[Closed] What should I do with my life?

Change course ? Not sure what course to suggest but as you've actually got to uni then a course change is probably easier than dropping out and going through the whole process again.

Well I can't suggest anything but I was unhappy in my first year at Uni, so dropped out and did some travelling before going back to another uni. And then I basically stumbled through my 20s, was unhappy in my early 30s, took a gap year which was good but didn't get me to where I wanted to be in life, and then I ended up in the first job that would take me, and then again decided to do an MSc to help me decide what to do with my life, and at the age of 40 I feel I am finally getting my stuff together and things are finally going quite well. And you are more than half my age so chin up - hope things work out.

definitely change your course. no one enjoys ALL of their course, but it helps to enjoy some of it!

if you don't like the university, finish the year and reapply for next year - not the best A levels, but a year of uni will probably help a new application.

if changing course is not possible due to the a levels, then maybe consider retaking?

MAY BE BEST FOR YOU TO DELETE THIS THREAD BEFORE YOUR NHS TRUST READ IT.

OR YOU MAY NOT HAVE EITHER A JOB OR COURSE TOMORROW.

Of course it'll be ok, i worked in engineering till i was 39, got made redundant and now work for myself 😉

Life goes on, you're only 19, change course and do something else.

19, Uni, guaranteed job as a radiographer?

Must be awful for you, absolutely awful.

Have a word with yourself, get your head down, get the degree, get the job, then stop and think about what else you would like to do.
You're not old enough or experienced enough to be having any kind of existential crisis; stop with the angst, get on with the study.

If you dont enjoy it drop out. Simple as.

You are not guaranteed a job where you are though.

I one year of an Engineering course at 16, just didn't get it.

So then did a one year IT course that then enabled me to 'join' a two year IT course. This got me my first job and has kept me gainfully employed for over 25 years.

1st year means that you've must have been at uni for only a matter of weeks.

Going to uni was a big change for me, I didnt really enjoy the 1st term or so because it was so different from being at home.

However after the 2nd term I was loving it and by year 4 (Teaching degree) I would have happily stayed on.

Talk to student services and find out what your options are, specially re funding if you change course/reapply for HE.

The other thing I would recommend is spending some time thinking about what it is you are unhappy about. Be careful not to throw out the baby with the bath water. Lots of HE students in my experience have a tough time in their first year. There are lots of things that are new and need to be worked through. There is much that is good re independence and new social scene etc, but you have to give yourself time to grow in to it.

Spend a little time thinking it through and talk to student services - careers service or counselling service to help you work it out for yourself. That is what they are there for.

I enjoy mountain biking - my job pays me well so I can afford to ride. I also like diving and motorcycling - my job pays for all that too.

Dont get too hung up about your job - some are shite, some are boring, if your really really lucky you get a good one.

Most of the enjoyment in life is down to how you spend your free time, who you spend it with and what you spend your wages on.

Active? Adventurous?
http://www.armyjobs.mod.uk/Pages/HomePage.aspx

Been having dilemmas for years - lately I've been looking at it this way. Of all the people I know only one or two genuinely 100% of the time say they love their work.

Afraid real life isn't fun all the time. Work is a means to an end.

Enjoyment, Good Salary, Work/Life balance. Pick one. Possibly two if your lucky....

im 36 and have 'studied' plumbing , joinery and mechanical engineering but cant find a relevent job

welcome to reality pal, if you find yourself in a job you like you are very very lucky.

if like the majority you find yourself stuck in a shtiy job that you hate,

bite the bullet

,,,, it puts beer in the fridge and shiney new bits on the bike,,,,
it could be worse,,,,,,,,,,,,,you could join the countrys massive dole cue.

I have been there too. I hated uni and dropped out, much to the disgust of my parents. I wasn't motivated by it in the slightest, I think if I had gone as a mature student things might have been different. I ended up doing some awful temp jobs, then ended up in a callcentre, it was then and in my early 20's that I decided that I'd better focus on doing something worthwhile and try and earn some half decent money. Focused on the job and the company and now have a great job at the company HQ looking at out commercial strategy.

