Step by step guide on choosing a perfect university course

De Montfort University

Official Rep

Hi everyone, :smile:

In the following post I am going to share some of my experience regarding choosing of a course that made me happy.

The process of choosing a university is a stressful matter, especially if a person has multiple distinctive spheres of interest. A perfect example is me. By the time I was deciding on a course, I had been interested in multiple areas, such as programming, applied physics, mathematics, history (!) and business. So, how did I manage to decide on the course I enjoy doing so far? :colondollar:

Initially, it is important to brainstorm everything you feel interested doing. In my case I really enjoyed dealing with software, hardware, calculations and networking. One useful tip is to take a pen and paper and just to write every idea down. By the end of the process you will have a bullet point list of activities that you may want to connect your future with. :wink:

Secondly, after getting an idea of what you enjoy doing, it is necessary to identify a list of “administrative” factors that you believe are important for your successful future. For some people it may be the amount of entry-level salary. For others it may be important to spend only as few years as possible before being able to become a part of the industry. By the time when I was making my choice, my main “administrative” factor was whether the job was going to be in demand in 5 or 10 years, since I wanted to become a part of a growing and innovative industry. :h:

Thirdly, after brainstorming information for the two lists, it is time to think about the possible roles you may associate with every activity from “I enjoy doing” list. After that, I advise you to create some sort of rating for every role and rate them according to your parameters from “administrative” list. By the end of the process you will have clear picture of the possible roles that may be suitable for you and their relevance according to parameters you chose as important ones. Consequently, you will have a list of the jobs that are interesting to you. :cool:

Finally, after you have decided on the job that suites you (sometimes you will have a list of closely connected roles) you can start to think about the degree you may need to have in order to get the job. One tip is to take a look at the vacancies online and get an understanding of the degree that is in demand in your particular sphere. And the last but not the least – I do advice you to decide on the course before deciding on university, since you do not want to limit yourself, especially in the process that will definitely affect your future career. :colonhash:

To conclude, the process of choosing a course requires a sufficient amount of effort. However, it is more than worth it. The best way to avoid stress and frustration is to divide the process into stages and to do every stage step by step. In my experience, this way guaranties a higher probability of choosing a perfect course than blind guessing. If you feel overwhelmed by the decision you need to make – divide it into a sequence of small decisions and consider them consciously step by step.

Good luck with choosing a course of your dream!

- Ilya :u: