Career Choices?

[Olympiae]

I'm struggling with career choices, it's that part of my life that I have to choose A level courses for College and link them to university. I've read up on so many A level guides to give me the best options for uni and that is mostly just maths and sciences, but I generally am confused on what I want to do.

I want to be:
1) Graphic Designer (working in logo industry)
2) Business administer/marketer
3) Artificial Intelligence

My friend has told me to do computing at A level and mathematics because it's something I'll be good at, I've only just came up with AI today because I was watching a documentary on Watson which inspired me. I've been told that Business is a real competition to get into which I agree in and I wouldn't have the confidence anyway to express my ideas to a group of people. A graphic designer was always my main goal but I lack the creative flair.
At GCSE I'm doing:

Business and Communication Systems (Grade at - A)
Science* (B)
Applied Science (Grade at - A)
English Literature* (C)
English Language (Grade at - no assessment yet)
Religious Education (Grade at - A*)
Graphic Products (Design and Technology) (Grade at - A)
Mathematics (Grade at - Hopefully A or A* on recent test)
Art (Grade at - C)

* = official end grades I have got at the end of Y10.

I want to do AI but I'm not sure if I could handle the programming and maths side of it. It interests me so much but I don't know any other area in AI that does not involve programming.

Have you got any suggestions that I could do? Which one do you think best suits me?

[Typhlosion]

Well, if you dislike Math/Programming then AI is most likely not for you. In an AI course you'll be overlooking simpler automata which will be described both mathematically and programmatically. To make an AI, you must first think, in a logical and formal manner, how such machine will react to certain circumstances, and then transfer those ideas into a program as, at least, a proof of concept.

If you're unsure of programming, try studying declarative programming languages. Lisp, Prolog, and Haskell are prominent examples of declarative programming languages. Imperative languages, like C, Python, or Java, are not what you want for the time being.

That C in arts won't help you going for graphic design, by the way.

[Olympiae]

I figured a C in art isn't that good. I'm not dismissing Maths or programming at all, I can do it easily, I can understand it and I'd probably enjoy it as making an AI would be one of the best accomplishments after equations and a lot of programming. I've always wanted to work at Google too, but that won't happen lol. I'm known to be a dreamer.

[sweetcake]

I've got a feeling that AI would suit you well:) goodluck!

[JamesSuperBoy]

I'm struggling with career choices, it's that part of my life that I have to choose A level courses for College and link them to university. I've read up on so many A level guides to give me the best options for uni and that is mostly just maths and sciences, but I generally am confused on what I want to do.

I want to be:
1) Graphic Designer (working in logo industry)
2) Business administer/marketer
3) Artificial Intelligence

My friend has told me to do computing at A level and mathematics because it's something I'll be good at, I've only just came up with AI today because I was watching a documentary on Watson which inspired me. I've been told that Business is a real competition to get into which I agree in and I wouldn't have the confidence anyway to express my ideas to a group of people. A graphic designer was always my main goal but I lack the creative flair.
At GCSE I'm doing:

Business and Communication Systems (Grade at - A)
Science* (B)
Applied Science (Grade at - A)
English Literature* (C)
English Language (Grade at - no assessment yet)
Religious Education (Grade at - A*)
Graphic Products (Design and Technology) (Grade at - A)
Mathematics (Grade at - Hopefully A or A* on recent test)
Art (Grade at - C)

* = official end grades I have got at the end of Y10.

I want to do AI but I'm not sure if I could handle the programming and maths side of it. It interests me so much but I don't know any other area in AI that does not involve programming.

Have you got any suggestions that I could do? Which one do you think best suits me?

I know applying to uni involves clearing but if there were one or 2 unis you would apply for then have a look at the courses they offer and admission criteria that might give you some ideas.

[Desuetude]

Honestly, if you don't hate maths and can cope with the GCSE (higher) papers then AS maths isn't going to be bad. I didn't particularly want to take it but at the moment it's my easiest subject and I'm actually enjoying learning new stuff seeing as during secondary school you go over the same thing again and again. I'd consider it beause every uni course tends to like maths so it'd be a safe bet.

The C in art is good enough for you to take graphics at A level. I did both at GCSE and went onto AS Art and it's a tonne of work I can tell you that. I've got friends taking graphics and that's about the same amount. If you're not willing to spend about 10 hours a week on creating new ideas and completing coursework and folders creatively then I wouldn't consider it if I were you but honestly, the more you do something the better you're going to get at it, supposedly. It might jsut be the topics that you're finding aren't sparking any ideas. That's what it was like for me. Board game ideas? Fuck knows. New chocolate bar? A load of ideas. You go through it in stages as well so ideas pile on top of each other and you end up with something you're actually proud of. So don't rule out the creative subjects straight away, if you're on an A in graphics you have to be doing alright because your coursework has to be on par for that grade.


I was in your position, stressing the hell out that I didn't know what I wanted to do at uni and if I took the wrong A levels then my whole education would be wrecked but you have a baseline of the type of subjects that intrest you so honestly just go with that. Go for subjects you enjoy because AS/A2 is a lot harder than GCSE, you'll be spending more time than you currently do on each subject and have to do pre-reading, recap work and having to go through all of that with a suject that you're going to hate for the next 2 years is going to make so much more work for yourself. So don't take a course because it goes well with a uni degree but take it because you enjoy it (I'm contradicting myself but hey, learn from my mistakes and don't fucking take chemistry xD).

Honestly, I wouldn't massively worry about it yet. On your college applications you can put down a couple of subjects e.g. maths, computing, graphic, business and then on your interview they'll go through these with you and they're easily changable. They're not set in stone until that interview (which should be next june/july) so you could put any old crap down and then decide to completely change your courses at the last minute. So while it's good that you're thinking about it early, don't stress yourself out because it really is un-needed and just focus on getting the grades you're predicted which should allow you to take any subject you please (other than possibly english and art depending on whether your college's entry requirements are a C or a B for a subject).

Not sure whether that helped at all but I hope you take my advice and stop stressing while the year is still going smoothly xD