Below are some quick tips on how to choose your degree.
This is one of the most important decisions you are going to make in your life. We often hear from friends, family and colleagues that their degrees were not relevant to their career, enjoying their degree and that it wasn’t a great financial investment.
In order to prevent all these mistakes you should go ahead by asking yourself the following questions:
1. Who are you? What is your passion, what do you like and dislike?
A piece of advice is that cannot be good in a field that you don’t enjoy doing, “DO NOT UNDER ESTIMATE THE POWER OF PASSION” – people who love what they do; perform way better than people who don’t.
So you should start by asking yourself what were your favorite subjects in school, what do you like to do?
Do you prefer to do calculations or essays? Do you prefer to debate things or have exact answers?
This can lead you to choose a degree that is perfect for you. Whatever you prefer, you have to do enough research to know what you are up for.
There are of course instances where some things may not matchup. What you may enjoy doing may not be what you are good at. In conclusion, you are required to do your research in order to pursue what you love to do in life.
2. Who do you want to be?
It is going to be a very daunting task to choose as you are a teenager. What do you actually like doing? One of the most important things when choosing a course is that you pick a subject you enjoy, or at least think you’ll enjoy. Obviously whatever you pick is still going to involve some hard work and stress, but if you can choose a subject you get at least some enjoyment from, you’re sure to get a lot more out of your degree than if you pick something you find dull or uninspiring.
3. Note a list of subjects you are good at.
Don’t forget to play to your strengths. If you have one or two subjects you really stand out in, the chances are you’ll be able to get on to a fairly good university course in that same subject (and hopefully go on to find a good career in a related field). Be wary of picking something you’re really good at but hate doing (it probably won’t make for a fun three years). Also, don’t necessarily just think of the subjects you’re doing at A-Level – if you’re a strong writer with good analytical skills, for instance, your skills might be well-suited to a degree in psychology (even if you’re not currently studying Psychology).
4. Is it employable?
In other words, will you be able to easily and readily find employment in a related field after you earn the degree? Avoid the possible discouragement from employment rejection later on by considering a broader field of study rather than something super niche.
5. Will it be around later in life?
We live in a time of unrelenting technological progress and innovation. Artificial intelligence and automation are changing the game right now, and it’ll only be more so in the future.
You might have answered that, yes, it is employable, but will it stay that way for decades to come? Employment staples such as accounting are no longer a safe bet.
You might be the most adamant while saying that money doesn’t rank high in your decision-making process when deciding which major to pick. But let’s be honest – it does matter.
