How can we help our son to choose what he wants to do at uni?
- Thread starter wylie
- Start date
Hi Wylie, your son's Auntie Angel here who spends a large part of my working life preparing teenagers for life after high school.
Firstly, the September cut off date is just a cut off date for the students who actually know what they are doing and take the whole Uni thing seriously. He can still apply to get into Uni up until early Feb (where there are vacancies) but there will be a larger application fee. So no, it is not the end of the world if he doesn't choose something next week. It is merely the cut off date for the cheapest fee.
In my experience, a Business, Arts, It or Science degree will be useful to a student who cannot decide what they want to do or why they are going to Uni in the first place. I went just because my mother demanded I go, and lasted until May. Please don't force ("expect") him to go, it will only end in tears for everyone. I know you wont force him, but he might feel obliged to go without having any passion.
Getting an OP and a place in Uni is not the panacea that some folk make it out to be. Anyone can apply to enter Uni after the age of 19 as a mature age student when they really want to. Statistically these students out-perform the kids who go straight from school. For one, they are not already burnt out from the stress of year 12, and secondly they are applying because they want to and not because it is expected of them.
Now for a few tips:
Consider a 12 month trial in the army. This is one way of earning cash and trialling several roles before one has to decide on a preferred role or career. These interns do not get sent overseas, much to the delight of their Mums and girlfriends.
A student who goes to Uni straight from school will be considered a dependent on their parents until the age of 25. If one takes a gap of 18 months, and meets some other working criteria, then they can go to Uni and be classed as independent from that time. This is a contentious issue on Somersoft but I am putting it out there anyway. O and that is old news, the rules may have changed but my son who is a student (for the second time) and turned 25 today gets to go onto Austudy this week for the first time.
That's all I can think of for now.........
Firstly, the September cut off date is just a cut off date for the students who actually know what they are doing and take the whole Uni thing seriously. He can still apply to get into Uni up until early Feb (where there are vacancies) but there will be a larger application fee. So no, it is not the end of the world if he doesn't choose something next week. It is merely the cut off date for the cheapest fee.
In my experience, a Business, Arts, It or Science degree will be useful to a student who cannot decide what they want to do or why they are going to Uni in the first place. I went just because my mother demanded I go, and lasted until May. Please don't force ("expect") him to go, it will only end in tears for everyone. I know you wont force him, but he might feel obliged to go without having any passion.
Getting an OP and a place in Uni is not the panacea that some folk make it out to be. Anyone can apply to enter Uni after the age of 19 as a mature age student when they really want to. Statistically these students out-perform the kids who go straight from school. For one, they are not already burnt out from the stress of year 12, and secondly they are applying because they want to and not because it is expected of them.
Now for a few tips:
Consider a 12 month trial in the army. This is one way of earning cash and trialling several roles before one has to decide on a preferred role or career. These interns do not get sent overseas, much to the delight of their Mums and girlfriends.
A student who goes to Uni straight from school will be considered a dependent on their parents until the age of 25. If one takes a gap of 18 months, and meets some other working criteria, then they can go to Uni and be classed as independent from that time. This is a contentious issue on Somersoft but I am putting it out there anyway. O and that is old news, the rules may have changed but my son who is a student (for the second time) and turned 25 today gets to go onto Austudy this week for the first time.
That's all I can think of for now.........
Sim
Administrator
How much LSD has he had?
As facetious as I think dtraeger is being, I must admit that I found the quantum mechanics and relativity aspects of physics to be really mind-bending stuff
I never really grasped the theory behind most of this stuff - fortunately it was only a small part of the course, so even if I got zero for that part of it in the exams, I had enough other material which I did understand to still easily pass the subject.
Perhaps philosophy is more what he is looking for in reality?
Much of pure physics is closer to thought exercises than anything in my opinion - indeed, take a look at the list of publications by Paul Davies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Davies#Works) ... many of them are very much centred around philosophy.
Thanks Angel. That post is very helpful.
My wife was reading a book called "How to raise boys" or something similar. It says that (or that is what my wife said) they need their mother until age 6.
After that, they need their father until the age of about 14.
