5 Reasons Students Choose the Wrong Course

It has become almost normal, hasn’t it? Students enrolled in college, regretting choosing their courses. In fact, in a study conducted in 2015 by a US organisation, nearly 500,000 out of 1.4 million students believe they chose the wrong course. In an age where technology and information is at everyone’s fingertips, how are there still students making such misinformed decisions?

5. No initiative

So, let’s say someone asks you about something along the lines of, “Who won the last World Cup?”, you would obviously know the answer and proceed to get into a footy argument. But what would happen if someone asked you what is the most in-demand skills were in the job market as of 2020? Would you know? Would you bother to check? Students with no initiative tend to do no research and end up joining just about any course, and only regret it when it’s too late.

4. Pleasing a parent

Students fear disappointing their parents so they join the course that they don’t like  - Image via Pixabay

While parents are the people we look up to the most in life, and often we want to please them and make them happy, sometimes a student ends up enrolling in a course to please them. Perhaps they merely encouraged you to pursue it, but you, out of fear of disappointing them, just went along with it. 

One must realise that, just as much as we respect their advise, it’s equally important to make your own decisions. We’re not saying disregard what they want for you, we’re saying, take their advice into consideration, but at the end of the day, it’s YOUR decision.

3. Friends

via GIPHY

You have a tight knit group of friends from high school, and it breaks your heart how most of them are doing a certain course you don’t like. Maybe you have a boyfriend/girlfriend, who is now going to enrol in a course that you know nothing about and have no interest in. What do you do? You end up joining that very course because you don’t want to lose your friends. 

It’s important to remember that, once again, it’s your decision and you need to choose what’s best for you. Perhaps you’ll still be with some of your friends, maybe you’ll make new ones. But it’s important to make your own decisions to burst the bubble you’ve been living in and inhale the fresh, and sometimes harsh air of the real world.

And hey, you're going to meet even more friends once school ends!

2. Bad Planning

Some students do extensive research into what’s needed right now, and what field is in demand. While this is very good, the one fatal mistake these students make? They forget that it’ll take them a good 5 years or more to graduate with a degree in that very field, and more often than not, the demand for that very job has dwindled down, and people in that very field may not be hiring anymore. It’s important to look for jobs that’ll be in demand 3-5 years from now when looking into job demand, and go from there.

1. Misinformation

Students need to be careful when finding information about their course - Image via Pixabay

The main reason why students chose the wrong course? It’s due to the fact that with information so easily accessible, there is a wealth of information that isn’t accurate, and this leads to an influx of misinformed college students, who have no idea what they’re in for due to them purely relying on information they read, on some obscure website. 

It’s important to note that some information may be false, and some, while accurate, may be outdated.

Be careful what you choose

In conclusion, it’s mainly up to students themselves to make sure they do everything in their power and utilise all the avenues at their disposal in choosing the right course. While many factors do play a role in a student’s decision, ultimately, if a student does regret his/her decision, they would have no one to blame but themselves. But the good news is, we at Afterschool.my have a plethora of information for you to read about to help and guide you in making the best decision in shaping your future. All that is required from you is hard work. Remember, hard work beats talent, when talent doesn’t work.

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Afterschool.my is Malaysia’s no 1 higher education website that provides helpful information on courses, institutions and scholarships for students transitioning from secondary school to university level.