The choice of a higher educational institution is the first step of a high school student into adulthood, the first independent decision on which his future depends. That is why the choice of a university should be taken with all responsibility. Before choosing a university, for starters, you need to decide on a profession, or at least a field of activity in which a young person wants to work. Often in high school, students already have favorite subjects and hobbies with which they would like to connect their future lives. Further, depending on the chosen specialty, it is necessary to consider all possible options for educational institutions that exist in the region.

Which university to choose

Often schoolchildren make their choice in favor of a particular university on the advice or insistence of their parents. On the one hand, mom and dad are well aware of all the abilities of their child and can give useful advice. But on the other hand, it is better to make this choice without pressure from outside. Excessive persuasion is useless here, because all responsibility for further education will fall on the shoulders of the future student. And he must understand that his study in a certain specialty is the result of his own choice.

But how can a student make an informed decision about which university to choose? Often, high school students simply decide on a direction - economics, medicine, pedagogy, programming, and submit documents to a university with the appropriate name - economic, medical, pedagogical, etc. In Russia, this option is quite acceptable. Although in Europe, young people, leaving school, already know very clearly not only what profession they want to work in, but also what duties they will have to fulfill. This practice is worth learning. It will be very good if a student in Russia thinks about his future in the same way, clearly imagining his workplace. This will help him avoid disappointment. After all, during the last 2-3 years of schooling, he can not only prepare for the general final exams, but also collect information about the profession he likes, read books on this specificity and begin preparing for the passage of the university program. If, delving into the essence of the work, he suddenly changes his mind, he will still have time to change everything and calmly choose a university in a specialty that is really close to him.

In each region there are now many universities offering their services in various areas. And from the whole variety of educational institutions, the applicant needs to choose 2-3 most suitable ones. How to do it? First of all, we set priorities.

Important questions when choosing a university:

• university accreditation
• highly qualified teaching staff,
• a good educational program (state or non-state in private universities),
• forms of education (possibility of distance learning),
• admission conditions (based on results or when passing additional exams),
• technical equipment of the university (computers, licensed software, physical and chemical laboratories, etc.),
• the presence of a stocked library (so as not to buy most of the books at your own expense),
• interesting subjects (both basic and additional),
• courses, seminars and trainings conducted on the basis of an educational institution,
• proximity to the place of permanent residence,
• good hostels for out-of-town students,
• interesting cultural program (concerts, competitions, sports competitions),
• opportunity (availability of contracts with universities in Europe, USA, Canada, etc.),
• the presence of a military department (important for young men), etc.

Information about all this can be obtained by visiting the websites of universities, as well as visiting them personally during open days. In addition, you should definitely ask how many budget places the educational institution provides. Some families prefer to send their children to non-state universities, which often work only on a paid basis. They have many advantages, although many employers are happy to hire graduates of state universities, believing that their education is more competitive.

Now applicants have the opportunity to apply to several universities at once. Of course, experts advise graduates to take advantage of this opportunity. The only thing you need to pay attention to is the entrance exams that each university offers. If the results of the exam are enough, it's just wonderful. If you need to take additional exams, which may differ in each of the universities, the student must be prepared for extensive preparatory work. And in some universities they require the submission of the selection committee of their creative works. You need to know about this in advance in order to be able to do everything on time.

How to choose a university for admission

In order to find some of the most suitable universities from the whole variety, you can look through directories or visit special sites. There are tables on the Internet in which Russian universities are collected with information about the specialties available in them and a set of exams. Thus, you can choose a university in the subjects of the exam. If a student, in addition to the mandatory exams in Russian and mathematics, is also ready to pass several additional exams, which include physics, chemistry, history, geography, biology, computer science, literature, social studies and basic foreign languages, he can find such a university for himself who will enroll him on good results in the relevant exams. Therefore, before choosing a university for admission, it is necessary to decide which subjects the student will be able to pass at a high level. On the Internet, you can find information about what scores are considered sufficient for admission to various universities in the country. Of course, choosing a university based on the USE is the easiest way. But we still recommend that you go to the educational institution where it will be interesting for you to study and get the desired profession. And you can prepare for the necessary exams, both general and additional. The main thing is to decide on your priorities early and start exercising on time.

