HE in 2022...

[Liquorishtoffee]

So my baby will be heading off into the great big world next summer (how did that happen?). So he is pondering uni, courses, locations...

It was at least a million years since I left school and I knew exactly what I wanted to study and where, and that’s what I did. Lord I was lucky I guess!

He started out keen to do a pure science but is now not sure he wants to devote 3 or 4 years to one area. He isn’t sure what he wants to do job wise either and I assume there is a whole raft of things he should be doing to get his CV up to scratch.

So where do you start? Anyone got any words of advice?

If he is year 12 and his school has not already started UCAS application talks etc then I am sure they soon will after they return next week. Some schools use systems like Unifrog to help the student list what they have done and to order things in their minds.

If he likes sciences generally might he want to consider a Natural Sciences course or BioChem which combines more than one?

Even doing STEM degrees does not preclude him from a career in law or accountancy or other graduate schemes. Again school may buy into some form of careers programme that might alert him to all sorts of careers out there to suit his subjects and his grades.

For the present I would get him at least to jot down what he has done by way of anything over and above his A level work that would be of use for her personal statement so that he has this to hand when the school does make a start.

Thank you! It seems so much more... serious?... than when I was at school. But then he’s a lot smarter than me (plus girls weren’t exactly encouraged at my school) so he has more choices!

There are lots of joint honours options out there if he does not want to do a single science.
www.manchester.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/2021/18047/bsc-medical-physiology-with-entrepreneurship/
www.keele.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/undergraduatecourses/biologyandmathematics/
www.maths.dur.ac.uk/php/natural.sciences.php?dept1=comp&dept2=phys&programme=jh_bsc

DS is yr12 and is doesn't have work experience. I think that can come after age 18 when there are far more opportunities.

These online versions of the UCAS fairs might be useful?

www.ucas.com/adviser/discovery-days