I (14f) in year 3 of secondary school have wanted to be a lawyer since I was young. Because I decided so early, I started working towards making my portfolio good for law school. I’ve been taking part in debate competitions, writing competitions for the better part of three years. I feel like I’ve been working very hard and I’m finally getting some measure of results: a few awards in some writing competitions. However, I haven’t been able to do as well in debate. I haven’t won any speaker awards or broken in any big local tournaments so I feel a bit burnt out. In addition, I’ve had some conflicts with my teammates so I’m kinda avoiding the debating scene. While I still enjoy debating, I feel like I’ve plateaued in terms of skill and I’m not as passionate as I used to be.
I got interested in F1 earlier this year. I really want to be an engineer for one of the teams. I have been considering this for more than 4 months and I keep thinking about this thing. I’ve been doing my research: I know they don’t pay extremely well, the UK based teams mostly recruit from top UK unis. I also know I need to be extremely good at physics to get in.
Im from Singapore and my current subject combination is triple science + history + both Math’s + English + higher Chinese + French. I took part in a biology competition and won an award. I’d say I’m pretty OK at physics and I’m pretty good at math. (I think)
The problem is that I have no physics/engineering competitions in my background. My portfolio is completely bare in terms of achievements in physics/chem/math’s. Singapore doesn’t really have a university very strong in engineering, so I have to go overseas. My family is middle class.
What direction should I try to go? And if I were to choose engineering, how do I improve my portfolio since I have so little time left (2 years give or take) before I need to lock in for my A levels?
Comments
Not too late.
Law: solid start, but fading interest
F1: new passion, needs action
Try projects, comps, free courses. See what sticks
You’re 14 you still have time to explore without locking yourself in. It’s normal to outgrow old goals and discover new ones. If F1 engineering excites you, start small: join or start a robotics/engineering club, try physics/engineering competitions (even online), or build personal projects to show interest. Keep your grades strong, especially in math/physics, and look for summer programs or internships later. You don’t need a perfect portfolio right now just start building experience and see if your passion grows before fully committing.
You don’t have to lock it in yet. Keep both doors open: take the toughest math and physics you can, and keep your writing sharp with a bit of debate or moot. Test the engineering pull with small projects like an RC car, Arduino, basic CAD, or F1 in Schools, then write short project summaries to build a portfolio. If law still tugs, publish an essay or two. In a year or two you’ll see which one you can’t stop doing, then aim for scholarships and target unis accordingly.
Consider joining engineering clubs or competitions to build your portfolio. Explore internships too!