My take on this situation: At 15, I'd say he should try a few other things he finds interesting or thinks he might find interesting. Pursue them enough to actu

My take on this situation: At 15, I'd say he should try a few other things he finds interesting or thinks he might find interesting. Pursue them enough to actually get pretty good at them, it's hard to judge early on. When the time comes to choose a university subject/career, he should go wherever his heart lies. Why? At school I was (really) good at physics, (I got through to international level at the Physics Olympiad) but I never really fell in love with it, and actually didn't go to the international event a second time, as I hated the people there. (I made a couple of friends on the national level though) Programming in my spare time was what I loved most. I ended up doing physics at university based on advice from the people around me. About 2-2½ years in, at the stage where I could no longer get away with minimal work and still get decent grades, I first consciously realised that my heart was just not in it. I finished my degree but haven't touched physics since. Oddly enough, with all my focus being channeled on physics at school and by my parents, I kind of missed out on really getting to know maths beyond what everyone was taught at school. At university it turned out I most enjoyed the maths modules and consistently got the best grades in them, although I unfortunately wasn't permitted to choose many maths electives. Also, my university wouldn't let me switch subjects and carry over any credits, so I didn't. My girlfriend studied maths so I managed to learn quite a bit from helping her out, although I can't help but think that doing a joint CompSci/Maths degree would have brought me more joy. I've stopped taking advice from family now by the way, and I'm a lot happier. :)