How can I help my child choose the right university and the right course?
Going to university is a great opportunity and as a parent, you want to make sure that your child makes the right decision about what they study and where they study. Each year a number of students do drop out of university for a range of reasons and all parents want to make sure that this doesn’t happen to their child.
Careerpilot has a lot of information to help your child choose a course and a university, you can find it in the HE at 18+ section.
Open days are important
For a parent/carer wanting to help their child choose their course and university, there are a number of things that you can do to help.
Attend Open days
Encourage your child to do their research. The level of research needed often takes far longer than the student realises. Starting to think about their plans could begin as early as Term 3 or 4 in Year 12. Open Days at universities take place throughout the year, but there is a peak season in Terms 5 and 6 and after the summer break, when they will be in Y13. Some Open Days need to be booked, and some might only be virtual. You can find out when open days are taking place on universities' websites or on the Open Days website.
If they are face-to-face events, it may be that your child would like you to go with them to the Open Days or they may feel happy to go alone. Encourage them to plan their day, as there is often so much on offer that it can feel quite overwhelming when they arrive on the day. It may be possible to book online for some of the more popular activities – for example, everyone wants to have a look at the accommodation and this could involve a walk or a short bus trip away from campus. Suggest that they sit in on the sample lectures especially if they are finding it difficult to choose between subjects. An Open Day is the opportunity for the university to impress your child, so encourage them to reflect on what they thought was good about the university and what they were less impressed with. They need to consider the whole package on offer – from the course to the accommodation, the clubs and societies, sporting facilities and their employability record - and more!
If they are virtual events: Make sure they sign up for subject talks as this where they will get the details of what the courses offers, and get an idea of the teaching style.
If it is not
possible to go to an Open Day in person, take a look at the virtual tours and Open Day videos on
the UCAS website
Help with choosing a course and then deciding where to do it
The first thing is to find the courses they want to do - remember, even courses with the same name can be quite different when they look at the detail.
The second things is to find a place that fits - taking into account location, accommodation costs, travel, etc.
Careerpilot has a section called 'Deciding which course to do'
And a section on 'How to find and compare courses'
Students often think that they need to have decided what they want to do for a career and pick a degree subject relevant to this. Some students are ready to make a decision at 17 or 18 about their career choice, but many are not. You can reassure them that many students arrive at university with no clear career plan, but with a desire to study a specific subject. Whilst they are at university these students develop their career ideas through their academic study, their work experience and extra curricular activities and then decide what it is they want to do.
Many professional and managerial opportunities are open to students with any degree subject, although, of course, if your child has a career in mind, they should check the entry requirements by using the job profiles in the Careerpilot Job Sectors.
Other factors to think about
- Do you want to do a course which incudes a year work experience?
- Do you want the opportunity to study/gain work experience abroad as part of your degree?
- Is the course recognised by any professional bodies if you are aiming for a particular career?
- What are the assessment methods of the course?
- Do you want to study one subject or several as part of the same degree e.g. a combined honours degree?
- How realistic are the course entry requirements?
- What do previous students say about the course and university they have attended?
- What do previous students go on to do after they leave the course?
You can use the official comparison site Discover Uni which gives statistics gathered from the National Student Survey
Choosing the best university for them, rather than a 'good' university
Don’t let them get bogged down by trying to work out what is a ‘good’ university – perhaps they need to consider which is the best university for THEM. This means taking into account location, fees, how they feel about the place, do they feel they will fit in - as well as information about the course.
Results day and clearing
If results are not as good as they hoped they will be eligible for Clearing, so they can look for a course requiring lower grades than their first choice,
Either way, try to encourage them to take their time and not be rushed into any rash decisions.
If grades are not as high as expected, there is always next year, they could maybe do a few resits to improve grades and take the time to think carefully about their next step. For some students this may well be the better option. Careerpilot has a section on what to do on A Level results day.
More information:
UniGuide has some useful articles on choosing courses.
UCAS has this article with lots of useful information for you including 10 Top Tips as well as a Parent’s Guide which you can download.
You can search for courses in Careerpilot and get key stats about each.
What uni? compares different courses from different unis and provides a lot of information about costs, etc.
SACU has a free careers quiz which matches students to higher education courses and careers
