Today, offers were sent out from Australian universities to prospective students and I have to say that university is a lot more confusing than high school.
I can say with absolute certainty that the transition from primary school to high school was not as drastic as the transition from high school to university will be. Simply deciding on a degree to pursue was difficult enough, let alone deciding majors and courses with that specific degree.
To say that I was overwhelmed today is an understatement. I think I almost got a migraine from the overload of information thrown at me. But, I’m just going to roll with it, what are a few more years of schooling going to do to me other than rack up thousands in debt? I am definitely dreading seeing that number get larger and larger every year.
Since I only just made my course decisions today after a long period of indecision, I’m probably not qualified to give advice on this, so I’ll just share my own experiences.
Choosing your courses.
By this point, you probably already have an idea or are certain about the degree you’re going to pursue in university. Now it’s time to choose majors and courses. I had a pretty solid idea of what I was going to do in uni since I was in Year 9, I was simply tossing up the specific stream I was going to undertake. So, all I had to do was make that decision and then follow a few guidelines on the courses I should take.
I made my decision based on a lot of online reading and talking to current uni students at information and open days. Surprisingly, what I ended up choosing was something I thought I would never in a million years do. So, remember that plans do change over time and you have to be open to these changes.
Then, I searched up sample degree outlines to give me a better understanding of the courses I need to take in order to graduate. Keep in mind that these usually cater to single degrees and don’t take into account double, so you may have to shift courses around.
Finally, try to pick subjects and courses that you’re genuinely interested in. Of course, you have to do those mandatory courses, but keep the other courses flexible and fun. It’s really important that you do courses you’ll enjoy, I’ve found that I work much harder when I’m doing something I love.
Note: you may also want to consider travel and living arrangements when choosing courses. The time it takes you to travel to school may affect how many classes you want in a day and how they are organised during the week.
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