Choosing a university course
Video script:
Hi, I’m Jess, a writer and careers advisor, and this is careers advice for writers. This video is about choosing a university course...
...and honestly, if you’ve watched the videos I made about choosing a writing course, a lot of the advice is exactly the same, it’s just that the chances are, the impact is much bigger. Tuition fees, accommodation fees, a potential three or fours years out of your life... signing up for a degree is a massive investment in yourself, so you want to do everything you can to ensure you’re picking the right one.
So, a quick run through then:
Value for money: if you’re in England (I am, unfortunately, English, so that’s my main frame of reference here) then you will usually be eligible for student loans, and I want to be clear that this is not the same as other types of debt you can get into. Student loans are not normally going to stop you from taking out a mortgage later in life, for example. The way the world is going might, but not your student loans. However, you should really consider what that money is paying for. Go to Open Days to see what the facilities at the institution are, or in the case of providers like the Open University, check you’re happy with the resources they’re offering as well. It’s more than just teaching – as a student you’re usually able to access careers support, counselling and other mental health support, sports teams and student societies, books and other library materials, etc – make sure the whole package suits you.
What are you looking for? Do you prefer exams or coursework? Do you want to leave university with a whole portfolio of different types of writing, or a fully-drafted novel? Are you interested in meeting industry professionals through networking? Does the university you like specialise in the genre you’re most interested in writing? Don’t be afraid to ask the difficult questions!
How do you know a course is good quality? Well, this depends on what “good quality” means for you. Look, I work for a Russell Group university and some people think that label alone means good quality, but your mileage may vary. Personally, I’d suggest you look for the Graduate Outcomes of your course, which most universities in the UK advertise on their website. Do bear in mind though that arts and humanities students sometimes take a bit longer to get into “relevant” work after university than STEM students, so actually you might prefer to ask how many alumni have been published, even if they also have day jobs doing unrelated things. You can also find information about student satisfaction by looking up the results of the National Student Servey. These are often considered in various league tables, and you can always see what people are saying on sites like The Student Room – so basically, the information is out there.
To be honest, as lot of this applies to more than just Literature and Creative Writing degrees – but I am trying to keep these videos relatively short!