If you have graduated from a secondary school and have chosen a profession for yourself, then we can say that the most important and difficult stage has already been passed. But after this, another no less difficult task arises - this is the choice of an educational institution in which you will learn the basics of your future work activity.

Let's try to answer the question that worries many parents and applicants who have not yet taken place - how to choose a university for admission: what you need to know, what levels of education there are, what forms of education and other equally important points and nuances. We will analyze each of the possible options as carefully as possible so that parents and students can choose the best educational institution for themselves.

Levels of education

Before choosing a university, let's designate the levels of institutions that are used in our education system.

1. General. This includes the education that every student in our country receives:

• primary (incomplete, 8 classes);
• basic (9 classes);
• complete / secondary (11 classes).

2. Professional (technical). This is such an education that allows you to get all the necessary skills in order to become a professional in a particular field:

• primary (schools, lyceums);
• secondary (colleges, technical schools);
• higher (institutes, universities, academies).

3. Postgraduate. This education allows you to get a degree in graduate school, doctoral studies, residency and adjuncture.

If you have not finished school yet and you have any doubts whether or not to go to grade 11 and how this will affect your next study (how many universities you can choose, points, specialties), then you should read the list below.

Opportunities after ninth grade:

• receive a full education by continuing education at school;
• submit documents to a lyceum or college (primary vocational education);
• study at a college or technical school and get a secondary vocational education;
• gradually receive primary and then secondary vocational education;
• continue to study after stage-by-stage training and apply to a higher educational institution.

After the end of eleven classes, the following opportunities open:

• step-by-step study and development of the necessary levels of vocational education;
• learning any of the above levels at once.

Before choosing a university, it would not be superfluous to note that the vast majority of young people prefer to finish 11 classes and apply to higher educational institutions. This is the most optimal and most popular option for obtaining professional education. Let's talk about this option in more detail.

Levels of higher vocational education

Before choosing a university, you should know that until September 1, 2009, the Russian education system was one-level, that is, a student studies for five years at a university or institute and receives a standard (basic) diploma conferring him a certain specialty.

A little later, this system was modernized, and it was replaced by a three-stage training structure, somewhat similar to the Western one. Before choosing a university, consider it in more detail.

Undergraduate

After graduating from an educational institution (4 years), the graduate receives a diploma on conferring a bachelor's degree. This is a kind of base in higher education. Such a diploma allows you to train qualified employees in the socio-economic or industrial sphere, as well as provide special development in the amount necessary to work in the general activities of a particular direction.

Specialty

If a student additionally stays to study for one year, then at the end he will receive a diploma of a specialist. That is, a person who is able to train workers with a narrow specialization and higher qualifications. This option is considered optimal for most students: it is enough to choose a university in their specialty and unlearn five years.

Master's degree

Additional training for two years after receiving a bachelor's degree. The graduate in this case becomes a master. This option involves a deeper and narrower specialization in one direction or another. The master's program prepares people who are able to solve the most complex problems in any kind of activity: professional, analytical, research, etc. It also provides an influx of scientific and pedagogical personnel to universities.

Each of these levels is considered independent, and in order to continue studying, it is necessary to pass exams. You can choose a university based on scores or based on the results of the unified state exam. In any case, after you receive a specialist or master's degree, you will have the opportunity to continue to receive education (postgraduate).

Along with the above structure, the usual system of obtaining a specialty, for example, in medical programs, remains.

Form of study

So, you graduated from high school, and you are faced with the task of choosing a university based on the Unified State Examination or on points. To begin with, it does not hurt to decide for yourself which form suits you.

Today's universities offer the following:

• full-time (daytime);
• part-time (evening);
• correspondence;
• computer (remote);
• fast (external).

Here the main selection criterion is your individual ability to learn independently. If you choose the full-time form, it requires the student to attend daily classes and take notes from teachers' lectures. While the external course implies an independent collection and systematization of the necessary educational material with a corresponding report on the knowledge gained at the end of the semester.

