It’s important students consider their post-school plans early – but with so many options, where should they start?
A few light conversations over dinner or while watching TV – as opposed to an intimidating sit down talk about ‘the future’ – is probably the best way to get them thinking about their next steps.
If that step is university, but they’re struggling to get inspired by a particular subject, try to get them thinking about potential areas of study, in terms of:
Our guides are packed full of great stats and information to help your child discover what it’s like to study a subject, how to get into it, and the career opportunities available.
They can quickly view relevant courses, apprenticeships, and job opportunities, and see profiles of employers and the universities and colleges where they can study those courses.
Students can try university degrees before they apply.
Subject Spotlights from Springpod give them a taste of what it's like to study real subjects delivered by university lecturers and developed in partnership with the universities.
The decisions your child makes early on, even as far back as GCSE (or equivalent) options, can have an impact on what – and where – they end up studying for their degree. It all depends on what they want to do in the future, but some extra thought early on could pay off later down the line.
If your child has an idea of what they want to study, get them to check the entry requirements – these may mention particular subjects or qualifications they’ll need, as well as any grades they’ll need to get on to the course.
They might not be able to apply to certain courses without having taken specific qualifications – for example, GCSE chemistry may be a requirement for medicine courses.
It’s not unusual for young people to be unsure about their future at this stage, so try not to worry! Encourage them to keep their options open by selecting commonly asked for subjects in university entry requirements.
These are known as ‘facilitating’ subjects, and include:
Doing what they enjoy most and are good at is always a good idea too, as this is usually the subject(s) they’ll do best in and go on to study.