After that, they need a role model outside their family! Apparently, it is good for boys to be removed from the family for a year or two and then bring them back.
I guess after that 'initiation', parents may treat them as 'adults'.
Wylie
Good Information from Auntie Angel.
At our local uni they run a 6 week course on how to read, research and write a uni assignment it used to be free but I believe they now charge a small fee.
This is also a good taster for anyone thinking about going to university and is often a step missed out by students who go from school to uni and struggle with assignments.
When I was teaching and students asked did I think they could do uni, I advised them to do the above + I generally said yes they could do uni or no I think u will struggle but give the above course a go.
You can go to uni at any time in your life...
Good luck
Sheryn
PS
TAFE is always a good starting point and cheaper and you can often get credits for units if similar to uni.
Good Information from Auntie Angel.
At our local uni they run a 6 week course on how to read, research and write a uni assignment it used to be free but I believe they now charge a small fee.
This is also a good taster for anyone thinking about going to university and is often a step missed out by students who go from school to uni and struggle with assignments.
When I was teaching and students asked did I think they could do uni, I advised them to do the above + I generally said yes they could do uni or no I think u will struggle but give the above course a go.
You can go to uni at any time in your life...
Good luck
Sheryn
PS
TAFE is always a good starting point and cheaper and you can often get credits for units if similar to uni.
Wylie, the cut off this week is for QTAC entries that are free for Year 12 students. Your son will get a chance to amend his choices once his OP is known. So don't stress, simply fill in (up to) six courses that seem vaguely appropriate and ensure he lodges the form with the school ON TIME.
Done.
Having seen 3 kids through uni and post grad courses, plus the knowledge gained from lots of their friends, here are a few tips.
First, if WHICH uni is important then focus on courses at that uni. ALL unis downgrade marks from other unis no matter how prestigious, and give preference in course changes to their existing students.
Another thing for your son to consider is whether he wants to follow learning pathways for the purpose of gaining knowledge in an area of interest, or whether he wants a degree as a pathway to a paying job. Nothing wrong with either way, just that it may focus his thinking.
Open days are usually the best way. Our son "found" his course at a uni open day and was something he had never considered. It fitted his abilities and interests perfectly and has led to an astonishing career.
Many courses come with the ability to defer for a year. This can be an "insurance policy" if he is unsure whether he wants to attend uni or not as it can give him the option to work or travel with the option of taking up the course later. Even if he commences a course, deferring is available at any time.
Good luck!
Marg
Done.
Having seen 3 kids through uni and post grad courses, plus the knowledge gained from lots of their friends, here are a few tips.
First, if WHICH uni is important then focus on courses at that uni. ALL unis downgrade marks from other unis no matter how prestigious, and give preference in course changes to their existing students.
Another thing for your son to consider is whether he wants to follow learning pathways for the purpose of gaining knowledge in an area of interest, or whether he wants a degree as a pathway to a paying job. Nothing wrong with either way, just that it may focus his thinking.
Open days are usually the best way. Our son "found" his course at a uni open day and was something he had never considered. It fitted his abilities and interests perfectly and has led to an astonishing career.
Many courses come with the ability to defer for a year. This can be an "insurance policy" if he is unsure whether he wants to attend uni or not as it can give him the option to work or travel with the option of taking up the course later. Even if he commences a course, deferring is available at any time.
Good luck!
Marg
Thanks Marg.
I asked him this afternoon whether he thought he "should" go to uni because most of his friends would be going. He said he wanted to go to uni to be able to get a good job, better pay.
I told him whilst he is studying for the better job, he could be earning in another job for four years, so he must decide what he wants for 2014. I want him to see he has options.
I like the idea of him going in at age 19 and being able to have some government support, but when the middle boy thought he would get some help from the government, they changed the rules, so I wouldn't like to count on it, especially if they look at our assets (even though we have big debt - Centrelink don't worry about the debt, they just seem to look at the assets and assume we are rolling in money
).I did suggest that to him, but he said he wants to continue straight on. Tonight he is talking of doing a business degree to give him some flexibility and ability to jump into something else if it doesn't suit him.
