Is it worth a shot to go for a career in academia?

[zh-angsty]

My dream career is academia, somewhere in the field of sociology/gender studies/politics/economics. I know this is an incredibly tough and competitive industry. Is it worth a try though? I would say I'm decently skilled in the humanities; I've obtained H1s in Arts subjects, I write well (I'm a writer for the Economics Students Society Australia), I've also debated for the Victorian State Team and won awards for creative writing. I know it's hard to gauge talent/intelligence but on a superficial level, do I have a decent chance? If so, I'm going to switch from my current degree (BCom at Unimelb) to the BA at Unimelb. Tbh I'm shit scared though.

[Joseph41]

The way I see it:

Your dream career is academia, under the umbrella of Arts. You want to do it. You're good at it.

... could it be more of a risk not to transfer?

(Don't want to persuade you either way, but that's how I'd be looking at it.)

[brenden]

What are you scared of? I changed degrees three times - no biggy!

It sounds like Arts might be the more suitable degree for you at this time of your life

[elysepopplewell]

Tbh I'm shit scared though.

Magic happens outside the comfort zone

[Russ]

The main issue with academia is that the job market is not very good or structured. The people already working as academics aren't going anywhere and a PhD is no longer a significant distinction unfortunately, leading to problems with actually making an income after 7 years of uni.

Have you thought about your plan after switching degrees?

[The Raven]

I want to echo Russ's point. The market for humanities academics in areas such as gender studies and sociology is a competitive and arguably shrinking market. Obviously if it's something that you want to do then by all means go for it, however, I would consider what you would want to do if you don't manage to get one of those academic positions after completing your PhD. An arts degree can be useful, but often many of its graduates don't end up working in the field that they studied in solely due to limited positions in academia.

I feel like you wouldn't be limited in graduate study options in Humanities fields if you stayed in Commerce and just completely arts breadths in areas that you are interested. On the other hand, Arts does offer an economics major which could allow you keep up that area if you stay in Arts. Economics is the one area in your interests that has noticeable opportunities in industry and government. Ultimately you want to think about what else you would be comfortable doing in the off chance that you have to wait for an academic position. Don't think that Arts will limit you to either getting into Academia or bust though, there are plenty of things you can do after Arts, but just realise they might not be directly or even tangentially related to what you studied.