Part 1: Tips on Picking a Post-Secondary Program 

By
Helen
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Photo by RUT MIIT on Unsplash

Intro: 

I hope you have had a great winter break! This post hopefully is going to help you with picking a major at a post-secondary institution. Personally, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I would like to pursue, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to research some tips for my own benefit and yours. 

Tips:

  1. Finding your interest and what you like
    1. Questions to ask yourself:
      1. What kind of person do you want to be?
      2. What kind of problems do you want to solve?
      3. What’s your best subject in school? 
      4. What do you absolutely never want to do again?
      5. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
      6. How do you want to learn? Hands-on learning, theoretical, self-directed? 
      7. What kind of degree do you want? Bachelors, Masters, PHD? 
    2. Listing your likes and dislikes (anything works!)
    3. Try out potential careers
      1. This can be in extracurriculars, volunteer work, part-time jobs, going to your parent’s workplace
    4. Talk to close friends, parents, teachers, counselors, etc.
      1. Ask them about their work
      2. Ask them to describe you
    5. Search up people on LinkedIn
      1. Search up someone you admire on LinkedIn and see their education
    6. Take an interest test:
      1. Career test – What career should I have?
      2. Career Quiz – BigFuture
      3. Career Quiz | The Princeton Review
      4. Plan your career with the Career quizzes – Job Bank
  2. Research University Programs
    1. Check out this website for programs in any country: https://www.schoolfinder.com/Programs/ProgramSearchResult.aspx?programCategory=8&ProfileType=University Country=US_CA
    2. Email schools – they may provide resources that can help you find your ideal program
    3. Talk or email senior students that you may know!
    4. Attend university fairs!
    5. How limited is the enrollment in the program? Some universities have limited enrollment as you must meet standards to gain admittance – check for prerequisites and grade requirements.
    6. Consider the earning potential of your field of interest 

Final Remarks:

If you are also a student like myself (I’m assuming you are), it’s a challenging ordeal to find which program to pursue – I’m not entirely sure what I like and what I don’t like, along with the various financial and social factors. However, I was able to find some comforting facts:

  • 20-50% of all students entering university are undecided about their majors
  • 50-70% of students change their majors at least once during their studies
  • most individuals will change their positions and careers 6-7 times over a lifetime

I hope these facts reassure you that you are not alone; many people are unsure about what they would like to pursue even entering post-secondary and even during post-secondary. A reminder that this is a two part series – part one of how to decide on a program and part two on how to decide on a university/college (around Jan.15th, 2024). Thank you for reading and good luck!

Sources: 

https://uwaterloo.ca/future-students/missing-manual/careers/how-to-choose-a-career

https://uwaterloo.ca/future-students/start-here/use-interests-find-program

https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/aacc/choosing-your-program

https://www.lakeheadgeorgian.ca/blog/things-consider-choosing-post-secondary-education/