Matthew Kingsley
August 25, 2026
The Two Bad Reasons Students Pick a Course
The two most common reasons students end up in a course they regret are prestige ("everyone respects this course") and pressure ("my parents chose it for me"). Both can work out fine — plenty of students thrive under family guidance or in a prestigious field they genuinely enjoy. The problem is when either reason stands in completely for the question of whether you actually want to spend four-plus years doing the work the course requires.
A Better Question Than "What Pays Well?"
Almost every course someone recommends "pays well" if you ask the right person. A more honest filter: could you tolerate the actual day-to-day coursework — labs, case studies, long reading, whatever the discipline demands — even on a bad week? Salary potential matters, but it will not carry you through a semester you are dreading every morning.
Talk to Second- and Third-Years, Not Just Graduates
Graduates already in a career tend to describe the destination. Current students in year two or three will tell you honestly what the actual week-to-week workload feels like right now — which is the information that predicts whether you will enjoy the next few years, not just the eventual job.
Check the Exit Options, Not Just the Entry Requirements
Some courses are narrow — they lead cleanly to one profession and little else. Others are broad and transfer well if you change your mind later. Neither is wrong, but knowing which one you are choosing changes how much risk you are actually taking on.
It Is Okay to Choose the "Safer" Course
There is real pressure to pick the most impressive-sounding option available. A course you will genuinely engage with and finish strong is a better outcome than a more prestigious one you finish burnt out and disengaged from. Ambition and self-honesty are not opposites — the best choice usually needs both.
Photo: "AUN Campus" by SmartAfricanBoy, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).