Most often, correspondence and distance learning is chosen by students who are going to work in parallel with their studies. Work and simultaneous training is certainly good, but third-party employment does not always help in mastering the profession. Therefore, here you need to be careful, sometimes it’s better to deny yourself extra income, but successfully finish the semester. Sometimes the employer makes concessions, offering part-time students additional holidays, shorter weeks and other benefits (naturally at their own expense).

University groups

According to their legal form, all universities can be divided into two large groups - these are municipal and non-state.

Which educational institution to choose depends only on you and on your financial capabilities. In municipal universities it is possible to apply for free education (budgetary), while in non-state institutions this is an extremely rare occurrence.

As for the quality of education, the diplomas of state institutions are valued much higher. Many factors play a key role here, and one of them is the raw curriculum in private universities. Nevertheless, the fact that non-governmental institutions study some industries more deeply (foreign languages, IT technologies, etc.) makes them very attractive to narrow specialists.

Summarizing

You need to clearly understand for yourself that the chances of entering a higher educational institution directly depend on your preparedness, so you should not rely on "maybe", but carefully analyze your capabilities and weigh all the pros and cons.

And remember the main thing is that your future life will depend on your decision. Do not choose a university at random or because a friend advised you. Think about whether you are willing to spend four or more years mastering a profession that you will no longer enjoy in the second year of study.

Some people know from childhood that they want to become a doctor or a miner. Others have no idea who to work with at all. For some, finances and school results allow them to enter any faculty, while others choose from what is available. What if you still do not know which university is better to enter? Depends on what's stopping you from making a choice.

You do not know which university is better

A good university is a vague concept. To understand which university will make a cool specialist out of a student, you need to dig through a bunch of data.

Please note that university rankings vary. Simple lists like "100 best universities in the world" are not suitable: what they evaluate is not always necessary for a future profession. Look for ratings that reflect the employment of graduates: how many specialists found work after graduation, how quickly they got settled, and whether they work in their specialty at all.

Information for thought:

1. Ratings of the Expert RA agency: starting from the abstract “best university” and ending with the list of the most demanded by employers.
2. Monitoring of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation on the employment of graduates.
3. Rating of the quality of educational activities (also according to the Ministry of Education).
4. An example of the salary rating of the SuperJob portal. Look for similar selections for other professions.

If you are going to enter, and your educational institution does not appear on any list, ask the representatives of the university if graduates find work easily. Perhaps the university does not track the fate of all graduates, but at least cooperates with employers and helps in finding employment. Ask about such programs: whether they operate and under what conditions.

Connect with alumni

1. How do employers react to a university degree?
2. Did the knowledge from lectures and seminars come in handy in your work?
3. How do colleagues rate the university?
4. Are graduates satisfied with the level of salary? How fast do they move up the career ladder?

Go to all open days

Universities hold meetings with applicants to praise themselves. Walk, listen. Ask how to find a job after graduation, whether it is possible to transfer to another faculty and how to do it.

Find out more about study opportunities, trips abroad. Ask questions about the equipment in the labs and even the quality of the food in the cafeteria.

You don't know who you want to be

Don't worry if you don't have what you want to do yet. You have time to choose the business of your dreams. But if you want to act now (not to waste time or for other reasons), try to find a suitable option.

Look for jobs you don't know about

Open the directory of professions (the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation has such and such) and see who you can work with. Just read the job descriptions in order. If you like something, go to any job search portal and view the vacancies. Analyze what requirements apply to applicants and what you will need to be able to do.

Sometimes such a free search gives more than all career guidance tests.

Choose a university with a large number of directions

If in a year or two you realize that you want to do something completely different, you can find a suitable specialty within your university. Then it will be easier to transfer to another faculty and take additional subjects.

Stop at the hardest

If you have no idea who you want to be, but you still need to study (your parents put pressure on you or you are more afraid of the army than sessions), then choose a difficult specialty.

