Going to College Aoife Walsh

Choosing a college course does not come in a lightbulb moment

At this time of year, many sixth years start turning their thoughts to career and college research. It is a major focus in school as we enter the third week of the new academic year and there are a large number of important careers events taking place in the weeks ahead.

Students who have clear plans as to the direction they wish their post second-level route to take, should be busy collecting information and formulating decisions.

Many students, however, will report that they have no idea what they would like to do. It seems to them that their classmates have been bestowed with some secret, a secret that is beyond their reach.

However, choosing a college course or career path does not come with a lightbulb moment. It is a result of a journey of research and reflection, a process which should be started as soon as possible.

It may seem obvious, but the first step is to decide if college is for you. For previous generations, remaining in full-time education long enough to achieve a degree was far from a given. It took a lot of hard work and commitment to achieve this level of education and, if a school-leaver chose an alternative path to success, there were numerous high quality entry level jobs available.

Over the last decade, this has not been the case. More and more young people entered third level simply “because it was what you do”. Thankfully, there are more options available now and most students will benefit from at least asking the question “do I really what to go to college and why?”.

If the answer is yes, it is time to start researching. At this stage of the CAO process we are not looking for the dream course — in fact, many are hampered if they become overly fixated on a certain course. Now is the time to be open to possibilities and to find as many ‘maybe’ courses as you can. You can list as many as 20 courses on the CAO form and it best to apply for as many as possible.

Two of the best ways to engage in good research is, firstly, by using the ‘course finder’ and ‘career interests’ self-assessments on careersportal.ie and, secondly, by attending college open days.

For those who are really stuck on where to start, the ‘career interests’ test is a great idea. This tool asks the participant about their preferences in a number of different situations and then suggests their level of interest in broad areas. Students can then use these interest categories as filters in the course search so they will only see courses that are related to these areas. Courses can be saved to a personal file to be reviewed again before open days and later in the year. This allows school leavers to build up as many ‘maybe’ courses as possible, which can be whittled down as the process unfolds.

Aoife Walsh is a guidance counsellor at Malahide Community School, Co Dublin.