How to Succeed At University--International Edition. Danton O'Day
which are more in keeping with his or her marks.
While I am not a counsellor, I give students some suggestions about potential alternative life choices hoping that in time, they will move these secondary choices to the front line when they realize their marks won’t be enough to allow them to apply let alone get accepted to medicine. If the students persist in their single-mindedness, I don’t try to dash their dreams but suggest that they then need to focus entirely on their studies if they hope to meet their goal. You also need to determine if your current goals are realistic. Ask yourself some questions:
•Are your grades good enough to get accepted to any competitive programme?
•Do you enjoy studying the subjects required for entry to the programme?
•Do you find that you often question what you are doing?
•Are there some other areas that seem more interesting?
Unfortunately, the reality is that there is very little chance of you being accepted by a medical school. Just look around you and assess how many doctors there are per capita and you will realize that not everyone gets to be one. The same is true for other competitive programmes. I have no intention of bursting bubbles or telling you that your dreams are not possible. You are reading this book, but I don’t know who you are or whether you have the potential to be admitted to medicine or other competitive programmes. If you do have the potential, then I sincerely hope that you reach your goal.
Whatever your aspirations are, we hope that this book will help you in your quest. This book can help you generate the high grades needed to impress potential employers or to be admitted to postgraduate programmes, but it cannot work the miracle of increasing the number of jobs available or places in these programmes. This is where we would like to offer you some other aspects of succeeding at university.
Look at your grades. Often your marks reflect your true interests. If you are getting great marks in specific subjects, that could indicate your special interests or abilities in that subject area. Look at what options and opportunities exist in that area and try to determine if that’s a route to follow. We’d also advise you not to panic. Sometimes students don’t really figure out what they want in life until it’s almost time to graduate. Remember, a good education will serve you in a diversity of ways that may have nothing at all to do with the specific subjects that you studied.
Did You Know?
According to the 2006 National Survey of Recent College Graduates in the United States, 33.8% of graduates with a Bachelor’s degree in science, engineering or health who held a job were employed in the same field as their degree. Another 10.6% were employed in a different science-related field, while 55.6% were employed in a non-science occupation.4
Evaluating Your Goals and Alternatives
Did You Know?
A 2010 survey of first-year students at thirty-nine Canadian universities revealed that for 27% of students surveyed, meeting parental expectations was a “very important” reason for attending university.5
It’s often the case that students haven’t even thought of alternatives to their primary goal in life. In high school, the job opportunities that students are made aware of are generally very limited. Attending university can open your eyes to the wide variety of career options that are available. In the meantime, it doesn’t hurt to reassess your current situation. Often one’s primary goal, especially for the professions of medicine, dentistry and law, among others, is in reality a parental dream not the student’s.
Professor O’Day’s Advice: Assessing Your Goals
Every year I have students come to ask for advice about their progress in my classes. Often they are failing or doing poorly and can’t understand why. In a large number of cases, the reason is simple. They are attending university for all the wrong reasons. The primary reason is Mom and/or Dad want them to become a professional. I’ve had dozens of students over the years come to me and ask what they can do because their parents are putting unrealistic pressure on them to become a professional when they either aren’t interested or won’t be able to meet the demands of getting accepted to that profession.
As an adult, you need to look out for your own interests. So if your marks are not up to par for your goals or if you are finding that your goals are changing, here’s a list of assessment questions you can answer that should help you in determining just what is right for you:
1.Write down your goals and interests in two side-by-side columns and list the positives and negatives for them.
2.Note whether they are your goals or whether someone else is pushing you in that choice.
3.List the subjects in which you are doing your best.
4.List the subjects in which you are doing your worst.
5.List the subjects which you like the best.
6.List the subjects which you don’t like or skip classes.
7.Seriously evaluate your grades (cumulative and recent).
8.Compare your actual grades with those that are required for the profession that you want.
9.Go through all of the above and see what things are positive and which are negative.
10.Based on those results, do an online search for professions in those areas.
In short, write down the plusses and minuses of your current life. Look at what you have written and see if being a student is the best route for you.
The smartest thing you can do, as a student, is to keep your options open. Don’t limit yourself too much too early. It’s very likely that you really don’t know what you want to do in life. How could you? You hardly know what real opportunities exist! You haven’t yet had the chance to examine in depth all of the options open to you.
For this reason, we re-emphasize: keep your options open. You may wonder, “How do I do that?” The first thing to do is to select a programme that will not limit you, that is, one that allows flexibility in selecting the subjects you wish to study in your first year. Many students enter their first year with unrealistic dreams and take subjects that are intended to prepare them for a specific academic pathway rather than give them an all-round education. After a year or so they find that they are not enjoying the subject area and want to switch programmes. Then they realize that they have made a tremendous error. Not only did they not realize their dreams, they also have a bag full of useless classes that have not prepared them for an alternative future.
That’s one of the keys to success in life: having alternatives. We all have dreams; some are easily reachable, some are not. It is important to dream. But it is important to be realistic at the same time. You have a future to protect; don’t waste your years with only one dream in mind. The chances are that it may not be realized. With alternatives, you have something to fall back on.