The Life Conundrum of Someone who likes Variety

[elitecrewer]

Random thought here.

A theme which has been apparent to me in the past is that, to be the best at something, you have to *really* commit to it. I've been reasonably good at a couple of sports in the past, but gave them both up when it got serious -> I didn't enjoy committing that much of my time to the sport. As a result, I'm not outstanding at anything, sports-wise, now.

The same is true academically. Living in England and sitting ASs in around 3 weeks, I got the same grade in every one of my GCSEs -> from English to Maths and from History to French my marks were very similar. So narrowing down to 4, for A-level, was tricky.

I chose to focus on maths -> doing double maths now, and looking to apply to do maths at uni, realistically going for Oxbridge mainly, but also applying to unis like Warwick, Bath and York.

At a maths open day at Oxford today, I met the kind of people who I'll be 'competing' against (competitive business, Oxbridge application), and I can safely say that they don't do a lot in life which isn't maths -> a lot were fine, but a fair few just stared at their feet when people spoke to them. Hell, the two other surefire mathematicians in my year at school had completely the entire Further Maths A2 syllabus before they even started the 6th form, and literally cannot be found without a maths problem to be getting on with.

So my worry is this -> I like variety. From doing a stupidly wide range of sports, to being a 'jack of all trades' academically, I just don't enjoy spending my *entire* time doing one sport/subject. There are a fair few phrases about variety being a great thing, but, in the real, competitive world, this just doesn't seem to be the case. How can I compete with people who spend their entire time doing maths? What to do about the issue of not wanting to spend a stupid time on one sport? Hell, it even applies to gaming -> I love Counter Strike 1.6 and Starcraft, but, having the playtime of around a tenth of those I face in competitive matches, I rarely stack up. Does this thirst for variety mean that I'll never get to the top, in life as in any other place to which you can apply it?

Anyone else?

 

[Xvito]

You don't need to get to the top.

As long as you're enjoying your life it's alright.

I'm pretty much the same, but I don't worry about it... Frankly, I don't even care.

 

[teisjm]

I think most people have more than one interrest. A lot of people will use they're free time to pursue other interrests than the one they work with at their job.

You don't have to be the best at something (very few people are) you just need to be good enough at somehting that interrests you to educate yourself in it, and get a job revolving around that. Then you have all your spare time to pursue other interests

 

[Anachronism]

How can I compete with people who spend their entire time doing maths?

You can't, and you don't need to.

You need to find other things in your life to keep you occupied. For some, that would be sports, a girlfriend, or a social life. For others it's StarCraft.

Sorry, couldn't resist. The point is, you can't let one thing consume your whole life. Even on a university application basis, they like someone who is balanced. I realise you can't put CS on a UCAS form, but if you spend all your time doing nothing but maths, you might not come across that well in an interview.

 

[IrrelevantTangent]

Variety is always limited because there are only so many activities one can do to amuse themselves. The trick of it is to get used to feeling bored sometimes so long as you stick with the activities that you enjoy.

 

[Futurehead]

Maths at A level, something I could never handle personally. You either love it or you hate it, I pulled myself through and got a solid C at GCSE but now I'm glad to see the back of it.

You seem like a bright person and there's nothing wrong with not knowing what you want to focus on right now. By the way, I'm interested in what grade you did get for all your subjects, by the sounds of it I'm guessing either B or A right?

I'm in year 12 and I'd say I'm a B grade student when it comes down to it. I'm looking at the Town Planning course at Newcastle University, the BBB grade entry requirement is something I know I'm capable of.

In the past year I've realised my ego simply isn't big enough to be a competitive person, this means I don't think a career in say law for example is for me. If you don't want to be one of those over-competitive people in life then you don't have to be. If you're an "oxbridge" student then I'd say you're already a winner so just relax and enjoy life.

Remember, "Don?t feel guilty if you don?t know what you want to do with your life? the most interesting people I know didn?t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don?t." - The Sunscreen Song

As long as you keep you're grades up you still have leverage to decide what you want to do with your life over the next few years.

 

[the_hessian]

You don't need to get to the top.

As long as you're enjoying your life it's alright.

I'm pretty much the same, but I don't worry about it... Frankly, I don't even care.

This.


But... I must elaborate... I am the same, have done so many sports and subjects in the past, found I floundered at college academically because I did all the sciences and maths, not enough variety, so moved onto art. Now that I'm doing art I don't just want to do art, I do photography, fashion, short stories, a noval is in the works, poetry, and modeling. Much happier with a more varied creative outlet, that at the same time I can link together.

If you live and breath one thing you will bore yourself silly, and to be the best of the best at it you have to do nothing but it, you have to sacrifice friends, family, fun. Almost everything. Not to be taken racistly here, but we have no chance in hell in comparison to the chinese at academics. I have a good few chinese friends and they do nothing at all but study. My best chinese friend is as we speak at Imperial College London doing Aeronaughtical Engineering, quite possibly the most prestigious and difficult engineering course in the world with a 60% fail rate. And he's about 3rd in his class, the top being an absolute genius (and english), the second being another chinese guy, and my friend does nothing but study to maintain his grades.

Everyone always wants to be the best, but the possibility is so slim. You have to have spent your entire life doing one subject and nothing but it to be the best. They're impressive, but usually lack people skills due to being human machines only good at one thing. So enjoy your variety and be "good" at maths, you don't need to be the best, just be good enough to get a good job with it, one you wont hate, and have fun the rest of the time.

 

[Lukeje]

At university there is always a lot more you can be getting on with than just studying. There are many sports to play, societies to join, journalistic articles to write. So variety is easy to find. You may however not be at the 'top' of your year if you choose to indulge in these activities. Let me let you in on something; after you graduate, nobody cares if you were top in your year. As long as you come away with a 1st/2.1 you'll be incredibly eligible for a lot of jobs (especially if the degree is from Oxbridge).

...though there is the stigma in Oxford that you can either have fun, or get a 1st. Not both. But that's not really true, it all depends how you work. If you are good at 'cramming' before an exam, then you may be able to do lots of activities and make up for it at the end. Otherwise, lots of small amounts of study over a long time can achieve the same effect, albeit with a slightly more restricted amount of time to do different activities. Also remember that even if you do come away with a third because you did 'too many' extra-curricular activities, then those activities should still help to build up your CV (should...)

...and also don't forget that maths at university isn't one single subject; it's a multitude of interlinked sub-areas, most of which are drastically different from one another.

TL;DR: Go for the top, even if you don't make it because you may only get one chance.

...and finally, if you do apply to Oxford, remember to apply to Worcester College, it's obviously the best (pink and black FTW!).

 

[Nmil-ek]

Life is all about you, if your happy and feel your not lying to yourself it dosent matter mate just dont make yourself miserable for anyone or over something as trivial as a job. I was a dropout at 16, average qualifications have done more than one shitty job in my time and im not even 20 yet and I bloody regret it. But this year I just said what am I doing and was hounest with myself I might not be going anywhere high but i don't want to id be happier as a low wage electricians apprentice making an hounest living than a teacher or doctor or programmer whatever.