Aspira students enjoy a high degree of freedom to structure their own education. In order to exercise this freedom responsibly, students need informed support and guidance from their parents as well as our faculty and administrators. This website is intended to help you, as a family member, understand Aspira’s curriculum and programs, and know what resources and opportunities are available so that you can help your child to think about their choices and encourage them to use the supports available to them.
Tips on How to Choose the Right Study Program
How do you choose the right university, or the right degree? The whole process can seem daunting. What should you focus on? How do you weigh up the different elements involved? So much seems to be at stake. Students and their families often focus overwhelmingly on only some of the crucial aspects of choosing the right university, often missing other equally important, but less obvious, issues.
Author: Duncan Ivison, Professor of Political Philosophy, Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research), University of Sydney
Aspira offer’s you a few suggestions and tips about how to think about choosing a university, course and a degree. Of course, each person’s situation is unique, but we hope we can provide some general tips and advice:
1 Visit, visit, visit!
Go to the open days and ask plenty of questions about university life, the course and support services. Chat to students for some honest first-hand experience of studying there
2 Pay attention to course details
Make sure your number one course covers modules that are suitable for you – browse through the course outline so you know what to expect.
3 Find out more about the lecturers
Whatever you want to study, it’s worthwhile researching the lecturers and unit modules to find out their research interests, and generally to find out more about the people you will be listening to during your studies.
4 Pick something you love – and won’t mind getting up early to learn about it
You’ll find that you work harder if you’re passionate about your degree.
5 Check out work experience opportunities
See if the course or university offers you any internship or placement opportunities. Internship program will give you an opportunity to spend time in the real working sector and as a result, you will know want i sit that you want to do in life.
6 Trust your instincts
Trust your feelings. If you find faults and things you are not comfortable with, then it is not worth going there. If you like the sound of the course and you like the university after visiting it, that’s where you should go.
7 When in doubt, make a spreadsheet
Make a table with all the universities and study programs you have in mind and compare each across a range of different requirements that are important to you, from computer facilities to tuition fees. The university you choose should be the right one for you, not the right one for others.
8 Find out what careers your chosen study program can lead to
Think hard about whether you can see yourself doing those options in the future.
9 Don’t believe all the myths
Most people that come from a state school have this weird idea that there was a type of person who went to Oxford and that I wasn’t it. Don’t believe in those stereotypes. The university’s prospectus only asks for people who are keen to learn, there’s no footnote tucked sneakily away also stipulating a knighthood and a country house.
10 Pick a study program based on abilities
Abilities are what you are able to do, generally speaking. Understanding what areas you have skills in and which areas could use work is a great way to start the elimination process when choosing a university. However, don’t discount the fields where you lack ability just yet; you’ll be able to build those up more during your studies – it is a place to learn, after all.