Is it difficult for you to choose a university? If it is, don’t worry! We’re here to provide you with a simple guide about choosing a university, which will teach you to complete the university choosing process within 8 steps.
Step 1: Determine what career or careers you would like to study
While choosing a university, you need to take something into consideration: your interests and skills, your ideas about the type of work you would like to do after graduation, and the job opportunities that certain studies may have. This last factor is often not valued enough, but do not forget that you are making a decision with great implications for your future. It does not mean that you should rule out a career you love because it has a high unemployment rate, far from it. For one thing, the job market can change long before you finish your degree. On the other, we have already said that it is not worth being guided by general data. 80% unemployment means that there is 20% who are working. It is entirely possible that you possess qualities that will help you to be in this 20%. But you must objectively evaluate those possibilities. The counselor at your college or institute is a good resource if you want help with this assessment.
Step 2: Identify the criteria you want to use to consider colleges
You have to start limiting the number of universities that you are going to choose, and for that you must decide what your selection criteria are going to be. These are going to be different for each student, but the criteria often include:
– The career or majors you want to study: The majors you identified in step 1 represent the first important criterion, since you will want to limit your search to universities that offer those majors and also have a good academic program.
– Access difficulty: The ease of entering a certain career varies from one university to another. Perhaps you want to rule out universities that do not require a certain minimum level to enter the chosen career or, on the contrary, you see that your chances of entering certain universities are limited by your grades.
– Cost: If you want to put a limit on the cost of your studies, you will possibly eliminate some universities from your consideration. Do not forget to take into account the expenses of accommodation, food, leisure, etc. The possibility of obtaining scholarships, or your willingness to combine work and studies can also influence.
– Prestige of the university: If this is important to you, it can be a determining factor. Prestige brings its benefits, but be careful, the level of quality within the same university can vary from one degree to another. Make sure of the quality of the curriculum of the career that interests you.
– Technical means and facilities: Do you want to study a high-tech or scientific discipline? Is a beautiful or modern environment important to you? Perhaps you want to take into account the quality of the facilities in your assessment: libraries, laboratories, practice rooms, computer facilities, sports facilities, etc.
– Job placement programs: There is a great variety among the programs implemented by each university to facilitate the job placement of their students.
– University size: Do you like a crowded environment, or is a small and welcoming environment more to your liking?
Step 3: Make a long list of universities that may interest you
Once you have some basic idea of the criteria that are important to you, you can start to prepare a preliminary list of universities that may interest you. Possibly you already have suggestions from your friends, your family, and perhaps your institute counselor. If you still have no any ideas, don’t worry! You can use CatEight, a powerful school search and application to quickly do a search. The tool will help you to find and know universities in different countries very effectively.
Step 4: Collect more detailed information about each university on your list
To collect additional information you can use the tool recommended above – CatEight or directly go to the official website of your interested universities. Both of them are good ways to get some school details.
Step 5: Apply your criteria to shorten your list of colleges
With the information you collected in step 4, and the criteria you chose in step 2, you can review your list of universities and filter the listed schools. The goal of this step is to narrow the list down to a reasonable number that you can visit in person. How many is a reasonable number? That depends on each one, but in most cases 5 or less is enough.
Step 6: Visit the universities on your shortened list
There is no a better way to get to know a university than to visit it in person: take part in a guided tour or information session, talk to students and teachers, attend a class, breathe the air and feel the atmosphere. You are going to spend a few years studying in the school so it is worth spending a few hours at each university you are considering to ensure that you would be comfortable there. If some universities are too far away to visit, you try to talk to students and alumni to get an idea of what they are like.
Step 7: Apply to the universities you liked
After the visits, it’s time to make the definitive list of universities and apply for admission. To complete the application, you can also ask CatEight for help. Its Course Application function can assist you to apply for courses and schools with ease.
Step 8: Choose between the universities that have admitted you
If you have followed all the steps, you will most likely be admitted to more than one university. Congratulations!! Now you are the one who decides, and it is the universities that have to convince you. Just make a comparison among the schools and choose the best one for yourself.
This is how to choose a university. By following the steps above, you will be able to choose a university that suits you more quickly and easily. Just have a try!