April: Not sure which subjects to choose? Choose what you like!

Many students in VCE aren’t 100% sure with what careers they want to pursue, and especially aren’t sure about how to go about choosing their subjects for their tertiary degrees. If I were to give one piece of advice, it would definitely have to be to study what you enjoy, whilst keeping in mind compulsory subjects for courses you may go into.

I went to a public high school one hour away from home and I didn’t enjoy it one bit leading up to graduation. I couldn’t wait to start all over again at university with people I didn’t know, and to face new challenges and endless opportunities. Leading up to year 12 I was convinced I was going to be a journalist and initiate my career through writing. I was taking English, Literature, German, Media and Further Maths in year 12, which was directly tailored to my career path. My parents encouraged me to study journalism and follow in the footsteps of my relatives. I wasn’t sure of what I wanted to do in life, but I trusted my parents that journalism was the right avenue to follow.

As I was exploring what type of journalism I was going to specialise in, I frequently watched the news on TV and read other forms of news articles and then my focus and changed. I became interested in the share market, government surplus and deficit, interest rates, credits and loans. I knew then, that I was pursuing a career in the wrong field!

Business was never a field that crossed my mind because I had been fed all these dreadful misconceptions of businessmen and women – such as boring desk jobs, constant stress and fear, and extensively long working hours. Putting them aside and focusing on myself, I decided that I would do a double degree of business and languages at university which allowed me the freedom to channel into journalism if need be (languages and journalism is included under an ‘Arts’ degree). I had learnt German throughout high school and it was my favourite subject so I decided to pursue that too.

During year 12 I worked extremely hard in my subjects and I was hoping to get an 85.00 ATAR to get into Monash studying Business and Arts. Unfortunately it didn’t work out that way, so I had to look at other options and found out about the Bachelor of Business Administration at the Berwick campus.

I hadn’t studied any prior business subjects before, but I was fuelled by my own eagerness to learn and self-motivation, and as a result, I have excelled in my subjects. A year later I've realised that continuing to study a language isn't a goal of mine anymore, and that the decision I made to undertake a business degree was definitely the best decision I made and right now I could not imagine my life any other way.

One aspect of starting uni that I thought would be extremely difficult was the fact that I hadn’t studied any business subjects at high school before. Unless it specifically states that it’s a requirement for the degree, any other subject is NOT necessary and you won’t find it extremely hard if you haven’t done it before. I must admit- to those who have studied economics, accounting, business management, legal studies and IT in high school will definitely help you in understanding and grasping the concepts of each subject a lot easier, however it can be done without prior knowledge, and I am living proof of that!