Having said that, I thinks have changed a lot in the job market, lots of places ask for a degree now. I can't remember where I read this, but I am reminded of it every time I look at moving jobs and then decide it would be too difficult without a degree. [i]Having a degree doesn't open any doors for you, but its stops a hell of a lot slamming shut in front of you[/i]

Just change, anyone who has said you need to bite the bullet and except it. Well you don't, their talking shite. Change course and move on. Don't do something you don't enjoy, there is zero need.

Live to ride....work to pay to ride. Ride to live.

and think about your job while you ride and one day the answer will become apparent and you will do whatever it is you need to do to fix whatever the problem is.

Good luck

Seriously................

whatever you think of your job function.....the general public are YOU or your family or your friends......and while you do that job you need to knuckle it down and look at it in the light of each individual you deal with...they are your mother, your father, your brother, your sister....and you need to give it your best shot for them.....because they are you....and they need you for that function.

Good luck

Have you thought about pole dancing?

,,,, it puts beer in the fridge and shiney new bits on the bike,,,,
it could be worse,,,,,,,,,,,,,you could join the countrys massive dole cue.

Why have human beings come to think like this?

Of all the interesting and wonderful things we could be doing, we instead put up with working a shite job so we can buy beers & shiney things for our bikes

I had a similar experience at Uni - went and did electronic Eng and hated the course - wrong for me and really wanted it to be right. I tried three times to complete the 1st year and eventually walked away.

Having said that a lot about a degree is applying yourself and the subject becomes immaterial in a lot of cases when you start looking for jobs - obviously the course you are doing is very specific to a job.

How transferable are the skills? What other areas could you move into once you qualify?

I wish I'd really thought about what I wanted and changed course to something that either motivated me or was something that would have been easier and provided me with a degree (ie I could have partied as hard as I did and still passed my degree / first year)

Perhaps see if you can complete this first year, then defer your next year - take a year out and decide what you want to do with life. I wish I'd done that.

[i]we instead put up with working a shite job[/i]

Er, hold on.... Radiographer is a shite job now?

Compared to what exactly?

if like the majority you find yourself stuck in a shtiy job that you hate,

bite the bullet

You're at the very beginning of your uni course. Whilst it might be true that this could just be a bad patch you can work through, it's also true that at this point the consequences of dropping out would not be too huge. I say this because I dropped out of an engineering degree in my second year and it was the best thing for me and gave me an opportunity to go and study something I ended up loving.

It seems (to me) pretty absurd for anyone to suggest that just because lots of other people don't enjoy their jobs you should accept this as your lot too.

If you know for certain this course and career is not for you then it's still the perfect time in your life to go looking for something to do that might have a better chance of inspiring you and giving you passion. It's only going to get harder to do this the older and more responsibilities you get.

Just try to make sure you've given this uni course the chance it deserves.

Change now while you're still young and have the support of your parents. The longer you leave it the harder and more expensive it will be to change. It's not the end of the world. On the other hand it's a very worthwhile job your training for. You could be responsible for saving many lives. These members of the public you don't like are probably crapping themselves. Cut them a bit of slack, improve your bedside manner and get on with it! 😕

Remember that when you are on placement people tend to give you the rubbish jobs, it is not necessarily the same as doing it for real. My first two placements at uni were pretty bad, but they got my foot in the door and I got a permanent job with one of the companies after, and have had the opportunity to work on some really interesting projects since (entirely different industry though). And the pay bought me my first decent mountain bike!!

Also remember that having a degree does not necessarily restrict you to that particular industry, I know plenty of people whose degrees have nothing to do with their jobs.

If you give the degree a bit more time, then if you really don't like it switch to another subject, quite a lot of people did that after the first year at my uni, especially within the same faculty.

Speak to student services asap.

Also don't quit as you will keep the £3K fees instead of the new 6k fees in sept 2012.

Find out all the options first.

I did Microbiology in Bristol Uni and it bored the $hit out of me and I transferred on the following year as after 6 weeks - you have missed a fair bit to transfer on to another course -possibly.

Could be just away from home etc -speak to your tutors.

Money aint everything, if you are that unhappy speak to your tutors first then make an informed choice. If its not the job you envisioned and its not for you dont waste the time at uni-despite what a lot have said there are other jobs out there you just have to be willing to start at the bottom of the ladder sometimes.
There is also always the armed services to consider......

