Even if you’re not sure what career path you’d like to follow, there are opportunities to try a few different things at uni and discover your true passion along the way.
There are two major types of courses at university that suit different people, depending on their goals:
Vocational courses
These courses prepare you for a particular kind of vocation or career. Courses such as health sciences (physiotherapy, nursing, medicine, naturopathy), engineering, law, forestry, teaching, architecture or journalism usually include work placements and are designed to give you qualifications for a particular job. These are good courses to do if you know what career you want.
This is not to say that completing one of these degrees forces you into that exact job. There are always opportunities to pursue careers in related fields using the skills you gain from that degree.
General courses
These courses begin with quite general subject areas and you can specialise later in the degree, depending upon your interests. General courses include arts, commerce and science. The University of Melbourne has six general undergraduate degree programs which can then be followed by a professional graduate degree, research higher degree or entry directly into employment.
Doing a general degree is a great way to try study in a few different fields before settling on a specialisation. You can also combine a couple of these and do a double degree (see What Will I Get Out Of University).