BlogUniversityHow to Choose a University Degree in 3 Steps!

How to Choose a University Degree in 3 Steps!

Don’t know how to choose the University Degree for you?

With 1 in 3 University graduates struggling to find full-time work, it can be pretty hard to decide what degree is going to give you the best future!

In a past life, I created what was essentially the first-ever ‘Tripadvisor’ for Australian Universities. We crowd-sourced tens of thousands of reviews and ratings from a HEAP of Universities.

In this video, I’m going to take you through what I learned from this research! I’ll show you the mistakes you should avoid and the primary things you should consider when you choose a University degree.

Step #1: Do Your Research
Step #2: Don’t Pick Based on Prestige
Step #3: Forget the ATAR

Step #1: Do Your Research

Let’s pretend you’re buying a car.

I bet you’d do heaps of research about the car’s safety, mileage and performance.

It’s strange because I find that when people choose a University degree, they do nowhere near the amount of research they would if they were buying a car.

The thing is… Uni costs $250,000 when you combine fees and the money you’re missing out on by not working!

That’s a lot more than a car!

You should look at:
  • Graduate Employment Rate
  • Global Rankings
  • Quality of lectures
  • Quality of facilities
  • Work experience
  • Internships
  • Job placements

These are all things you should make sure to keep in mind when you choose a University degree!

Head here to read about everything you should factor in when choosing a degree!

Sometimes it’s entirely possible to choose a degree you thought you would love and find that it wasn’t the match for you after all.

You can read up on what to do if this happens to you in our article here!

Step #2: Don’t Pick Based on Prestige

I definitely made this mistake!

How to choose a university - Sydney Uni?

I picked a Law degree because it looked prestigious.

The reality is though, that this was a fantasy I had built up in my head!

The reality of the course was FAR different from my perception, and let me tell you… I ended up HATING Law.

So, whatever you do, MAKE SURE you go to university open days and speak to people who already do your desired degree before you make any hasty decisions!

Another mistake you don’t want to make with prestige is choosing a university because of it’s branding.

Don’t turn down a scholarship at University of Western Sydney or Macquarie University just because you think it’s not prestigious enough!

In fact, we have a whole article that you can read here on why you shouldn’t choose a uni based on it’s brand!

Step #3: Forget the ATAR

When I saw that Law had a 99 ATAR cut off I was like… HELL YES

I thought:

“If the University degree is this hard to get in to, it must mean I’ll be set for life!”

Let me be the first to tell you, this isn’t the case. An ATAR cut off has NO correlation to the quality of a course.

ATAR is determined by how many people want to do the course… That’s it!

This means it doesn’t affect the quality of academics, the lecturers or the job prospects of your chosen degree at all.

So when you choose a university degree, don’t feel like you need to pick a course with a high cut-off because you don’t want to waste your ATAR.

You should pick a course that you are GENUINELY PASSIONATE ABOUT AND INTERESTED IN.

Once you’ve done this, you can move on to doing the necessary research and make sure you choose the perfect degree for you!

If you’re looking for more guidance on how to choose the right university for you, check out our article on 3 top tips to choosing a uni here!

Need more help choosing your university?

We provide personalised consulting and mentoring with our team to help you answer the big question, “What am I going to do with my life when I finish school, and how do I get there?”

We can help you get your university preferences together, choose your university, apply for scholarships and more!

To find out more and get started with an inspirational tutor and mentor get in touch today! 

Give us a ring on 1300 267 888, email us at [email protected] or check us out on Facebook!

Rowan Kunz is the founder of Art of Smart Education, an award-winning provider of 1 on 1 tutoring and mentoring. Rowan has spent the last 8 years conducting research with thousands of Australia’s top students who scored ATAR’s of over 98 and is the author of Secrets of HSC Success Revealed. Rowan has 10 years experience in tutoring and delivers workshops across Australia on excelling academically at school. Rowan’s videos on YouTube have been watched more than 1,000,000+ times.

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