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Guide To Higher Education

 

Guide To Higher Education

The transition from High-School to a Higher Education Institution is a big one that I do not believe High School does enough to prepare its pupils for. Not only is it a totally different beast when you are in there but the journey to acceptance and making sure you choose courses and modules wisely requires a lot of guidance. I always say that had I had an insider at UWC to guide me, my journey would have been much quicker and different. In this blog post, I will provide a skeleton guide based on my experience at UWC. I hope you can take these as lessons learnt and not fall victim.

 

Admission Point Score (APS)   

Universities have a point system they use for admission; different faculties require different number of points as a minimum for admission. However, meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee admission, in fact you should be worried if you just make the required number. Competition is tough, you are competing with thousands of students from the country and some from abroad, the higher your APS, the higher your chances of being admitted.

When going through university prospectus, pay close attention to the points your desired course requires and calculate with you results on hand to see if you make the cut. If you don’t and you do not see yourself drastically improving your marks, look into something else.

 

First, Second and Third Choice

On the application, one will be required to choose three different degrees to study towards. The first one being the one you want the most to the least. Here is where it gets tricky, you may meet the requirements for your first choice but because of the tough competition, you don’t get a place. Naturally, you will move onto your 2nd choice, and they will tell you that you will be placed on the waiting list because they are prioritizing students who chose that degree as a first choice. You are now in a predicament because there is little to no chance of your 3rd choice degree faculty accepting you. The best way to work around this is exceeding the minimum requirements of your first choice by a noticeable number.  

 

Continuous Assessment Mark (CAM)

In my opinion, this is the most important aspect of university, it might just be more important than your exams. Your CAM is comprised of all your tutorial tasks and assignments. This is what will allow you to have a seat in an exam room, to qualify to write an exam your CAM should be 40% and above. At face value, this seems easy to acquire and yes, it is if you submit everything. Your CAM is your saving grace and if you play your cards right by treating your tutorials like assignments, doing ample research for assignments, referencing properly, and steering away from plagiarism, submitting your assignments for review by your tutors, you will make a 70% CAM for sure. Having a high CAM alleviates exam stress, yes you will have to study and pass but your CAM has literally done more than half of your work for you.

 

Get an Acquittance, Friend or Study Buddy

University can be scary and intimidating, doing it alone can be scarier. I highly encourage that you make a friend or two in all your classes. Starting a friendship in a foreign setting is tricky and people are usually reluctant at first. I advise that you start a friendship through academia, shoot your friendship shot by asking ‘How are you finding the module?’ ‘Who is your tutor?’ ‘Have you started the assignment?’ etc. More often than not you will find that your fellow students are experiencing Uni the same as you and would love to have someone to share Uni woes with. Having someone to confirm deadlines with, ask questions and engage with on the content will definitely make your life easy. Especially if you aren’t comfortable asking questions in packed lecture halls or in your tutorial classes.  University is an experience, make the best of it.

 

I sincerely hope that this makes your entry into Higher Education a tad bit easier. Education is a beautiful thing, and I will always advocate for it. Choose your career wisely and make sure its what YOU want, not what your parents want or what you think has more money. If you do not enjoy what you are studying, you will be miserable and end up being demotivated which is the last thing you want. Goodluck to all matriculants for their final exam and may you all get admitted to your desired degrees.

 

As usual please feel free to comment down below and continue sharing blog information with your family and friends and let us grow our family.

 

Love,

A Determined Black Woman

 

 




Comments

  1. ThulisileAugust 25, 2021 at 6:45 PM

    I agree with you, the gap is huge some Highschool do not have capacity to assist with the transition. Thank you for the guideline.

    ReplyDelete

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