Of all the interesting and wonderful things we could be doing, we instead put up with working a shite job so we can buy beers & shiney things for our bikes

+1

My son struggled after completing one year and actually dropped out. He made an appointment with Student Services to discuss what his options were. They were very helpful and keen to help him. He changed to another subject and it all worked out well.

Not everyone settles into Uni life right away but the pastoral care was excellent.

Good luck.

Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a ****ing big television, Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed- interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three piece suite on hire purchase in a range of ****ing fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing sprit- crushing game shows, stuffing ****ing junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing you last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, ****ed-up brats you have spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life...

Why have human beings come to think like this?

Of all the interesting and wonderful things we could be doing, we instead put up with working a shite job so we can buy beers & shiney things for our bikes

Please don't tell all the bin men in the country about all these interesting and wonderful things that they could be doing or we'll have to empty our own bins?

TSY - do you have an application form? Sounds like an enchanting existence......

iDave how are you at identifying trains?
Failing that... do you like smack?

I could learn. You could teach me... And we could start a club - for fighting....

Awesome. iDave I appoint you disposable friend number 1.

At 19, I presume you have just started second year. The big issue seems to be that working with the great unwashed is not for you. That's a brave decision, and it's good you found out now.

It's not too late to change course, you are at a "Championship" university and would do well to complete a degree from there. Question is in what?

I assume you passed your first year ok, so have worked and proven yourself. Speak to student servicesabout your options. How about pharmacy? Biology chemistry not too much "public" and diverse work.

i changed courses after a year, was great actually, second first year makes it fun rather than stressful. A member of the family has retrained from accountancy to be a radiographer so it works both ways.

In any event you are young, have plenty of options, and I wish you well. Rralizing a vocational course is not for you is a brave first step.

EDIT:just reread your post. Since you are in your first year, change course this year, change now. Switches up to second term are fairly common. Leave it later and you will be required to complete the year successfully (read pass exams), if motivation is low that hurdle can help. Just think about what else you would like to study. A degree is a means to an end

The replies in this thread are shocking. There really is no need to do a course you hate or a job you don't enjoy. I'm guessing you have no dependants so you don't need to 'knuckle down' or 'bite the bullet'.

You do need to come up with good solid reasons why you don't enjoy your course and decide on a course which would suit you more. Don't worry about the poor A-levels, transferring within the uni is much easier than reapplying.

I'm not sure how hard your uni course is, mine has been a lot of work. If I didn't enjoy it I don't think I could of stuck it out all the way to the end.

re-read and noticed the point about 3k jump to 6k fees. Changing course within the uni would avoid this, so that really is your best option.

djaustin - thems some good reading skills you've got going on there....

I know, apologies, read from a Blackberry and missed the First Year part, not recommended! The sentiment stands; changing course is much easier and more common than appreciated. Talk to Student Services but don't leave it too late in the year (I did).

Pretty much all jobs become dull and repetitive, but a dull job is a helluva lot better than no job. If you dont actually know what you want to do just get your head down and stick with what you've got until you do decide.

get a D in physics and you can do radiography?

OP I hear you however I did a 'Marketing degree' which in the real world is **** all use.

It was sort of boring doing the course. Who else enjoys coursework or sat in lectures?

However look at the rest of your life FIRST before you decided to drop out. Everyone has questions and doubts.

Think again first, did anyone on here enjoy attending lectures/deadlines etc etc?

A few people on here will have studied Accountancy, Pharmacy etc and have a 'job for life' which enables them not to have to drift between jobs, have the uncertainty and have a certain standard of living.

We work to live. A stable/decent job pays for the fun parts of life.

Im also at portsmouth uni and in my second year. I think i take a different approach to a lot of my friends in that if i was in your position i would just finish the degree to get it out of the way. However i dont know how logn yours is, if its medical it could be hugely long?

Just so you know, portsmouth uni have said multiple times if you start uni before 2012 your fees will NOT increase for the remainder of your time there. There are some people still going from 2005 on the £1,300 + interest pricing scheme.

also i seriously hope you didnt join the MTB club.

Hora +1

can't be bothered reading everyones posts (sorry everyone)

Basically, my ex is a radiographer, she didn't enjoy it at uni very much. Found it boring and repetitive and found everyone elses courses more interesting. after graduation she worked as an NHS radiographer for a year or two and now she works for BUPA part time. She has a big house, a nice car, goes skiing every winter for two weeks and beach holiday every summer for 2 weeks. She earns more than I do and i work a lot harder than she does.