First, there is less competition in difficult areas. Secondly, if you decide to change faculty or specialty, after a difficult study, everything else will seem like paradise. Thirdly, the skills of self-discipline and overcoming difficulties are the best that a modern university can give.

Choose a practical specialty

So that you can start right after your studies or even during it. Otherwise, after university, you may find yourself with a diploma that neither you nor the employer needs.

It is better to make money in an unloved position and save money for a new business than to spend several years on crusts that are not useful at all.

You don't have money

Training is expensive. Or not?

Don't get hung up on the big name

Roughly speaking, if you want to become a mathematician, you have to become a mathematician, not a student of the Best Mathematical University. Therefore, look for the desired specialty in other universities and in other cities. Maybe you will find an option for many thousands of kilometers, but with a scholarship.

Do not stop at Moscow and St. Petersburg: there are good universities not only in them. The HSE study on education accessibility in 2016 will help to take a fresh look at the geography of education.

Go to college

Colleges are cheaper. They run the program faster. And in a few years, you will have a ready-made specialty, work and the opportunity to study at the correspondence or evening department, without thinking about how parents will pay for their studies.

Choose a university that pays good scholarships

In many universities, active and talented students are encouraged by paying them additional scholarships. The region can also help with money.

Find out if the university you are going to has such scholarship holders. Ask how they got it. There will be a trifle - to become one of the best students of the university.

Try target set

The target set is when an enterprise pays for your training, and after graduation you must work at this very enterprise. Sometimes the contract is concluded not with the enterprise, but with municipal authorities. In fact, this is a kind of educational loan, only you have to repay the debt not with money, but with work.

Find out if the university you are interested in has a target set, ask what enterprises they work with. Take the contacts of the departments that conclude contracts - and go ahead, study the conditions and features of training.

Please note that orders for the enrollment of target recipients are signed earlier, and applications must be submitted in the spring. The best time to do it all is during spring break.

School graduate checklist

If you are confused about what to do right now, check yourself with a short instruction:

1. Decide who you want to be.
2. Make a list of universities that have the desired specialty.
3. Cross out schools that you can't afford.
4. In different ratings, check the position of the remaining ones.
5. Choose several universities for which it is worth trying and passing exams.

After the student of the school has decided on his future profession, he faces the question of choosing an educational institution. To help the applicant, various state and unofficial ratings, public opinion polls and employers are offered. But is it worth trusting such ratings? What is better to rely on when choosing a future university? Let's try to figure it out.

The prestige of the university

The prestige of an educational institution is perhaps the most commonly used criterion in communication, but if you ask applicants what it is, many will not be able to give an exact answer. By prestige, we most often mean the fame of the university, its public recognition, the demand for specialists graduating from it in the labor market. If you want to know the ranking of the most prestigious universities, then it is better to turn to data from employers' unions and independent agencies. Official ratings often have vague criteria for selection and may lobby someone's personal interests.

State or private?

Public opinion clearly trusts state educational institutions more. Indeed, the level of education there is guaranteed, and educational programs meet all the requirements. Yes, and employers still prefer to hire graduates of state universities. However, among private educational institutions there are very famous, prestigious and quite respected ones. In addition, some of the latest areas and specialties can only be obtained at a private educational institution, since they are more flexible in terms of the educational process. An additional advantage of the state university is the availability of budget places. If you still decide to enter a private university, carefully read the curriculum and decide whether it suits you and whether it corresponds to generally accepted parameters.

University Accreditation

Further employment of the student

This is one of the most important criteria for assessing the future of a university, but it is quite difficult to find out this data somewhere. Perhaps it makes sense to visit the online communities of employers in your chosen field of activity, to find out the opinion of professional experts in personal communication. It's good to talk to university graduates, find out from them whether it was easy for them to get a job.

Extracurricular activities at the university

A plus for the educational institution will be the provision of additional educational and leisure services, active participation in the public life of the city, partnership agreements with foreign educational institutions.

