Education is something that is very important. I believe that everyone deserves the right to an education. I mean you learn how to read and write, how to do math and my favourites science and history.

However after high school or secondary school education changes and becomes more focused. What you do in university determines what kind of job you’ll be getting when you’re done, or at least it should.

So there are many reasons we pick our majors, it may be because we simply like the subject or our parents encouraged us to go into it or we don’t know what we want and we’re just going with the flow.

What I have learnt from my time in education is before university you should think about where your degree will take you.

For example English and History, they are great subjects but they’re a little broad. What kind of job are you aiming for after you finish? Do you want to be a teacher? A writer? A professor? Or an academic? Ask yourself these questions and it will help you in the long run. It will also help you figure out how to get there.

If you know you want to be an English teacher then you won’t take English but rather the teaching degree focused on secondary education (in the UK anyway). If you know you want to be a History professor you’ll know you will have to carry on in higher education getting a Masters and a PhD. If you want to be a writer you can talk to other writers about how they got to where they are now. You’ll know to practise your craft and to build a portfolio. Also you’ll need to think about what kind of writing you want to do. Do you want to be an author or a writer for a Newspaper? They are different from each other.

What if your interest is more focused, like you want to be an engineer or a doctor or a nurse? If you go into university studying to be an engineer or a nurse that is what you will come out being.

So think carefully about if that is really what you want to be. If someone else wants you to be that just remember they won’t do your job for you. They’re not the ones living your life.

If you do want to be an engineer and you’re happy with your choice then be ready to do a Masters. And we all know that to become a doctor you need to put in a lot of hours and you have to be dedicated.

But what about if you don’t want to go into higher education? There are many career paths that don’t require you to go to university, like hairdressing, being a mechanic or being a journalist. You can attain such careers through apprenticeships and if you have the skill and determination. You may think that to be a journalist you have to go to university but actually you don’t. If you have the skills and go out and get your own stories, write and film and do all that, they value that more than an academic degree. I say this from experience. If you want a degree I say go for a vocational one rather than an academic one.

There are many paths in life. Everyone is different and everyone wants different things. It is good to think about what you want and how you’re going to get there. It is good to think about it before university.

Also be aware of the economic situation in your country. If it is not looking so good then think about working elsewhere. I live in England and so I can think about working in Europe, or Scotland or Ireland. If you live in America you can always move to another State, the same goes for Australia. If you don’t want to move then be prepared to work harder to find a job if the economic situation is not good.

As for me I thought I knew what I wanted but I now realise I didn’t. I didn’t think about life after university and so when I finished I found myself a little lost. I remember thinking to myself I really should have thought about this before I picked my course.

If I had I think my life would have been different.

Also don’t get a degree for a degree’s sake. It costs a lot of money and takes a lot of brain energy. You don’t want to waste your time getting any old degree just to please your parents only to find out later on that you can do nothing with your degree and that you don’t even want to go into that career.

A part of my motivation was my parents. I rushed myself in thinking about what degree to apply for because I just wanted to please them. However if I had taken the time to think I would have made better decisions.

Anyway, that is all. I hope this post helps someone.

Disclaimer: This is all coming from my personal experience by the way, so if you don’t agree that’s fine.