Choosing A Course

Choosing the area you wish to study in Higher Education can be a very daunting task, particularly with so many interesting courses on offer. You should think about your course before, or at least alongside the University you will be applying to. It needs to be something that will interest you for the three to six years of your undergraduate life, and it is not worth sacrificing this in order to go to the University that you want.

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) looks after all University applications in the UK, and their website allows you to search for any course in the UK, as well as giving links to all Higher Education institutions.

All the information about the courses offered at Magdalen is in our Subject Guide.

Some of the things you might want to consider:

• Vocational v. Academic - The University and College courses available can be split broadly into these two categories. The first describes fields of study that usually lead to a particular occupation, such as Medicine, Dentistry or Veterinary Science. The second describes courses more like school subjects, such as History or Economics, which you study because you enjoy them and these will give you transferable skills when you leave.

• Careers Advice - It may seem a long way ahead, and many of us do not know what we are going to do when we leave even in the middle of our University courses, but choice of jobs may be something worth considering, particularly with more vocational courses.

• What A-Levels (or equivalent) are you doing, and which do you enjoy best. Being good at a particular subject might help to point you in the direction of a certain line of study, but most importantly you may find a subject that inspires you enough to make you want to study it for 3 or more years.
• Some University subjects require that you have done particular A-Levels, for instance Medicine requires an A-Level or equivalent in Chemistry. You should check with particular universities what qualifications are necessary for each of their courses.

• Don't be afraid to ask for advice! Ask as many people as possible, parents, teachers, friends - it is good to get inspiration from as many sources as possible, as long as you don't let anyone push you into doing what you don't want because it will be 'good for you' - it is your choice! Have a look at prospectuses from a range of Universities as well, these should be available at schools and colleges, as well as on the web.

Once you have an idea of the area of study that you may wish to pursue, you need to broaden your search to look at the kinds of University or College that you wish to apply to. Every different institution offers a different combination of courses - you can search for a particular course at the UCAS site.

The courses offered by Oxford University are listed here, and the sites maintained by the various departments may help you to discover which areas of study interest you most. Their requirements in terms of A-Levels or equivalent are listed here.