Universities, and understanding which of the subjects I enjoy during my current A-Level studies. I believe I have now made my decision but in the hopes of cementing that choice, join me as I share and explore the journey I have taken to get here.

With the intention of best preparing myself for applying to University, I started researching courses in November 2021. The initial subject that I thought of as a possibility was Physics, which I have stated in a previous post. I relished in the thought of understanding the technology and inventions that allow society to operate, and since I’ve never known what career to choose, I felt this would leave many doors open for the future. For example, with Physics I could enter the fields of teaching, engineering, lad-based research, and many more. However, having completed about seven months of the Physics A-Level I do not believe I could spend 4+ years studying this subject. This is largely due to me not having found a great deal of interest in the topics we have studied, and having an interest is something many Universities look for.

Following on from this, I thought that Chemical Engineering would be a viable option. This combines that technological and structural understanding I described in Physics with Chemistry, a subject which I have found a greater liking for since starting my A-Levels. Additionally, engineering and/or architectural design are paths that I find intriguing so I felt this was the best combination of my interests. Chemical Engineering was my chosen course for a long while, however, once I began to intensely research what the University course entails, I began to grow doubts.

The main reason for this is the practical elements. Instead of working within a controlled lab environment, much of the course is getting to work with large-scale industrial projects and resource development. Whilst this does indeed sound exciting, the thought of working with machinery does not sound too appealing to me as I realised that I am far more interested in the designing aspects rather than operating the processes. This meant that I needed to find yet another different course.

The third subject I considered was Chemistry. As I previously mentioned, I have been enjoying Chemistry at A-Level. I found that whilst I disliked Organic Chemistry at GCSE, the A-Level syllabus provides me with a greater understanding of the need for it and how the processes work, therefore allowing the content to become far more intriguing and interesting. In comparison to my other two subjects, Physics and Maths, I find myself not as opposed to doing Chemistry homework or additional revision as I enjoy what I am studying. You may be wondering why I would not then want to study Chemistry as I enjoy it so much, but as you can now see, I have had a difficult time narrowing down my selection to one subject. Whilst I currently enjoy this subject, there is potential that I may find interests in different areas and I want to allow myself the opportunity to do so.

That is where Natural Sciences comes in. A few weeks ago I had the privilege of hearing from some current University students at Cambridge, who introduced me to this course. When they began to explain it I immediately became interested and wanted to know more. I began to research what the syllabus consists of and found that this is potentially the closest to what I hope to study.

Natural Sciences is a combination of all things science. This includes Physics, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Material Sciences, Maths, Biology, and a multitude of other areas. My current research only includes the course at Cambridge, however many other Universities also offer this same course. In the first year at Cambridge, you are given the choice of 3 courses from a list of about 8, along with a Maths-based course. My choices would currently be Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Material Sciences, and Mathematics based on Physical Sciences (which is just Maths that involves Physics and Chemistry). I felt that this would not make me feel constricted by having to study only one subject for so many years by allowing me to explore many different avenues. Another exciting part of this course is that for your second year, you choose from even more options and you do not have to decide until your first year has finished. This means that if I found great interest in Earth sciences, I could center my second-year choices around that. This gives me the ability to be changeable in what I choose to study and if my love for Chemistry remains, I still have the choice to study this in years one, two, three, and four.

Having decided on Natural Sciences, I am beginning to think about how I can best prepare for writing my personal statement. I have begun to read ‘very short introduction’ books on Chemistry and Physics. I intend to find specific subject areas within these books and conduct further research into them, allowing me to build my knowledge with content that I find fascinating, as this is something that Universities often find compelling within applications. For example, I have found that thermodynamics, specifically the "arrow of time" sounds engaging, so I hope to research more information about it. If I can find certain theories or ideas that I resonate with or want to learn more about I can use this to develop a greater contextual understanding of everything involved in Natural Sciences.

Even if University is not involved in your life, I hope you have learned something or have simply enjoyed reading this post! Once I have completed more research I will share my findings and will begin to write posts dedicated to certain apsects of science that interest me. Feel free to read some of my other pieces too! Have a nice day!