I don't know if she's happy with her life, I'm sure her job is still boring, but it gives her the time and money to do the things she wants to do.

I hated uni, dropped out and joined the ambulance service, spent 8 years trying to get on a paramedic course as that was "my dream". Well, now I'm a paramedic, most of the time its quite boring and repetitive, all my friends get paid more than me and I've not ad christmas off since 2003. That said, I'll never leave as the money is ok, i get lots of time off, when its good its very good and I like to talk to old people.

Jobs aren't for life, but skills are. Train as a radiographer then go work for the UN in horrible parts of the world? Travel, work in australia? drop out of life, spend all your time riding your bike, safe in the knowledge that when you need the cash you can work in any hospital in the UK?

Or, be like everyone else, concentrate on drinking, pulling, joining clubs and learning about yourself, whilst trying to get a degree at the same time.

Or, be like everyone else, concentrate on drinking, pulling, joining clubs and learning about yourself, whilst trying to get a degree at the same tim.....

then post-Uni live like a Student still in a shared-house with other transient Graduates in their early 30's with a history of moving between jobs with student loans following them around. Still the benefit of this is you could still smoke weed and pretend you are into 'alternative/new off the wall music).

become a pimp

Da cheddah will flow, the wimminz will know who da boss, and... you get your own teritory/corner. what more could a man ask for?

If you stick with it you'll have the skills to do a job that you can do any where in the world. My mum and dad are back from a year in New Zealand, she worked a couple of different clinics and will be back out there in january for another 6 months.

Maybe talk with a few radiographers on the placement, you might prefer one of the more specialist areas of work. Mum mainly does mamography.

At the end of the day it's your life so switch to something else if you want but be sure to explore your options and bare in mind that you can change your job or re-skill at any time in your life (it may prove harder later but still do able). If you can't think of what you want to change to then stick with radiography while you figure out what else you may fancy, it can be handy to have some direction while you're unsure.

It took me until I was 40 to find out what I really wanted to do.
In my twenties I turned down a place at uni and ended up in a succession of jobs that I ended up hating or didn't pay enough for me not to feel permanently skint. I found out in that time that A-levels (good or bad, I had B C C) are worth diddly squat in the job market. They are just a passport to a degree course.
At 30 I went to uni as a mature student and afterwards still ended up in jobs I didn't particularly like. The difference was that they paid enough to allow me to set myself up in self-employment by the time I was 40.

The message here is that if you stick with your uni course for now you will VASTLY increase your options afterwards. As you learn more about what you are doing you will become more confident which will help.

Maybe talk with a few radiographers on the placement, you might prefer one of the more specialist areas of work. Mum mainly does mamography.

Tell me that's not a dream job for a 19 year old male...........

Yeah I dunno if mammography is women only but the vast majority of women being scanned are 50+ hardly the stuff of 19 year old dreams...

OP fancy doing data entry for the first few years after living Uni? Do you think there are glamorous jobs out there for all Grads?

That or you want to go on a gap year before starting work (but you cant afford/have debts) and there just seems soo much competition for all the Grad/entry jobs as nowadays of course there are FAR MORE Grads out there with similar non-technical degrees chasing entry level schemes.

Suck up your boredom now. Do the job. Trust me. I went into sales -****ing ball-busting ****.

Uni just isnt for everyone you know, plus you will end up with a shed load of debt for your troubles. Try the vocational route via an apprenticeship, you will learn a trade which you can fall back on, earn whilst you learn and depending which field you choose possibly stay away from the ghastly general public...thats what i did and im not rich, dont love my job phenominally but its ok and i can live with it and every day is still a challenge and fairly interesting.

op - have you considering just spending some time working out why you don't like it? i work in radiology (but not radiographer/radiologist and can't say I would fancy radiography as a career, BUTa mate of mine who found out I worked in the area asked if I was qualified and was prepared to offer £600/day IIRC for me to work in industrial radiography. Sadly, I'm not qualified so tough. Anyway, my point is NHS trained radiographers are seen as the best, like army trained engineers - if your problem is the people, work out how to deal with it, if your problem is the job, take a year out and think about what you want to do, but remember no-one says it has to be NHS and patients (which would do my head in TBH, I have to listen to enough whinging from clinicians without listening to patients as well)

Work isn't supposed to be fun thats why it's called work.

