If you graduated from a comprehensive school and chose a profession for yourself, then we can say that the most important and difficult stage has already been completed. But after this, another no less difficult task arises - this is the choice of an educational institution in which you will master the basics of your future labor activity.
We’ll try to answer the question that worries many parents and not yet held applicants - how to choose a university for admission: what you need to know, what levels of education there are, what forms of education and other equally important points and nuances. We will analyze each of the possible options as carefully as possible so that parents and schoolchildren can choose the best educational institution for themselves.
Educational levels
Before choosing a university, we outline the levels of institutions that are used in our education system.
1. General. This may include the education that every student in our country receives:
- initial (incomplete, 8 classes);
- main (9 classes);
- full / secondary (11 classes).
2. Professional (technical). This is an education that allows you to get all the necessary skills in order to become a professional in a particular field:
- primary (schools, lyceums);
- secondary (colleges, technical schools);
- higher (institutes, universities, academies).
3. Postgraduate. This education allows you to get a degree in graduate school, doctoral studies, residency and postgraduate studies.
If you have not finished school and you have any doubts whether to go or not to go to 11th grade and how this will affect your next studies (how many universities you can choose, grades, specialties), then you should read the list below.
Opportunities after the ninth grade:
- get a full education by continuing to study at school;
- submit documents to the lyceum or school (primary vocational education);
- go to college or college and get secondary vocational education;
- step by step to receive primary and then secondary vocational education;
- continue to study after gradual education and submit documents to a higher educational institution.
After the end of eleven classes, the following possibilities open up:
- phased study and mastering the necessary levels of vocational education;
- learning any of the above levels immediately.
Before choosing a university, it will not be superfluous to notice that the vast majority of young people prefer to complete 11 classes and submit documents to higher educational institutions. This is the most optimal and most popular option for vocational education. Let's talk about this option in more detail.
Levels of higher education
Before choosing a university, you should know that before September 1, 2009, the Russian education system was single-level, that is, a student studies for five years at a university or institute and receives a standard (basic) diploma of assigning him a certain specialty.
A little later, this system was modernized, and it was replaced by a three-stage structure of training, somewhat similar to the western one. Before choosing a university, consider it in more detail.
Undergraduate
After graduation (4 years), the graduate receives a diploma in his hands on the assignment of a bachelor's degree. This is a kind of base in higher education. Such a diploma allows you to prepare qualified employees in the socio-economic or industrial sphere, as well as to ensure special development in the amount necessary to work in general activities of a particular direction.
Specialty
If the student additionally remains to study for one year, then upon graduation he will receive a specialist diploma. That is, a person who is able to train workers with a narrow specialization and higher qualifications. This option is considered optimal for most students: just choose a university by profession and unlearn five years.
Master
Additional training for two years after receiving the bachelor's degree. A graduate in this case becomes a master. This option involves a deeper and narrower specialization in one direction or another. The magistracy prepares people who are able to solve the most complex problems in any type of activity: professional, analytical, research, etc. It also provides an influx of scientific and pedagogical personnel to universities.
Each of these levels is considered independent, and in order to continue training, you must pass exams. You can choose a university by points or from the calculation of the results of a single state exam. In any case, after you receive a specialist or master’s diploma, you will have the opportunity to continue to receive education (postgraduate).
Along with the aforementioned structure, the usual system for obtaining a specialty remains, for example, in medical programs.
Form of training
So, you graduated from high school, and you are faced with the task of choosing a university by exam or by points. To begin with, it does not hurt to decide for yourself which form suits you.
Today's universities offer the following forms of study :
- full-time (day);
- part-time (evening);
- correspondence;
- computer (remote);
- fast (externate).
Here, the main selection criterion is your individual ability to learn independently. If you choose a full-time form, the curriculum requires the student to attend daily classes and outline lectures by teachers. While externally, it involves the independent collection and systematization of the necessary training material with a corresponding report on the knowledge gained at the end of the semester.
Most often, distance learning and distance learning are chosen by students who are going to work in parallel with their studies. Work and simultaneous training is certainly good, but not always third-party employment helps in the development of the profession. Therefore, here you need to be careful, sometimes it’s better to deny yourself additional income, but to successfully complete the semester. Sometimes the employer makes concessions, offering extramural students extra holidays, shortened weeks and other benefits (naturally at their own expense).
University groups
In their legal form, all universities can be divided into two large groups - these are municipal and non-state.
Which educational institution to choose depends on you and your financial capabilities. In municipal universities it is possible to apply for free tuition (budget), while in non-governmental institutions this is an extremely rare occurrence.
As for the quality of education, diplomas of state institutions are much more appreciated. A lot of factors play a key role here, and one of them is a crude curriculum at private universities. Nevertheless, the fact that non-governmental institutions study some industries more deeply (foreign languages, IT-technologies, etc.) makes them very attractive for narrow specialists.
Summarizing
It is necessary to clearly understand for yourself that the chances of entering a higher educational institution directly depend on your preparedness, therefore you should not rely on "maybe", but carefully analyze your capabilities and weigh all the pros and cons.
And remember the main thing that your future life will depend on your decision. Do not choose a university at random or because a friend advised. Think about whether you are ready to spend four or more years on mastering a profession that will not appeal to you in your second year of study.