Sociology/Social Sciences as an undergraduate degree?
Hi, I’m a Year 12 student graduating this year, and I’m interested in pursuing sociology/social sciences as a future career path. A lot of this interest comes from studying Society and Culture, which has easily become my favourite subject. I’m currently top of my grade and consistently receiving around 95–100% in exams and assignments since I took this subject at the beginning of my senior year, so naturally it’s made me want to explore this field further.
I’ve been looking into either majoring in sociology through a Bachelor of Arts or studying social sciences as a standalone degree, and both seem genuinely fascinating to me. My main issue is that I have no clear idea of what kinds of careers these degrees actually lead into. From the research I’ve done, the pathways seem extremely broad, which gives some scope as I have no idea what I want to do in the future, but also super overwhelming since I have also seen many comments about how a sociology major is majorly regretted.
I used to want to be a psychologist when I was younger (honestly, didn’t everyone at some point lol), but over time I realised I’m not sure I’d want the emotional weight and responsibility of carrying people’s wellbeing and major life decisions on my shoulders every day, etc. I also considered criminology, but I’m not fully convinced I’d actually enjoy many of the careers it seems to lead into.
Psychological sciences have also peaked my interest, but again, where can this take me? I think a pattern I've also picked up is that I am incredibly interested in learning why people make decisions, do certain things, etc, I genuinely enjoy analysing human behaviour and social dynamics, but I just don’t know what kind of career that actually could get me into. Early entry for universities and uni preferences are getting quite demanding and I would be lying if I said I haven't been stressed about this.
So I guess in summary, I've been so stuck on what I want to do as a career, and I finally feel like I’ve found the only field that genuinely motivates and interests me, but I’m worried about making the “wrong” choice and ending up with limited job prospects. I know passion shouldn’t be ignored, but at the same time I want to be realistic about employability and financial stability in the future.
I’m just looking for honest advice from people who studied sociology/social sciences after high school regarding careers or more, honestly any advice would honestly help a lot, thanks.