Preliminary Examinations

The lack of updates in the past two weeks was instigated primarily by the prelims. With 3 papers more to go, the prognosis isn’t looking very good.

English Paper 1 – Hopefully good
English Paper 2 – Probably mediocre at best, based on what Mr Connor said
History Paper 1 – Hopefully good
Math Paper 1 – Terrimable
Math Paper 2 – Much better than paper 1
Chem Paper 1 and 2 – Um…Maybe?
Economics Paper 1 and 2 – Pretty good methinks.

Today was a pretty good day – Math paper 2 was…should I say “optimistic”, and I learned that for the first time in my life, I’m getting two honor’s day certs. Thank you muchly, hockey.

This comes amidst a sudden crystallization of my love for the subject of economics, juxtaposed against the reality of the entry requirements for taking economics at University. LSE lists 7 points in HL math as a basic requirement for the course. For someone who’d be happy with a 6 in SL math, this is obviously quite a dampener. Looks like there goes my hope in Economics as a degree course. This is doubly stinging due to the realization that my best subject currently, is a sham. Real economics requires math. It seems the only economics course that I can actually try to get into is economic history, which…well I suppose it’s *kinda* interesting, but doesn’t really appeal to me as something that I’d be able to live and breathe throughout the duration of my university year. In University I don’t want another situation like I have in school where I’m taking subjects for the sake of taking them, most of which I’ll probably never require outside of school (I’m looking at you, SL maths and chemistry).

I’ve decided that for me to have any passion in my university degree, I’ll need to undertake something that I feel is immediately relevant for my future career – that or something that’s just plain totally awesome (unlikely unless they hand out degrees for slacking off anytime soon). This means that I’m pretty much in a debacle over where to take my life after IB. The reason why this has suddenly started to preoccupy me is due to the fact that everyone (well, mostly the girls) (actually, just one girl) (Melodie.) is stressing out (like, really) over university applications. Of course the matter isn’t of immediate concern to myself courtesy of the 2 years of NS that I’ll have to serve prior to my university tenure, and also because I won’t bother applying to Oxbridge by virtue of the fact that I won’t get in, but nonetheless the thought is there. The essential issue that I’m confronted with is whether or not I should just take a general-ish humanity based degree, or go on ahead and try to get into film school.

From what I’ve been reading so far, it seems that for most of the general humanities, by taking such a degree in the first place, you’re more or less giving the message that you haven’t really decided what you want to do, so you’re taking the nice and safe approach and doing a degree that gives you many options in future. For employers, they see anyone who’s done a degree in a field like Sociology or History as someone who is able to write essays/analyze/critically think – the field is a secondary consideration. After all, unless you actually want to go on further in said field as an academic it’ll be a different case, but otherwise as I mentioned, the content of the degree is of little import. I’ve got a multitude of ideas as to what I want to do in future, but it more or less leads to an “action-packed” job as opposed to a dull nine to fiver. I’ve flirted with the concept of advertising, event organization and even theatre in addition to filmmaking. No doubt this list would probably grow as I discover more in future. I suppose I’ll just go with the flow and do whatever I end up finding interesting before I settle down into something I’m certain I can do for the rest of my life (I’m not referring to finding a wife).

On the flip-side, with a film degree, I’ll be single-mindedly channeling myself into the field of filmmaking, with little recourse. Unless I take a film critique course (which actually falls more under the above “humanities degrees”), a film degree would be a very practical and vocational course which would prepare me immediately to jump into the pretty dangerous film world. However, a degree isn’t crucial for one to work in the film industry – it only gives you the opportunity to build up a nice portfolio so you immediately have something to show for when you want employment. I’m pretty worried about the pigeon-holing aspect of this degree. Furthermore, I’d be lying if I said that the “pride” factor didn’t play a part. After all a degree in Sociology sounds a whole lot smarter than a degree in filmmaking. Sure you can argue that the passion for the work really plays its part. I’m pretty sure I’d enjoy a film degree, but I don’t have to take up a film degree in order to do filmmaking in future – I can still do films on the side, regardless of which degree I take up.

What further compounds my problem is the fact that I’ve suddenly begun looking on the UK in a better light. Previously I had my mind pretty set on America, citing the terrible weather as an excuse for my lack of interest in the UK. However, one thing that’s been niggling me is the fact that London is a really charming city – impressive especially considering it achieves this feat in spite of the dismal weather. I can’t speak for America though, since I’ve never been there before. The impression I’m inevitably left with is therefore what I’ve seen on American TV (which I’m sure probably isn’t a very accurate representation), and I envision people walking around with 9mm pistols, ready to shoot you down for the slightest disagreement (I should really stop watching this). The only way to find out I guess would be to take a trip down to America to find out first hand what I’d be getting into if I applied to a US university. I’m even having doubts about the university I should go to – I used to think that I wanted to go to UCLA only, but ultimately this will change based on what course I wind up doing in the end.

Oh well. I’ve still got lots of time to go before I need to make a decision, so I’m hoping some major epiphany will come my way in future.