I really appreciate these thoughts, tips and opinions. It certainly is helping me, and he has read this thread and I think it is helping him too.
My employer last year studied geology, I found it interesting. I'd happily listen/learn while getting paid for it!
He is an average student, with study he could have been doing much better. He has a quick brain, but he is lazy, and my other concern is having gone through school with minimal work and almost no study, whether uni would be a huge shock to him. He has worked hard this year, but until this year, he coasted through on minimal work.
Hi Wylie, my son was exactly the same. Even down to the crumpled clothes on the floor, or the 'floordrobe'.
Jimmy studied 'world of Warcraft' in year 12, and only just scraped though. Then, left to his own devices, and possibly after realising a lot of his mates were going to uni, he got his act together, studied some computer course at TAFE, and now works for Apple. Loves it. Can't believe someone pays him to play with computers all day.
Sometimes it can be really hard to find the balance between giving our kids some real responsibility for their actions, and supporting them on life's journey. Sometimes they have to find their own 'lightbulb' moment.
Whatever he decides, I'm sure your son will do well in life.
Hi Wylie, my son was exactly the same. Even down to the crumpled clothes on the floor, or the 'floordrobe'.
Jimmy studied 'world of Warcraft' in year 12, and only just scraped though. Then, left to his own devices, and possibly after realising a lot of his mates were going to uni, he got his act together, studied some computer course at TAFE, and now works for Apple. Loves it. Can't believe someone pays him to play with computers all day.
Sometimes it can be really hard to find the balance between giving our kids some real responsibility for their actions, and supporting them on life's journey. Sometimes they have to find their own 'lightbulb' moment.
Whatever he decides, I'm sure your son will do well in life.
I started off in a B.Chemistry degree, did a 3rd year Network course from B.IT and absolutely loved it! The lecturer was really hesitant in letting two first years into his course, but I ended up getting a credit and changed degrees in 2nd yr to a B.IT. All my course work from 1st year was credited over into my IT degree. The one thing though for IT is that Uni is all about programming and tafe is more hands on. I would of probably of gone and done tafe first if i had my time again. When you study at tafe you can also use this as credit towards a degree, so uni may not be the first choice.
As for teaching, you can always do a 1 yr grad dip in ed after you have completed a degree in your choice as opposed to just doing mainstream teaching degree. This will allow you to have ideally a dual background.
If i lost my current job I would probably go back and do the grad dip ed, however i have also played around with the idea of getting a MBA and have done some courses in management.
Thing is the job that your son will probably get in the future may not exist today, with how quickly our world is revolving.
As for teaching, you can always do a 1 yr grad dip in ed after you have completed a degree in your choice as opposed to just doing mainstream teaching degree. This will allow you to have ideally a dual background.
If i lost my current job I would probably go back and do the grad dip ed, however i have also played around with the idea of getting a MBA and have done some courses in management.
Thing is the job that your son will probably get in the future may not exist today, with how quickly our world is revolving.
Sim
Administrator
This is an important point - many (but not all) university IT related courses focus on the theoretical aspects of IT.
In Computer Science / Computer Systems Engineering we learned about how to write our own file systems and how to program our own network communication protocols. Very low-level theoretical stuff with practical value for very few people in the real world.
If you want to get into computer administration (Networking, Operations, etc), that's a completely different ballgame to what most universities will teach you. It's very important to check out the details about what you will learn in the uni course - many of them have relatively little practical value.
The fundamental nature of IT work though, is that by the time someone builds a practical course on something, it is obsolete anyway. With product cycles of around 6 months or less in some situations - change happens far faster than you could possible cater for in a structured learning environment.
Most of the IT learning I've ever done (of practical value) has been just-in-time learning. You learn what you need when you need it - no point learning ahead of time because you're just going to have to re-learn it again in 6-12 months anyway.
I've recently been learning a new development framework for my consulting business - there have been some books published using Leanpub (https://leanpub.com/), which encourages authors to "publish early, publish often" ... the idea being (especially in IT!) that rather than waiting for months and months for someone to finish publishing a book - at which point it needs to be re-written anyway, you publish some work now, and then continually update it as you go.
