Sounds like you, and she, are doing fine to me. My girlie must be the same age I think, 17 this June. She has changed her mind quite frequently but my philosophy is to go with the flow - they are learning about themselves - and too many people try to create mini versions of themselves in their children which is not fair on the either really.

Couldn't agree more. I think people must expect that because I am very academic, that must be what I want for my kids too, but not if that is not what they want for themselves. Anyway, I basically made a mess of my first degree and didn't really get back into the intellectual side of life till I started an OU degree in my late twenties.
I often joke that she must be a changeling because she is so different in temperament, attitudes, and personality from the rest of us, but I am intensely proud of the wonderful person she is - just as I am of her brother, who is me with testosterone. I would say he has the brains and she has the personality, but that would be doing them both a disservice. They are both partly themselves and partly what the Hubby and I have made of them, and our role now is to sit back and watch with amazement, offering what advice and/or support we can.

There's too much emphasis at school on what you are "good at". It should be about what you enjoy. Because by the time you end up in a career, you're going to spend 8 hours a day doing what ever it is.
I was told by a "careers advisor" (I use the term loosely) at school that Russian was going to be "the language of the 90s"?????? And because languages was what I was "good at", I was encouraged to apply to university to do French and Russian..... I never wanted to do it and I pulled out at the last minute and buggered off to do Performing Arts instead..... never looked back, am now a freelance arts development consultant and writer and lovin' it!!!
Your daughter should follow her heart....
How's the novel going by the way? ;-)