Course and University Choice Year 13 General Studies PowerPoint 7 rhscareers.

Course and UniversityChoice

Year 13 General StudiesPowerPoint 7

rhscareers

Find a course which matches your interests, career aspirations and talents.• Which subjects are you interested in?• What are your talents?• What sort of job would you like to do after leaving uni?• What academic skills would you like to improve?

Check carefully if a particular degree is required for a future career choice

Explore the subjects you are interested in to discover a wide variety of courses.• Consider combination courses if you would like to study more than 1

subject.• Study one of your A level subjects• Start new subject out of curiosity or interest which may or may not

lead to a specific career

Which Subject?

QuizConsider the following factors and match them with the % of respondents who considered them as “very important” when choosing their future career -

Factor Factor FactorChallenging work Job security Work-life balance

Location Academic Reputation Training opportunities

Career development opportunities

Environmental issues taken seriously

Global development issues taken seriously

Salary Culture

12% 20% 21% 35% 45% 45% 49% 52% 54% 62%

Factor% respondents

thought “very important”

Challenging work 35%Environmental issues taken seriously 20%Job security 45%Work-life balance 62%Global development issues taken seriously 12%Location 30%Academic Reputation 45%Salary 54%Culture 21%Training opportunities 49%Career development opportunities 62%

Use www.UCAS.com to research courses.

Turn to page 15 in the Careers Booklet and list 6 - 10 FE or HE courses that you are considering. Then, research and note 3 or 4 career destinations associated with each of your current AS subjects.

(Use Career Ideas Generator) Read through the lists of Familiar, New Non-Vocational and Vocational courses on page 16 and add at least 2 additional courses of your choice to each list.

(Use A-Z list of courses)

Spend further time researching courses:(1) http://search.ucas.com/subject

(2) http://search.ucas.com/subject/fulllist

Vocational or not?Read through the first half of page 17

How many pupils would like to study a vocational course? How many would like to study a non-vocational course? Ask pupils to explain why they have selected vocational / non-vocational options? In groups discuss the advantages/disadvantages of each.

Complete the exercise at the bottom of page 17 (Use the Career Ideas Generator and A-Z list of courses)

Advantages of Vocational Courses Advantages of Non-Vocational Courses

Develop practical and academic skills Keeps career options open

Increased change of a job Develops transferrable skills

Focus on what is needed for job Study subject in depth

Which Uni / College?Consider issues such as-

1. Location – Fees? Campus? Living away from home? Guaranteed accommodation? Cost of accommodation?

2. Course content – not all history degrees are the same! How is the degree assessed? Are there any work placements?

3. Predicted grades – trust your teachers! Select at least 3 courses which have entry requirements equal to or below your predicted grades.

4. Reputation – check the Times and Guardian league tables which are released each year. Pay close attention to graduate employment rates.

Home or Away?In small groups, try and think of 4 advantages and disadvantages of staying at home (Bel Met, SERC, QUB or UU) and 4 advantages and disadvantages of going away (GB, Europe, USA etc). Record these on page 18 of your Careers Booklet.

Did you include any of these? - Advantages of staying at home Disadvantages of staying at homeLower tuition fees (£3500/yr) Lack of Independence Cheaper to live Mainly NI studentsPart-time job Limited experiencesFamily reasons Reduced opportunities

Homework – www.varsity-match.co.uk/britishmap.htm

Use the website above to find 5 universities in GB which you are interested in researching further.Locate your selected unis / colleges on the map at the bottom of page 18.

Advantages of going away Disadvantages of going awayindependence Tuition Fees (£9000/year)Grow as individual Accommodation costsBroaden horizons Reduced family supportTop uni for course Exam stress

QuizConsider the following factors and match them with the % of respondents who considered them as “very important” when choosing which university / college to apply to -

Factor Factor FactorCourse position in league tables

Uni/college position in league tables

Proximity of uni / college to home

nightlife Teaching methods Entry requirementsReputation of uni / college

Environmental issues taken seriously

Global development issues taken seriously

Reputation of course location Quality of teaching

5% 8% 23% 25% 29% 35% 37% 40% 48% 54% 58% 59%

Factor% respondents

thought “very important”

Teaching methods 35%Environmental issues taken seriously 5%Course position in league tables 23%Uni / college position in league tables 40%Graduate employment rates 58%Proximity to home 37%Entry requirements 29%location 25%nightlife 8%Reputation of course 48%Reputation of uni / college 59%

Complete ‘Choose your Top University Questionnaire’ on pages 19 to 29.

When finished, look over your answers and record all of the things you ticked ‘die for’ on page 30.

Next select your top 10 things to ‘die for’ and record these in the table in the middle of page 30.

When researching which uni or college to apply for, it is important that you consider this list of things which are important to you.

Researching Course and Uni Options

It is now essential that you spend time fully researching course and university choices.

Use - www.sacu-student.com as a suitable website for researching and storing all of your information.

This research will take many hours so don’t get fed up - take breaks, spread research over a number of weeks and talk to parents / guardians about your findings.

Using - www.sacu-student.com

SACU can be used as a means of recording all of your research regarding skills, courses, unis/colleges and careers as well as the progress of your UCAS application next year.

Record your SACU progress on page 31.When you have narrowed down your course options to 4 or 5, complete the table on page 32. Think carefully about why you have selected each course.When you have narrowed your universities / colleges down to 4, record these at the top of page 33.

Make sure you can answer the questions regarding fees, position in league tables, student satisfaction and graduate employment rates in the table on page 33.

Have your top 4 unis changed? If so, why?