What It’s Like To Suddenly Realise You Hate Your Current Degree

Here are some words from someone who lived the hate.

I was in the second semester of my first year in university and I found myself sitting in the food court with my Halal Snack Pack (HSP) going cold as I listened to my friend tell enticing stories about her creative writing major.

I walked back home, a Styrofoam container filled with delicious meats in the one hand, and distress in the other.

The reality is that I hated the degree I was doing. My personal story will thicken as we go but first, I give you tip number one: Don’t merely choose a degree you have convinced yourself you will eventually love. Rather, choose a course that will make the HECS loan feel worth it.

Many greats have written about this but, my friends, I’ve seen this paradise of ‘doing what you love’ with my own two eyes. It is the light radiating from my older brother as he quoted the words “If you do something you love, you’ll never have to work a day in your life” to me. And I wished I stayed, relishing that feeling.

Number two: You do not have to use up all of your ATAR. Although this was drilled into my head during the final year of high school, I was blind to the thought of a possible ATAR of 90 and ‘spending’ it on a degree with a lower requisite. Even more so when I got the grade mark to do Law.

Number three: Perhaps university should not even be on the table at all. Raised as what many would call an A-type (the most annoying fact-checker of a student), this did not cross my mind for a second. However, in retrospect, I could have used a gap year at the end of year 12. Personally, there was a lot of growing that I think I needed to do before I decided to go to university. Not to mention, a lot of thinking about what I wanted to become.

Number four: Take everything as a learning opportunity. If not for this mentality, I would have easily rejected my situation and refused to articulate the source of my problems and how I should begin to solve them. Despite still doing my degree, I now find myself all caught up after retracing my steps and am now ready to continue walking, HSP still in tow.

Congratulations to Kim for winning our weekly writing challenge. Kim wins a $50 Westfield gift card for her submission. For your chance to win, check out our latest writing challenges in our Comps section. Also, be sure to follow this guide on how to win the writing challenge!

Photo: NBC