26/04/2025
FACTORS TO CONSIDER BEFORE SUBJECT SELECTION.
You want to become a lawyer, dad wants you to become a doctor, mom wants you to be a data scientist, your sister wants you to become a fashion designer like herself, your brother wishes that you become an engineer like him.
You are seriously confused and you don't know what to do.
Probably, you are going to form two and you are supposed to select subjects at the begining of first term in 2025. Because you are not sure which career you will take, you don't know which subjects to select. You are confused between History and Geography, Business and Homescience. You are not sure whether to drop Business Studies and do Physics and Geography, drop History and do Business Studies and CRE or drop Geography and then do Physics and Homescience.
During subject selection, most students choose the subjects that their friends choose.
As a mentor who has given keynote speeches in over 5,000 schools in Kenya and beyond, I have experienced scenarios where a student pursues a particular course in the university then after graduation, the graduate says 'I did that degree course for my father'.
The graduate then goes back to pursue another degree which they had passion in.
Before I go to the ten factors, here are the 8 steps of careers:
>Career confusion.
>Career information.
>Career choices.
>Career guidance.
>Career decision.
>Career pursuance.
>Career progression.
>Career maturity.
Here are the factors that students should consider before selecting subjects:
1.Job availability.
The subjects that a student will take should be pegged on the career that they want to do. This is because each course at the university has its own cluster subjects which will be used to calculate weighted cluster points which will then determine whether a student can pursue a particular course or not.
Before selecting those subjects, the student should have information about how available jobs are in that field so that after graduation, they don't 'tarmack'.
A student should know how marketable the course is.
2.Interest and passion.
Because the subjects selected are directly related to the course to be done, students must know the amount of passion needed to do that course.
For example, in medicine and surgery, is the student ready to abandon the bed at 2AM and go to operate a patient at the accident and emergency department? Will one be ready to leave their spouse and warmth of the bed at midnight to go and save someone's life?
All this needs very high levels of passion and interest.
3.Talent and skills.
Every career needs its own strengths, skills and talents e.g time management skills, communication skills, negotiation skills, etc.
So it is good for one to know what skills are relevant for that particular field.
4.Level of education.
Different careers have different levels of education. It is important for a student to know the number of years it will take to finish studying. Studying medicine and surgery takes 6 academic years. To become a lawyer is around 5 years and 6 months (4 years of studying law at the University and 18 months of ATP which means advocates training program offered by Kenya School of Law).
5.Attitude towards work.
A student should know how much they like working. Serious courses need serious work ethics.
6.Salary expectations.
People work so that they better their standards of living and feed their families. One has to consider how much pay the course offers.
7.Course relevance.
Some courses are irrelevant e.g anthropology and wood science.
8.Work/Life balance.
Some careers are very demanding. One needs to understand how much time the career will take from them in terms of family time and rest.
9.Cost of training.
One needs to know how much is needed to finish the degree course. A four year course does not cost the same as a seven year course.