Other university evaluation criteria

Among the less important evaluation criteria, one can single out the convenient location of the university, its compactness (so as not to travel from one end of the city to the other in different buildings). Sometimes they analyze the teaching staff, the ratio of the number of professors and students. However, this criterion does not fully determine the quality of education received there. The number of students will not give a general idea, because the more students, the less teaching material and time the teacher can devote to each.

If the applicant is not very confident in his abilities, then almost the main criterion is the competition for a place and the passing score of the university. This also includes the list of entrance exams. It happens that different subjects are required for the same specialty at different universities.

Connections. Where in our time without connections ... If the parents of an applicant in any of the universities have acquaintances, and even more so if they themselves work in this educational institution, then the choice of the student will most likely fall on this particular university.

Choosing your profession and your path in life is not an easy task, a mistake can be costly. A person who has chosen not his own business, and learns somehow and works without pleasure. What can you advise future applicants choosing a specialty?

Lyudmila Abramova, a practicing psychologist, helped us find answers to these questions.

It is very good if the graduate has long decided on the university and specialty and firmly follows the chosen goal. But, unfortunately, such an ideal option is rare. Much more often, former schoolchildren do not know who they want to become, they enter an educational institution for the company or on the advice of their parents, or, even better, according to the principle - where they will take them with their points ...

If this happened, and career guidance did not take place (there was no accompanying program at school, tests did not help), then it seems to me that it makes sense not to fly headlong after school to the next educational institution, but to wait a year or two.

For example, I know for sure that in America it is a common thing - after school to look around for a couple of years - to mature for further education. After school, children get simple jobs, work as volunteers, gain experience in communicating in a team and receive recommendations from employers. Along the way, they read, study the proposals of universities, commit some actions, mistakes, grow up. After a while, the thirst for knowledge comes. And then a person makes a conscious choice in favor of a particular specialty.

Julio Iglesias studied for a bachelor's degree intermittently for almost 35 years! Left training, returned. He received, in the end, the coveted diploma. However, such a long path in education did not prevent him from becoming successful and becoming world famous ...

A graduate wants to enter a specialty that he likes. But for this you need to pass another, rather difficult exam. And with those subjects that have already been passed, he will be able to enter with a guarantee, although not in such a desirable specialty. What to give preference?

If a person has firmly decided to go where he dreams, then to take or not to take the subject - such a question simply will not arise before him. He will do anything to learn and pass. But if there are doubts about the successful passing of the exam, then you can go a more realistic way, choose, so to speak, a titmouse in your hands ...

There is probably nothing to advise here. So I say: believe in your dream, go for it,Despite everything! But if your capabilities, your spirit, your will today are not ready to overcome certain difficulties, then you will not draw anything worthwhile for yourself from my advice.

In general, the choice of a profession does not happen once and for all, life is mobile. Maybe you will have to master a related specialty later, or you will find a job at the junction of the existing one and the one you dreamed about. Any of your choices now may or may not be successful, but only after a while you will understand what exactly you needed and what was not useful at all.

And if you want to go here and there, and in 2-3 more places at once? What will help you make the right choice?

The easiest way to decide is to listen to yourself. But it is also the most difficult way. In the stream of external voices (relatives, friends, all kinds of media), it is very difficult to concentrate and hear your “I”. Try to set aside a special time for this once a day, sit alone, in silence. Go through the options in your mind, ask yourself a question, and try to hear the answer within yourself.

As a rule, after 5-10 minutes of such sitting, you will want to get up, jump out into the street, go about your business ... But it is useless to advise anything to a person who does not know how to find time to hear himself. He will listen to the voice that will “shout” louder at that moment.

Parents insist on a certain profession, make every effort to facilitate admission to the chosen university ... Trust parental instinct or still go your own way? What if there's an error?

Responsibility for one's own destiny is developed just at the age of 17-18. Although at this time there is still a "weakness" - dependence on parents (territorial, financial, psychological). Many are afraid to take responsibility for their own destiny and are often forced to follow parental orders.

