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University Course Choice: How to Calculate the Best Course for You

University Course Choice: How to Calculate the Best Course for You

Students have some very tuff decisions in their lifetime, studying hard to achieve the high grades at A Levels and then choosing the best university to attend in the future, but without choosing the right course their educational path could go horribly wrong.

Finding the best course to study at university is an important decision to be made, as some courses can last more than 5 years and with the rising number of student’s debts and tuition fees increasing students are wondering what the best courses to invest their time in are. Choosing a course you are passionate about will at least be worth the investment into educational fees but being stuck in the wrong course and maybe having to move universities or then take a year out could end up with more financial problems and demotivation in education. So what should students do?

Telegraph UCAS Calculator

Every student needs to think and then act, first you should analyse what your passion of study is and check what potential career paths this could lead to. Once you have analysed the route to your dream job you should think about what kind of course is available, if there is a mix of subjects you can specialise in and branch out your skills or should you sensibly choose one major and dedicate your time to this.

With the vast number of courses available you would be surprised at what you could be studying. If you are studying in the UK, the Telegraph UCAS Calculator is a great tool in providing a list of courses that best suits you. Once you have your A or AS Level grades you can use their calculator to convert your grades into UCAS points which will then list a number of courses you could potentially be studying. You can select the sensible courses for you or you could be brave and go for a hit on random and see what quirky course would suit you; you could end up studying Tropical Disease Biology!

Students today like variety and many universities are catering to this, globally the number of courses based on celebrities has increased.  In the USA for example, New Jersey’s Rutgers University enabled students to study a diploma on “Politicizing Beyonce”, Jay Z was even honoured by Georgetown University having had a sociology course named after him. In the UK, the one and only David Beckham had a 12 week module based on him by Staffordshire University, which was part of the BA in Sports, Media and Culture.

University or Campus life can be a success and a career path can be successful if you just choose the right course, so get analysing your course path today and let us know how you get on.

Author: Jenny B is a graduate of engineering who developed her career on an international level. Now working as a freelance writer Jen is here to offer her advice on university life. 

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Can You Afford To Go To University?

Going to university is one of the biggest decisions you will make.

For me, as a careers advisor, I highly recommend being sure about your career choice, as there are over 2000 potential career choices, but most people pick the general job roles (or university course) for bizarre reasons such as “their parents told them to pick that career” or “because my friend has picked that course”

Remember you spend over a third of your life in employment and you need to be happy about your career choice.

Some courses cost up to £9000, you don’t want to be spending that type of money only to leave halfway through the course, or to graduate only to decide that you want to do something different.

Discussing and planning your career goals, can not only save you money in the long term but can also make you feel excited about your future.

Once you have decided on the university and course that you are interested in, you need to know some key facts about university finances, because many believe, due to the rise in tuition fees that they can’t afford to go to university.

  1. No one has to pay fees upfront. You can apply for loans to pay for your university fees, and once you graduate you don’t have to pay the loan back until you earn over £27295 a year. If you never earn this amount, you won’t have to pay your loan back.
  2. Some eligible students can also apply for maintenance loans to help pay for rent, food, bills, etc.
  3. After 30 years whatever is left to pay off your student loan is wiped out – you won’t owe any more money.
  4. If you have the money to pay for your course upfront, you can do it. This way once you leave university the money you earn is yours. Remember though depending on your salary depends on how much you pay back. For some people, they may have only paid 50% of their loan back before the 30 years is up and they automatically have their debt wiped out.
  5. Also, look for extra funding. In some instances, students may be given  a Bursary or Scholarship (from a business or charity)
  6. You back around 9% of your loan. So if in your first job you earn £2310 per month you only pay back £3 per month.
  7. The money automatically comes out of your pay packet, under the heading ‘payroll deductions’ the same way tax is deducted from your pay. Which, as the employee, means you don’t need to worry about paying anything back, it’s all automatic.
  8. You will be charged interest on your loan (at the rate of inflation). Depending on what you earn depends on what you pay. If you earn £21,000 you will pay interest at the rate of inflation, when you earn over £41,000 you will pay interest at the rate of inflation plus 3%
  9. The interest rate is only paid at the end of your loan, so if you don’t pay your whole loan (IE after the 30 years is up) you won’t pay any interest.
  10. If you ever lose your job as an example due to redundancies, your repayments will stop