How to Choose the Right College and Course?
Coming straight out of school will bring a lot of confusion among students and parents alike, regarding the college or course which will be the right choice. However, it might seem difficult to make that decision. Here are some pointers you can consider while choosing the right college or course.
There are many factors to look into while selecting the college and the course that you will be pursuing in the future. For some, the decision might be the easiest, however, some of you may find it difficult to understand what each discipline, degree, course, field or subject will add to your future. Here are some pointers that you must keep in mind while choosing the college and course for your higher education degree. In this article, you will be able to learn how to choose the right college and course for yourself.
Steps for Choosing Right College and Course
Know Yourself
The first step in deciding the college and course for yourself is to understand your needs, wants and what you enjoy that could also be fruitful for your future. There are many fields that you can choose to pursue your course and career in, however, every discipline, course, and college is unique in its own manner. For this purpose, you will need to know the subject, course, and discipline that will keep you interested and at the same time ensure that you enjoy your time pursuing a path in the discipline.
Here are some of the disciplines that you can choose to pursue a course and career in:
Engineering
Science
Management
Law
Arts and Humanities
Commerce and Banking
Education
Hotel Management
Medical
Paramedical
There are other disciplines as well which are available across the globe as a choice for your career. However, in order to understand which course is best for you, ask yourself a few questions regarding the field or discipline which will be right for you.
Here are some questions that you should ask yourself before finalising a course:
Would I like studying the course?
What is the career prospectus of the field?
Will it be a sustainable source of income? Or Will I be able to sustain myself through a career path under the discipline?
What is the future of the (name of the course you wish to pursue)?
Does it coincide with my career goals? Or Will I be able to reach my final goals through the discipline?
Will I be able to afford the education in said field? Or Will I be able to gain back all the investment put in by me to gain the knowledge in the said discipline? Or What is the Return of Interest (RoI) of the said discipline.
NOTE:
Before even asking yourself these questions, you must properly read through the disciplines that interest you and study about the college, course and career options under the specific discipline. Only then will you be able to understand if a college, course or discipline is the best choice for you, considering all the options available to you.
Make a List of Courses, Discipline or Degree You Wish to Pursue
This is an important step. You should list down all the courses or programmes that you have read about and wish to pursue as your higher education degree. It will be better if you are able to list down as many courses you find interesting. This will help you narrow down the courses that are available in India for you to pursue as your higher education degree.
It is important that you list down the courses based on your liking, interests and end goal. You must ensure that all the courses, in one way or the other, correspondent or add to your goals positively.
Define Your Financial Status
Another factor that you will need to keep in mind while choosing the course or college, is the course and college fees that you will need to invest in gaining the education. We live in a capitalistic world, where you will find education for the same course and discipline at different prices, some higher while some are lower.
Therefore it is important to define your financial standing so that you are able to gain the best education with the resources that are available to you. This does not mean that you cannot take admission to colleges outside your budget since there are education loans which you can avail to gain higher education.
Once your financial standing has been defined, you will be able to narrow down your options in terms of the number of courses that you may wish to pursue as a course and career. You will need to research about the colleges that will be offering these courses under your budget.
Determine The Place of Study
India is home to over 1000 higher educational institutes and Universities, therefore, you will be able to pursue the course of your choice from one of the institutes in India. However, not all locations will be accessible or affordable to you. Therefore, before choosing the college, study about the location of the place, see if there is a good hostel facility or PG accommodation near the college, accessibility of daily products, and other necessities.
This will help you to further narrow down the names of colleges that you wish to take admissions in. Another factor that will come into work in determining is the eligibility criteria for you to take admissions in the particular college. This is an obvious factor, but an important factor to keep in mind before applying for admissions in the college of your choice.
Here are some colleges that you can choose from to pursue your course or degree from:
Heritage or Modern Teaching Techniques
As mentioned above, India is home to over 1,000 higher education institutions and Universities which you can choose from. Among these institutions, you will be able to find colleges, institutes or universities that have a brilliant reputation and brand name in the industries across different disciplines. However, there are institutions and Universities that offer a great quality of education with state-of-the-art infrastructure and facilities.
The question you need to ask here is whether heritage and brand name more important to you or state-of-the-art infrastructure. There are institutes, colleges and universities that offer both heritage and state-of-the-art infrastructure as well. However, admissions to these colleges will be highly competitive and difficult, not impossible, however.
Once all these questions have been answered, you will realise that you have narrowed down the list of colleges to a handful of names. You may find it difficult to narrow down the list further. But there is a solution.
Reach Out to Alumni and Current Students of the College
This may be the last solution, that you will have to take in order to narrow down your list of colleges even further. Here are some ways that you can measure the true quality of the institute/college/university.
We live in the 21st century. This enables us to literally Google anything and everything we wish to know more about. You will need to Google the name of the colleges and read the reviews that have been left over by the people. This will help you gauge the truth about the University.
Being in the 21st century also helps you to individually connect with students and alumni of a college. Through social media platforms like Facebook, you will be able to contact all those who have had an educational qualification from the college. You will be able to connect with them, ask them questions and clear all your queries about the college and the education offered.
These are some of the ways that you can use to narrow down the list of colleges and courses that you wish to pursue and create a future in. However, you must know, you can change your mind and choose to pursue another course. Nonetheless, it is always better to stick to the decision that you have taken. As changing your minds means a lot of sacrifices will need to be made so that you are able to pursue the course and college of your choice.
These are some of the most important decisions in your life, therefore, you must be sure of the decision you make. Further, you need to be confident in the decision you make and determined to follow the decision you have taken.
Follow Your Passion
It may sound cliche, however, the statement is true. They say that if you love what you do, you never have to work a day in your life. It is highly important to enjoy and love the career path that you have chosen. As at the end of the day, we live for ourselves and the satisfaction that you will receive from the job or career path that you have chosen will not compare to any other achievement you may make in your life.
If you are good at your passion or even want to make it a part of your life, you will be able to sustain yourself through your passion. You will be able to make a great career out of it and in the 21st century, it is highly possible for you to make a business out of your passion. With determination, will power and hard work, you will be able to follow your passion and be happy with the life that you will be leading.