All parents wish the child to find a vocation, an interesting job that will bring pleasure and well-being. Sooner or later, every teenager will have to choose. What can parents do to make this decision mature and conscious?
A Parent’s Guide to Helping Your Child Choose a College
Listen to the wishes of your child
Not all teenagers come to a clear understanding of who they want to become in the future. As a result, they choose a specialty that seems to be the most interesting to them, or they go “in the footsteps” of their parents because they could not outline the area of their personal interests. So, it’s recommended that your child does some “testing” at school for interest in various areas of knowledge. For this, there are various educational and scientific-educational projects, within which a child can understand what his work will be connected with if he enters a particular specialty. Being sensitive to the interest in your child and helping to “inflate” the spark of curiosity is the task of the parents. And modern colleges that implement various schools, additional courses, lectures, and so on, will always help you with this.
Choose a college with a good reputation
If your child has chosen a specialty but has not yet decided in which college he wants to spend the next four or more years, join the search for the perfect place to study. First, you need to choose a college that has state accreditation and an impeccable reputation among other educational centers. Find the data of the annual monitoring of universities (online), pay attention to ratings of colleges. Choose a dynamically developing institution of higher education and take a closer look at those institutions that participate in government programs aimed at increasing their competitiveness in the global arena.
Choose a modern university that trains really sought-after specialists
We live in a rapidly changing world, in which it is not easy to predict which specialists will be in demand in the near future. Often, during the years of study at the college, the specialty chosen by the young person may lose its relevance, or the competencies acquired by them may not be fully applicable in their work. In this case, you need to choose a college that understands modern challenges in the field of education and is able to predict which professions may be in demand in the future. Moreover, forecasts should not be based on unfounded faith but on a thorough analysis of the labor market, taking into account the opinion of specialists. In addition, remember that we live in an era of interdisciplinarity. The traditional understanding of the professions goes to the background. If your child is keen on management, he doesn’t have to go to the department of management. In the XXI century, instead of joining the ranks of managers of general training, you can become a unique specialist in the field of innovation management: to promote research and development on the market and help develop high-tech start-ups – a real challenge for an ambitious specialist. Your child wants to be creative and loves to draw, but he understands that finding a job with a diploma from an art academy will not be easy? Offer him to become an “artist” of computer interfaces. Such a specialist will never remain without work.
Choose a college in which your child will be able to maximize his talents and realize himself not only in educational and scientific activities
First of all, a college is a social institution and one of the most effective tools of socialization. Therefore, it is important that the college is not a place for your child where you only have to attend early lectures, do not get enough sleep before exams and cram the studied material, dreaming about the weekend. A good college should provide leisure for the student. The student should know there not only another lecture on mathematical analysis is waiting for him, but also something more – creative contests, entertaining special courses, lectures of popular scientists, culture and education. Moreover, the student should act not just as a listener, but as an active participant in these events. Your child will always find a use for his talent in a college that adheres to such a policy. Maybe your child will turn out to be a talented organizer, lecturer or athlete.
Choose a college that cares where your child will work
Despite the fact that the labor market is always open for young specialists from leading colleges, many students have difficulty finding a job. To protect your child from a similar situation in the future, choose a college which interaction with employers and students is well developed. Specify whether there are special employment services at the college, how closely the institution interacts with potential employers, what job prospects are waiting for your child, whether there are basic departments and internship programs at the college. A good college will always give comprehensive information on these issues, as well as statistics on employed graduates.
Choose an open, international college with extensive educational opportunities
Colleges have long ceased to be closed organizations. Indeed, progressive colleges go far beyond the walls of educational campuses, spreading their activities not only within their own country but throughout the world. Education is an international phenomenon, and now, when many professions are based on intercultural communication, it is especially important to receive a global education. That is why, choosing a college, you should pay attention to the international activities of this institution. Your child should have the opportunity to study abroad for free, in one of the partner colleges, internships abroad. Even if your child will work in your native country, knowledge of one or more foreign languages will significantly increase its value for the employer.