And parents, without realizing it themselves, often “seize” the fate and will of their children into their own hands. They come from their experience, it seems to them that they know exactly how to live. But the world of a parent, even if he lived a long life, is the world of ONE person. Behind him you can not see the whole huge universe, not see all its possibilities!

Still, I am convinced that it is necessary, no matter how difficult it may be, to choose your own path. And don't think that you are betraying your parents. Thank them for their concern and explain that you, like them, have the right to make mistakes, to search. When to search for yourself, if not in youth?

In general, a good parent should always be there as a person who supports, but does not interfere in the affairs and fate of the child. I will make a reservation, this is very difficult, but this is the perfection of a parent - to respect the choice of their children.

What can you say about career guidance testing, how does it help?

I have done a huge number of tests and I want to say that even the most serious of them can be wrong. After all, a person answers questions, being at that moment in a certain state. The state will change - the answers will also change.

You can, of course, say, determine the direction of activity - do you like communication with people more or have a tendency to work with technology or numbers, or maybe to organize something. But nothing can replace work on oneself, self-awareness of one's individuality.

Set up a test for yourself. Do you really want to become a doctor? I would advise you to first visit any medical institution, sit in line, talk with patients, doctors, nurses. You will see that, in addition to the actual treatment of ailments and pain relief, there is still a huge amount of paperwork that needs to be filled out, there are home visits. There are such subtleties and nuances of the profession that you may not be aware of. And if after all this your decision to become a doctor does not change, then the path is chosen correctly.

If on the 2nd or 3rd year you suddenly decided to change your profession?

In my practice, I often encounter such a crisis in the middle of training. Young people usually make decisions abruptly, if they don't like it, they'll leave. But first you need to decide not where to leave, but where to go. And while there is no clear decision on the second question, it is better not to take any action. A strong-willed decision to force yourself to continue doing what you did,to study. That's when everything is clearly understood and lined up in a logical chain, you can change the university or specialty. You can just take a time out, look around and make a decision. Such periods of reflection, inner concentration are necessary for every person.

It happens that the decision is made and in fact it is necessary to leave. Here you will have to go through the entire crisis of care, and, first of all, the misunderstanding of the parents. Of course, the efforts expended on admission, money, and nerves come to the fore. But think about it, because you still got some knowledge, some experience - isn't it worth some effort and money? It can be said that you paid to understand what you DO NOT need.

Edison, inventing the alkaline battery, conducted several hundred thousand experiments. Most of them ended in failure. But even in the unsuccessful outcome of the experiment, Edison saw only an approximation to the goal by the method of eliminating unsuitable solutions.

If the choice is obvious to you, then it is better to make a turn in your destiny earlier than to regret later on the step you did not take all your life.

Five "Not" in conclusion:

1. Don't be afraid of change! Every year the number of new professions is increasing. The labor market is changing very quickly. Be ready to study all your life: improve your skills, master related specialties. Mastering a completely new specialty along with an existing one will make you a valuable specialist in demand in interdisciplinary fields of activity. Any profession you have acquired can come in handy in unforeseen life circumstances.

2. Do not think only about the prestige of the profession. The prestige of the profession should be taken into account, but only after realizing your individuality, interests and abilities. Otherwise, there is a chance to stay with a "fashionable", but not enjoyable specialty.

3. Do not look only at the external manifestation of the profession. Behind the lightness of the stage, cinematic image, the daily, sometimes quite hard and monotonous work of the actor is not visible. Find out all the details about the chosen job, preferably first-hand, before rushing with burning eyes to storm the educational institution.

4. Do not choose professions that can worsen your health. Young people are characterized by an overestimation of their physical capabilities, an inability to correlate their health status with the requirements of their chosen activity. Meanwhile, it has been proven that a profession that does not correspond to physical development and health can cause significant damage to a growing organism.

5. Don't be afraid of any of your decisions. You have the right to make mistakes, to search. Don't take the instructions literally, come up with your own creative way of choosing a profession. Develop your own plan - a list of actions necessary for choosing a profession. Go through everything step by step: analysis of offers in the education market, analysis of demand in the labor market, evaluate your abilities, inclinations, knowledge, etc.