What to study? Tips for deciding on a university career (or not)
Mini-guide to make this choice a little easier for you.
If you are reading this, it is very possible that right now you are in that stage of life in which you must decide for the first time in which field of activity you will dedicate your efforts during the next few years and you are asking yourself what to study.
It is not easy to project ourselves and know what we want to be in a few years, what we want to dedicate a large part of our lives to.
What to study? Tips and guides that can help you
Some people have a clear idea of what they are going to do when they leave high school, but it is very common that uncertainty about the short-term future paralyzes some students and complicates their decision making. If this is your case and you would like some help in deciding what to study over the next few years, this mini-guide is for you, this mini-guide is for you.
1. Consider not going to college.
Seriously. Before you start a college career, make sure you haven't made that decision out of simple social inertia. Just because a lot of people start a college course is no reason for you to do it too. Consider first what it would be like to dedicate your time and effort to other things, and if those possibilities convince you more, you will be one step closer to dedicating yourself to what you like.
Also keep in mind that studying does not necessarily imply going to university: there are many other learning modalities and types of centers in which you will be able to dedicate yourself specifically to what you like (and surely with a personalized treatment that you will not find in too many university campuses).
2. Science or humanities?
The question "what to study" can be simplified by creating two possible answers: sciences or humanities. This may not be a very precise categorization, but the fact is that there are major differences in the type of content that is taught in science and literature courses.
From the point of view of sociology, science and liberal arts students are different and have different expectations expectations about what they want to learn. Science is based on the posing of precise questions that can be answered concretely, while in the humanities the power of concreteness is lost in favor of an ability to pose the categories used in research.
3. What is your way of thinking?
Science and humanities students also differ neuroanatomically, as we saw in another article.
Science students may tend to be more detached from what they are studying, while humanities students may achieve an emotional connection emotional connection. When deciding what to study, you might examine your expectations in this regard: do you tend to become emotionally involved with the object of study? Although you should be cautious: this research talks about general trends, not about particular cases.
4. What to study does not mean how to study
There are many possible approaches to the same subject. If you are interested in art, for example, keep in mind that at each university and school the subject you will be given can range from slightly different to completely different. Do some research about your chances of getting into the specific school that appeals to you and decide accordingly.
5. What to study means, in part, what to work on
When we talk about studying a career, we are not just talking about getting information about a certain discipline. We also talk, in most cases, about paying for classes (a salute to our readers from Argentina), dedicating time and effort to study some subjects that do not interest us, doing compulsory internships and obtaining a degree with curricular validity.
Nowadays the university is focused towards the getting a job, and, as much as this and, as much as this fact is debatable, taking 100% advantage of university implies using that experience to look for a job.
6. Make sure you can devote the effort to your studies that they deserve.
When thinking about what to study, also think about your current level of knowledge and your ability to learn quickly during the first few weeks of your degree, which is when you may find that you need tutoring to keep up with classes. If you think that a career is going to demand too much from you, it is worth thinking about others.
Don't get complacent when you see that the access grade of some of the more complicated careers is not as high as one might expect: this only indicates that there are fewer people interested in these studies, not that the career itself is easy.
7. Would you like to study Psychology?
Psychology and Mind is a website dedicated to deepen about Psychology and Neurosciences, so let us sweep home and assume that you may be interested in this field of knowledge. An article that may be very useful for you:
- "Why study Psychology: 10 points you should evaluate".
And if you have already started studying Psychology, don't miss our mini-guide for students:
- "I want to be a psychologist - 10 keys to successfully complete the Psychology degree".
The Psychology career is very varied and has a lot to offer you. If you think your place is among books about human behavior and you are interested in knowing why each person is different from the others, do not hesitate and consider Psychology as a discipline that you will enjoy from the first day.
Summarizing
Whether you end up choosing one career or another, or continuing your education elsewhere, keep in mind that life takes many turns and that is why it is important that you feel comfortable with what you do. Think that you will dedicate many hours to it, so choose what to study not so much because you think it can have good career opportunities but because you feel motivated to do it. by how motivated you feel for each discipline.
(Updated at Apr 14 / 2024)