Choosing the right-fit course for you, what’s important to graduate recruiters, and your “dream university”.
😊 Welcome
We begin today with a back-to-basics article about finding a course and university that are the right fit for you.
It's a useful checklist, wherever you are on your decision-making journey.
We hear why you shouldn’t think about academic studies as the only ‘compulsory’ activities at university.
And we look at the idea of a “dream university”.
Before all that, a quick plug. I’ve been creating a whole load of YouTube shorts recently; tiny little bit-sized, 30-second chunks of usefulness to complement my longer form videos.
These include the playlists ‘Personal Statement Top Tips’ and ‘Things Everyone Should Know about Applying through UCAS’.
✍️ 10 ways to work out if a university and course is the right fit for you
Choosing a course and a university is a tricky business.
First you have to decide what subject you want to do, and then you need to work out where the best place is to study it.
There are loads of complexities involved, and there is a journey to go through, as you start by casting your net wide and then gradually narrow down your options to the right final choices.
But wherever you are in this journey, there are some key questions that you really need to ask.
In this back-to-basics article, I suggest ten things that you should definitely be thinking about as you make your choices.
From campus life to teaching style, accommodation, cost of living and careers, we look at the essentials of finding your best fit course.
🗄️ From the vault: How to write your Personal Statement (pdf guide)
So this one wasn’t too deep in the vault. And while I know most of you will find the videos I’ve done most accessible, there was still pretty big demand for the pdf version when I launched it.
So here, once again, is the free guide to writing your statement.
It’ll take about an hour to read. But trust me, it’ll save you more than an hour of sitting in front of a blank screen, thinking, stressing, drafting and redrafting your statement.
💡 Did You Know?
I've recruited 100+ graduates into jobs over the last 30 years.
And I've never appointed a single candidate on the basis of their academic record.
In fact, their academic record was pretty much the last thing I was interested in.
What I really wanted to see was how they had applied their knowledge in useful, relevant and interesting ways.
So when you head off to university, get yourself involved in volunteering, student leadership, societies, part-time work, internships and any other way to show how you have applied yourself and made a difference.
Don't think of these things as optional. Think of them as a fundamental part of getting your degree.
📢 Quote of the week
“Please mind the gap between dreams and reality.”
Chubbynida
Artist
I hear loads of students talking constantly about their “dream university”. Sometimes the dream becomes such an obsession that they begin to think that their so-called “dream university” is the only choice that matters. And one by one, they start to write-off their other options.
The problem with this is that it raises expectations to a level where they cannot possibly be met.
No university is perfect; no university can possibly match your expectations if you have put it up on a pedestal as the only perfect place for you. And if you get into your dream university, you’ll simply be disappointed when you find it isn’t perfect.
Similarly, the reality is that your second, third, fourth and fifth choices, if chosen sensibly, are almost certainly just as good, and just as likely to provide you with the education and opportunities that you are looking for.
So let's drop the idea of one perfect “dream university”. It simply isn’t reality.
Thanks for reading!
Jonathan
