Life not turning out the way I hoped!!!

LegacyUser

I am a 21 year old female student whos finishing an Arts Degree next year. I am styudying Soc. Pol & Geography. I was planning on doing History instead of Soc.Pol with the intention of doing secondary school teaching. Now, because i havent two subjects, this is out of the question. I dont enjoy my course and its really depressing em and getting me down. What's even worse is the extremely limited job prospects I face at the end of my course. I would enjoy doing Primary School teaching, but its so impossible to get into here and in U.K you need a C plus in leaving cert higher science which i didn't do. For Scotland, you need a higher B in English, i missed out on this by one grade in the leaving cert. So that seems out of the question.

I'm so fed up of college, if i had prospects at the end of the day, at least it would be a goal to get through. I fell as if my life is aimless, pointlesss and i am worrying all the time about the future. Other courses would interest me as a post grad but the high cost of them and limited job prospects and extremely low rate of pay turns me off aswell.

If I had my way back, I would have worked harder in my Leaving Cert, i justs didnt have the vision at that time. Feel as if im on a pointless road in which there is no hope ahead for the future. Everything including my life is just depressing me. I also may nhave 2 go away 2 do another course at end of day and am terribly afraid of being lonely in life. I was always a happy, positive person with hopes and dreams the course has just taken this away from me and see no point in it all.

Any advice please?

LegacyUser

hi op,
you seem so worried but there are options open even if you haven't found them yet so don't get too down about it. If you really want to do the teaching in England some of the universitys offer a science equivalence exam to assess people who haven't got the C. Another option would be to consider studying a science subject for the leaving and taking it on its own to get the level to be accepted into the course. One of my friends did this only this year, she sat Biology for the leaving having never studied it before, and about 6 years since we did our leaving. She did the equivalence exam since she was a bit worried about the biology but in the end she got the grades she needed in both!

you're only 21 so you have loads of time to think about this. you could even consider things like teaching in korea for a year to see how you like the teaching, you just need to do the TEFl for this.
Geography is a really broad subject, but it doesn't have to pigeon-hole you. A degree can be an entry into a job that may be completely different from your field of study, some employers want focused people they know are willing to learn, a degree no matter what it is in is just that.

And secondary school teaching with only one subject is not out of the question! you can get into the HDip or secondary school teacher training in England with just one subject. you don't need the science for this either. There are other subjects like CSPE and IT that you can learn to teach during training.

Try not to get too down, there are options, its just a matter of finding them

LegacyUser

dynasty09 wrote: »

If I had my way back, I would have worked harder in my Leaving Cert, i justs didnt have the vision at that time. Feel as if im on a pointless road in which there is no hope ahead for the future. Everything including my life is just depressing me. I also may nhave 2 go away 2 do another course at end of day and am terribly afraid of being lonely in life. I was always a happy, positive person with hopes and dreams the course has just taken this away from me and see no point in it all.

Any advice please?

You are 21.
You would be AMAZED how much can change before you are even 25.

Two suggestions:

1) Does your college have a guidance service? You would be surprised how helpful college services and staff can be for students who are loosing their way.

2) Stop thinking about your Leaving cert. Its gone and its probably good enough. Remember the standards for getting into college from the Leaving cert are not the same as those after a degree or as a mature student.

thefeatheredcat

+1

Unfortunately life never works out the way anyone expected which can be half the thrill of it.
Have a chat with your career guidance councellor - you should have access to facilities like that; don't worry, you're not the first or last person to go through this and you'll have someone to talk about your options with. Even chat to your lecturers, they'll be able to give you some advice.

Talk about what you're feeling....a lot of staff in colleges are really lovely, sure they see students day in and out going through tough times.

Forget about the LC... the truly crippling thing is how much pressure people put on this and it does nobody any good. It's really not relevant in the real world. What will get you a job is determination, perseverance, hard work, experience and you. Having the LC is a basic minimun requirement (and once used to be the only requirement as once seen as highest education) that a college education will champion over.

sarmer

You're only 21, don't worry!! I'm 26 and only now beginning to get my life sorted!! I always wanted to be a teacher too but because i didnt have the requirements when I left college I dismissed the idea. Did 2 other courses that weren't right for me before realising that teaching is what I really want to do. I've applied for primary teaching in glasgow for next year and you only need a higher level C in English. And if you really wanted to go back to do the science subject it wouldn't be that bad. I went back to do my honours Irish LC this year and there were lots of people doing it, even people in their 40s and 50s!

Lockstep

I'm guessing you're in NUIG based on your subjects; they have a careers guidance yoke there which is meant to be fair decent.

CathyMoran

I did a degree that I hated but managed to get into a Masters that I loved but again was not me (was living at home and was pressurised not to do engineering)...however I met my husband to be at 21 as I was starting my Masters, started dating him at 23 and at 25 did a course that finally led me into my chosen field. OK, maybe I am not the best example but the journey was just as important as the final result...meeting my husband was by far the most important thing that has happened to me in my life...I did some interesting stuff along the way and am a more rounded person.