I bought a book a couple of months back which was only half written - I've since had about 10 more versions made available as the author updated and re-wrote parts of his book.
Of course, I'm not trying to say university is not useful for IT - but it depends on what you are looking to get out of it and what the course itself offers - not all IT related courses are made equal - careful research is required.
At the end of the day - the advice I give to most people looking at a technical career in IT is that if you want to succeed, you need to be a self-starter to keep up with the technology. The moment you stop learning is the moment your skills become obsolete and your job gets shipped off-shore.
I think a gap year is brilliant - as long as it's used.
I know some who have taken gap years and spent them bumming around on computer games ... or ... my 20yr old niece who took a gap couple-of-years and is currently backpacking/working her way around Europe. She's island hopping in Greece this week.
She is visiting places I can only drool at from afar and say "one day" ... because once you've done your degree, on the career path, in a relationship, mortgage, kids etc you can't take that opportunity for at least another 20 years.
I dont think it matter too much what degree you do at uni as long as he is focused and know what he want to do in life.....most degree will leads to some jobs provided you know what you want to do...
I always know what I want to do since year 10 and my parents play a big part in encourage me to go with my talents...
I think your son is a little lost, so it may be worth wise tackling what he want to do in life first before picking what to study at uni..
I have small kids so not there yet but I talk to them often what they like to do when they grow up and As a parents I know their mindset so I try to push them a long the line of what they good at.
My young son is into lego and I bought him lot of lego and he would spends hour constructing it, building machine, now I got him into building robots with lego where he construct them, then use computer to programs the robots to do what he want them to do...
Many times he said to me he want to be an engineer so he can go and work for Lego and become one of their engineer designer...
So with that I shall push his passion along and hopefully he land a job with Lego in Denmark.
My daughter seem to be interest in business and stock markets and she often ask me if I have stock in smiggles which owned by premiere investment so I bought some shares for her and I will push her into investment banking a long the way...
I always know what I want to do since year 10 and my parents play a big part in encourage me to go with my talents...
I think your son is a little lost, so it may be worth wise tackling what he want to do in life first before picking what to study at uni..
I have small kids so not there yet but I talk to them often what they like to do when they grow up and As a parents I know their mindset so I try to push them a long the line of what they good at.
My young son is into lego and I bought him lot of lego and he would spends hour constructing it, building machine, now I got him into building robots with lego where he construct them, then use computer to programs the robots to do what he want them to do...
Many times he said to me he want to be an engineer so he can go and work for Lego and become one of their engineer designer...
So with that I shall push his passion along and hopefully he land a job with Lego in Denmark.
My daughter seem to be interest in business and stock markets and she often ask me if I have stock in smiggles which owned by premiere investment so I bought some shares for her and I will push her into investment banking a long the way...
Sim
Administrator
You mean Google it?
Seriously, yes.
I work with APIs, frameworks, cloud services, etc ... I can't possibly know the intimate details of how all of them work, especially since they change frequently or new systems are developed.
Then there are problems which arise and require troubleshooting.
I live and breathe by my ability to find information online - not all of it is simply searching Google, but a very large part of it is.
For example, if I need to understand the nuances of a PHP function or a WordPress template API call, I'll simply type the name of it into Google and be taken directly to the relevant page on php.net or wordpress.org ... Google is my index.
If I get an error message from one of my applications that I've not seen before, I'll copy and paste it into Google and let it tell me the solution.
It's not necessarily that simple (sometimes it is!), and part of the skill I've developed over the past decade - knowing how to get the most out of Google and learn how to filter out the irrelevant results to find what I actually need.
I see people struggle with finding information on Google all the time - there's so much information out there that it can be very difficult to locate what you're actually after.
Personally I think it's one of the most important skills you can have today - learning how to search for information.
Sim
Administrator
You don't even need to work for Lego to get access to the cool stuff -the Mechanical Engineering dept at Adelaide Uni had the most amazing Lego collection. It's considered a fantastic learning tool.
If I had my time over again, I might have chosen mechatronics as a career path - I find that stuff fascinating.
