How to choose your university and degree course (Part II)

In this post, Alex Carroll shares tips for students who are in the process of researching or applying for higher education…

With the prices of tuition fees increasing, it has never been more important to make sure that you pick the right institution when making a massive financial and logistical commitment.

One of the best online resources for finding the right course for you is www.unistats.direct.gov.uk. Unistats allows you to see the official data for courses on each university and college. This data is drawn from the satisfaction scores in the National Student Survey, jobs and salaries after study and other useful information. The National Careers Service, www.nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk has a treasure trove of tips, tricks and advice on many areas of study. It also has an online course finder with advanced search options to take out all the hard work for you! For postgraduate courses, www.prospects.ac.uk has their own version of a course finder, advice on job searching, work experience and student life.

All of these online resources are great at taking a lot of the hard work out of the search, but finding the right course on paper is only part of the process of ensuring the course and institution you pick is the best fit for you both academically and personally.

The best way to find out about what an institution is really like is to see for yourself by going along to an open day. At Finance Business Training (FBT), we host various open days throughout the year and often bring in guest speakers from a range of professions, so the people in attendance can really get a feel for the school and what they are likely to experience if they join.

To keep up-to-date with FBT’s open day schedule click here.

Alex Carroll is the former Careers and Student Welfare Manager at Finance Business Training (FBT), the Birmingham division of the London School of Business and Finance (LSBF).