ITT: I have to choose either a shitty undergrad course or take a gap year and I don't know what to do
Being this year's high school graduate I applied to study computer science as I am interested in the subject with particular interest in programming and artificial intelligence. Unfortunately, due to personal problems that are now past me, I underperformed greatly on my finals and only got accepted into an ICT course. My only two options now are to either take a gap year or enroll in the ICT course. The thought of being a whole year behind, feeling stuck and watching as everyone else makes progress in their lives just to get to reattempt my finals seems excruciating. As I'm currently under the care of a psychotherapist and doing a whole lot better, I'm afraid taking a gap year would eventually make my depression come back and render my reattempting finals efforts futile. On the other hand, as I want to become a programmer in the future, I could go for the ICT course and then choose some computer science master's. The thing is, I'm not sure if I'd get accepted for such a master's given how different the ICT syllabus is compared with CS. Even if I managed to do that, it looks to me like I'd be at a big disadvantage anyways competing for jobs with people who had started studying programming with their undergrad course, not just their master's. I'd also have to spend three and a half years studying something I'm not really interested in. Even though I'm finally getting a grip and erasing mental turmoil from my life, I have a very hard time deciding what I want to do in this situation and I would love to get to know your insight/recommendations. My goal is to become a programmer through choosing the best way out of the situation I've found myself in.
Being this year's high school graduate I applied to study computer science as I am interested in the subject with particular interest in programming and artificial intelligence. Unfortunately, due to personal problems that are now past me, I underperformed greatly on my finals and only got accepted into an ICT course. My only two options now are to either take a gap year or enroll in the ICT course. The thought of being a whole year behind, feeling stuck and watching as everyone else makes progress in their lives just to get to reattempt my finals seems excruciating. As I'm currently under the care of a psychotherapist and doing a whole lot better, I'm afraid taking a gap year would eventually make my depression come back and render my reattempting finals efforts futile. On the other hand, as I want to become a programmer in the future, I could go for the ICT course and then choose some computer science master's. The thing is, I'm not sure if I'd get accepted for such a master's given how different the ICT syllabus is compared with CS. Even if I managed to do that, it looks to me like I'd be at a big disadvantage anyways competing for jobs with people who had started studying programming with their undergrad course, not just their master's. I'd also have to spend three and a half years studying something I'm not really interested in. Even though I'm finally getting a grip and erasing mental turmoil from my life, I have a very hard time deciding what I want to do in this situation and I would love to get to know your insight/recommendations. My goal is to become a programmer through choosing the best way out of the situation I've found myself in.
