As an international student, one of the most important things to do when starting your study abroad journey is to choose a course of study.
That is why I created this article. It contains tips to help you choose the right course to study abroad, having been in that position myself.
Studying abroad is a wonderful experience, but the course you study will go a long way to determine if it the experience will be worthwhile.
Often, international applicants choose just the same courses; everybody wants to study the same courses, be in the same field. Plainly, everyone want to study medicine abroad.
That’s by the way.
Also, a good number of international students desire to study on scholarship but don’t know that the chosen course of study also determine your chances of landing a scholarship. As well as the scholarship value.
This is why I decided to help you with these tips to guide you. The tips mentioned in this article focuses on societal needs, solutions to current challenges, and chances of getting a scholarship.
Tips to choosing the right course to study abroad
Follow these tips to know the course that is right for you to study abroad.
1. Identify a problem
Think about the world as it, and consider the challenges, especially where you can come in. To do this, you would need to know your strength and weaknesses.
Know that your chosen course may form an important part of your career.
So, the right course to study abroad would primarily be one that solves a specific identified problem, whether in the field of Business, Engineering, Environment, or Aviation.
The world has problems and abundance of it. The right course to study abroad is the one that solves a particular problem. That is regardless of the field, be it in Journalism, Security, Medicine or Automation.
2. Choose a course for the future
One of the most important things to do when considering a course to study overseas is to select a course that is relevant for the future.
Some courses no longer meet today’s challenges. The sad thing is, most international students still rush to study those courses.
I will show you college courses that are no longer relevant for today in my next article. If you’re going to study in the UK, I recommend you check out these top degree courses to study in UK.
The world is a global village and it’s moving. The reason for the gross underdevelopment in most nations today is that the citizens are uneducated. In another case, they are educated in areas that have gone into extinction.
That’s one of the secret of advanced nations; their citizens study courses for the future; courses that take care of societal needs in the next 20 years; courses that dictate the path of global development.
So where countries like China are building cargo trains that travel at the speed of light across many countries, the citizens of some other countries don’t even know what locomotives mean.
The great part is, courses for the future are in every field – Medical, Engineering, Information Technology, Visual Arts, and others.
Studying a course for the future is great, and studying a course for the future abroad is even more rewarding.
3. Keep an eye on the labour market
It is a sad thing to finish college and not get something to do. This is especially true for those wanting to build a professional career.
I understand the frustration that comes with being unemployed, especially for qualified university graduates. When choosing a course to study abroad, make effort to keep an eye on the labour market and consider trends.
You may also want to check out some benefits of studying abroad.
Not all courses meet the immediate demand of employers. This explain why many graduates of the most popular courses such as, Law and some Engineering courses are unemployed.
4. Select a course that is eligible for scholarship
One of the biggest challenges many international students face is how to finance their education abroad. And there is no telling the huge importance of international scholarships to acquiring high quality education overseas.
More than 90 percent of international students seek one form of scholarship or the other. It would therefore be a wise concept to choose a course that can, if not easily, enable you access to a pool of international scholarships.
But how am I going to do that?
Most scholarships are awarded for specific courses of interest. If you were to choose a course for the future to study, which is one of the tips I mentioned earlier, you would be eligible for scholarships.
Scholarship providers like the government seldom award scholarships to students studying popular courses like Medicine. There is already an abundance of people in those sectors offering nothing unique.
Worse still, choosing to study a course that has no bearing to solving today’s challenges gives you no chance of a scholarship to study abroad.
Scholarship providers such as international organizations are more interested in sponsoring the very few students who would take the narrow path of studying courses that would power key sectors of economy, and keep humanity flourishing.
I should tell you the courses? You already know them.
And the secret is, some are minors of popular courses but people don’t major there and they miss it.
Also, an open secret is that scholarship providers, especially companies, award scholarships based on manpower needs in certain discipline.
A course that gives you the opportunity to get a full scholarship or other scholarship to study abroad is no doubt the right course to study. Especially when you have had a long term desire to study overseas.
What more?
Studying abroad gives you an opportunity to acquire the very best education on offer. It gives you a chance you should seize by studying an uncommon, yet relevant course.
Such courses could even fetch you employment before you finish from the university.
There are courses whose expertise is required to drive key sectors of a nation’s economy, multinational companies. Some government agencies are even lagging behind due to absence of qualified personnel in certain areas.
Find and study such courses.
The best part is that you are going to study abroad, which means higher value for your degree. It could give your career a lift.
Now that you know how to chose the right course to study abroad, the next thing you would like to do is; chose a university abroad.
These tips to choosing the right university to study will help.
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Maxwell is a Dietitian with passion for showing people hope. With nearly a decade experience helping people make key decisions on education and career, you can find him almost everywhere on this site. From answering admission and scholarship questions to creating tutorials and helping others live their best lives though nutrition. Connect with me on Twitter.