Where to go to study: a checklist for choosing a university and specialty

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

It is not enough to pass the exam, you also need to take the results to the right university so as not to waste several years. The life hacker has prepared a small guide for everyone who has not yet decided where to apply.

Some people know from childhood that they want to become a doctor or a miner. Others have no idea who to work with. For some, finances and school results allow them to enter any faculty, while others choose from what is available. What if you do not yet know which university is the best to go to? Depends on what prevents you from making your choice.

You don't know which university is better

A good university is a vague concept. To understand which university will make a cool specialist out of a student, you need to rummage through a bunch of data.

Look at the rating

Please note that university rankings are different. Simple lists like "The 100 Best Universities in the World" are not suitable: what they evaluate is not always necessary for a future profession. Look for ratings that reflect the employment of graduates: how many specialists found a job after graduation, how quickly they got a job, and whether they work in their specialty at all.

Food for thought:

1. Ratings of the Expert RA agency: starting with the abstract “best university” and ending with the list of the most demanded by employers.
2. Monitoring of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation on the employment of graduates.
3. Rating of the quality of educational activities (also according to the Ministry of Education).
4. An example of the salary rating of the SuperJob portal. Look for similar compilations for other professions.

If you are going to apply, and your educational institution does not appear on any list, ask the representatives of the university if it is easy for graduates to find work. Perhaps the university does not track the fate of all graduates, but at least cooperates with employers and helps in finding a job. Ask about such programs: do they work and under what conditions.

Chat with alumni

Social media is full of alumni groups. Look for them and ask former students if what they got was worth the time and effort. Sample list of questions:

1. How do employers react to a university degree?
2. Was the knowledge from lectures and seminars useful in your work?
3. How do colleagues assess the university?
4. Are the graduates satisfied with the salary level? How quickly do you move up the career ladder?

Go to all open days

Universities hold meetings with applicants to praise themselves. Come and listen. Ask how to find a job after university, whether it is possible to transfer to another faculty and how to do it.

Learn more about study opportunities, travel abroad. Ask questions about equipment in laboratories and even the quality of food in the canteen.

You don't know who you want to be

Don't worry if you haven't decided what you want to do yet. You have time to choose your dream business. But if you want to apply now (so as not to waste time or for other reasons), try to find a suitable option.

Look for professions you don't know about

Open the directory of professions (the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation has such and such) and see who you can work with. Just read the job descriptions in order. If you like something, go to any job search portal and consider vacancies. Analyze what are the requirements for applicants and what you will need to be able to do.

Sometimes this free search gives more than all career guidance tests.

Choose a university with a large number of directions

If after a year or two you realize that you want to do the wrong thing at all, you can find a suitable specialty within your university. Then it will be easier to transfer to another faculty and take additional subjects.

Stop at the hardest

If you have no idea who you want to be, but you still need to study (your parents pressure you or you are afraid of the army more than the session), then choose a difficult specialty.

First, there is less competition in difficult areas. Secondly, if you decide to change the faculty or specialty, after a difficult study, everything else will seem like paradise. Third, the skills of self-discipline and overcoming difficulties are the best that a modern university can give.

Choose a practical specialty

So that you can start working right after school or even during it. Otherwise, after university, you may find yourself with a diploma that neither you nor the employer need.

It is better to make money in an unloved position and save money for a new business than to spend several years on crusts that are not useful at all.

You have no money

Training is expensive. Or not?

Don't get hung up on a big name

To put it bluntly, if you want to become a mathematician, you have to become a mathematician, not a student at the Best Math University. Therefore, look for the desired specialty in other universities and in other cities. Maybe you will find an option for many thousands of kilometers, but with a scholarship.

Don't stop at Moscow and St. Petersburg: good universities are not only there. The HSE study on the accessibility of education in 2016 will help to take a fresh look at the geography of education.

Go to college

Colleges are cheaper. They pass the program faster. And in a few years, there will be a ready-made specialty, work and the opportunity to study in the correspondence or evening department, without thinking about how the parents will pay for their studies.

Choose a university that pays good scholarships

Many universities reward active and talented students with additional scholarships. The region can also help with money.

Find out if the university you are going to has such fellows. Ask how they did it. There will remain a trifle - to become one of the best students of the university.

Try target set

Target recruitment is when a company pays for your training, and after graduation you have to work at this very company. Sometimes the contract is not concluded with the enterprise, but with the municipal authorities. In fact, this is a kind of educational loan, only the debt has to be repaid not with money, but with work.

Find out if the university you are interested in has a target set, ask what companies they work with. Take the contacts of the departments that conclude contracts - and go ahead, study the conditions and features of training.

Please note that orders for the enrollment of target people are signed earlier, and applications must be submitted in the spring. The best time to do everything is during spring break.

School Graduate Checklist

If you are confused about what to do right now, check yourself with a short instruction:

1. Decide who you want to be.
2. Make a list of universities that have the required specialty.
3. Cross out educational institutions that you cannot afford.
4. Check the position of the rest in different ratings.
5. Choose a few universities for which it is worth trying and passing the exams.