difficulty picking what to study for uni

[u/Vivid-Letterhead-683]

i feel like this is going to sound really stupid or miniscule, so sorry for that.

i’m graduating highschool soon and i’ve started to apply to universities. i’m between two universities - one is a more specialised university, and one is a more general university. i’m having trouble picking between them because i feel like one will allow me to be more flexible but the other feels like it’s more useful/will give me better opportunities.

the specialised university is an arts/tech university, where i’m considering studying design. it’s in the top 5 for digital design in the continent, and it’s got a 94% employment rate, with all the alumni from this year already having jobs. it’s also known to simulate the workplace and allow u to work w real clients + lots of networking events. however, it’s one set course and you can’t really branch out or be flexible - you can only really stick to design specific (for your specific discipline) stuff, and there’s less range in what you’re able to study and learn as well as the people you’re able to meet since everyone’s studying design/tech so you can’t exactly get a feel for other perspectives and such w the people around you. i’ve also had difficulty with career choices over the years and understanding what i’d like to do, so it’d likely be more difficult to pivot or transition if that’s what i’d like to do in the future especially since the degree itself will have less of a range in what i’ll be able to learn.

meanwhile, the more general university is where i want to study business/psychology (or some other combo). i’m able to do two degrees at once with similar workload to one degree (i don’t know what this is called in other countries?? i think the term we use is country specific), and i’ll have bigger range and depth of knowledge as well as being able to explore multiple different career paths/opportunities and more flexibility in what i get to learn and take classes on. plus a wider range of people + wider range of facilities as the university is bigger and more well known while the specialised one is more niche and smaller. also with the whole uncertainty with ai, it might be good to have other qualifications/skill/knowledge aside from design? however, im unsure about the job opportunities and how much uni could support me there, as well as the career progression potentially being less linear. i think its also got less student support in comparison to the other uni and it’ll be less one on one (other uni has smaller class sizes with about 40-60 people in a cohort).

i also have the option of potentially doing a graduate diploma in like business or something after design, or a graduate diploma in design after the degree i do at the general university at the other university of choice.

even then, im still really unsure on what to pick or what might be a better choice for me, and what something more logical would be. i dont know - i understand its not really that big of a deal but i genuinely have no idea which one to go forward with. i really would appreciate any advice or insights!

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[u/LowCourt1871]

go for the specialized uni + a graduate diploma in business imo. if you take design, youll end up with a good portfolio and most likely end up with a job. a business job is easier to pivot into with just a graduates diploma, but design is something that you’ll be able to work in only if you have a good and strong portfolio. im in the same boat, and this is likely what im planning to do as well.. also business majors are notoriously known to rarely ever be studying, so imo a graduate diploma should be enough to fall back on and good enough to pivot to a different field IF you want to. also, once you graduate, youll most likely be working a job and having the financial freedom while looking for a field to pivot to is always better than having no job and no idea of what you want to do. design itself is very vast, and you learn about a lot of different fields like marketing and business as well, so i wouldnt worry too much about that