If you had an idea for something that you definitely want to do, I would say change courses. How about just keeping going with this until you do ? Babies and bath water as somebody else has said.

You don't say how happy you are in the rest of your life, it is easy to focus on stuff we can change when the cause is maybe something we think we can't.

I advise sticking with it, but giving it lots of thought, talking to people etc. And getting drunk loads more you're 19 !!

http://www.halotrust.org/home/recruitment.aspx

thank you all for such helpful responses, unfortunately personal life is pretty bleak anyway which is making everything seem worse than it actually is ..

after reading these responses I actually feel slightly more cheerful about things .. I'll certainly look at other courses, but radiography isn't a bad fall back option, to be honest ha. Meehaja and hexhamstu, thankyou in particular, not taking anything away from anyone else!

And a D in physics indeed, I am better than that but hated college ha, I suppose learning isn't for me .. oh well. I was predicted a B though! 😐

I shall come back on in the new year and let you all know what I've decided to do.
Thankyou all again, very useful.

Be a product designer or making prototype for all.

focus on vaginas - there is a midwife shortage

As the man said to the OP, "Are you bragging or complaining?"

Sure wish I was 19 again and had the opportunity to make that kind of decision.

At that age I didn't have a clue what I planned to do with my life. It turned out that I could never have imagined what I ended up doing, because those jobs didn't even exist then.

but in fact quite the opposite has happened; it's dull and repetitive

for most people that's called work!!

and I've realised I'm not keen on working with the general public if I can help it ..

That's a shame. I used to be a really self absorbed type. I've found working around and with all sorts of people really good and made me a (cough!) better person.

god I'm pathetic.

Nonsense. You're 19 and a smart person, unchallenged and you don't know what you want to do. Been there, got the T-Shirt.

Work isn't supposed to be fun thats why it's called work.

This is the wrong message. Let's assume there are two kinds of fun: fun now, and fun later. Fun now is: bedding a nice girl, having a drink and a laff with mates, racing a bike down a trail; the fluffy stuff. Fun later is: committing to a challenge, pushing yourself, struggling and suffering somewhat, failing and learning, or succeeding and feeling worthwhile; growing.

Good work is a kind of "fun later". If the prospect of this kind of radiotherapy (whatever) work bores you now, how do you imagine to sustain a 40+ year career doing it?

The reality of any work is that some of it is dull and a trial. But that's OK as long as you feel it is worthwhile at it's heart. I think you have already decided you picked the wrong course and line-of-work. I don't know why you did that - perhaps weak A'level grades, limited choices and pushy parents? who knows?

I does not matter what your parents, peers or the more judgemental voices on here think. It only matters what you think. You just need to find your own way. I encourage you to think and find your way.

The decision will come easily when you find what it is you want. And once you have, you will change and fully commit to a new direction and grow and succeed - fun later 🙂

BTW. My grades were much worse than yours, and I also had limited choices and badly needed to leave "home". I also went to Portsmouth and was kicked off my degree course in the second year for being unmotivated and lazy. It was only then that I realised I wanted to get that degree and got on with getting it - a 2.1 in Engineering and Engineering Systems. I've been a software and systems engineer since 1992 and have have been developing spacecraft systems for the last 10. I don't know how the hell that happened, but I'm glad it did.

What I'm saying is: Have a bit of faith in yourself and in the future.

A degree in itself gives you lots of options in later life. You'll regret dropping out completely IMO and unless you become a successful entrepreneur your lifetime earnings are likely to be significantly lower
That said, if you're not enjoying it, consider doing something else.

IMO few people end up doing a career in their degree subject and in any case at 19 hardly anyone knows what they really want to do, so don't beat yourself up about that.
My advice:
1. Speak to student services
2. Have a chat to someone well into a career in radiology and get their perspective
3. Don't let personal things confused with degree/career satisfaction

Even the most successful of my friends grumble about their jobs loads - whilst I would never say you're expecting too much in wanting a job you love, few people are in that happy place. But the £££ does come in handy when you have a hobby like mountain biking 🙂
Good luck