5 crucial career aspects to consider before you apply to university

I know what you’re thinking.

“I barely know what I want to study. How would I know what career I want?”.

Well.

If you have an idea of the course you want to study, the natural next step is to think whether you could see a career in that subject.

For example, if you apply to study medicine, you better have an idea whether you could do something relating to medicine as a career. Otherwise, what’s the point of studying it?

To help you think about your career before you send your university applications, we’ve put together the top 5 things you need to consider.

With these, you’ll maximise your chances at getting a job in your field of study.

Let’s dive right in.

1. University prestige

The obvious way to think about this is that the more well-known your university is, the better your career prospects.

That’s true.

Mostly.

There are also fields where your university’s reputation doesn’t help you much.

For example, if you wish to pursue marketing or graphic design, often employers are more concerned with your past work experience and your portfolio than they are with your diploma.

Do this:

Do a bit of research into your industry.

How important is your university’s reputation to employers?

A Google search can do wonders, but if you have trouble finding this information, Project Access mentors are always here to help you. For free.

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2. How “targeted” your university is

Targeted in this context is a positive word. It means how willing employers are to recruit a student from a specific university.

If a university is “targeted”, it means that employers put a lot of effort to persuade the students to apply to their company. If a university is not that targeted, it means that you may not see that many company presentations or employer fairs in your university.

Why is being targeted important?

Firstly:

If you go to employer presentations, you will get a wider perspective to what is possible in your industry.

For example, at the University of Warwick, there are employer fairs for specific industries, like law or engineering, where tens of companies come to explain the opportunities they offer.

Therefore, you’ll not only see the sub-topics in your industry, but you will come home with a handful of flyers with application deadlines printed on them.

Secondly:

When you do apply for internships or graduate roles, you’ll be more informed of the companies. You could gain a lot of useful information about the culture at L’Oreal if they give a presentation at your university.

You can then use this information to improve your chances at getting relevant experience.

Which universities are targeted by employers?

It makes sense that the more prestigious universities are targeted.

But there are universities which may surprise you.

For example, University of Manchester is targeted by employers, despite being lower in the rankings than the usual Oxford and Cambridge.

Here is a good article to read if you’re interested:

https://targetcareers.co.uk/uni/choices-about-uni/384893-which-universities-do-employers-like

What if my university is not targeted?

It’s not the end of the world.

You’ll still have good chances at getting ahead in your career.

It just means you will have to do more independent research and work.

How targeted a university isn’t the main reason employers select candidates – ultimately, your skills and enthusiasm are much more important.

Do this:

Research how targeted your potential universities are.

Once you have an idea of the “targetedness” (is that a word), you can weigh how important this factor is for you when you make your choice.

3. Fellow students

Often when we think of careers, we consider the traditional application process to large companies.

But your next career opportunity may well come from right in front of your nose: your fellow students.

Especially if you study something business-related, your peers may be starting businesses already while they are at university. Or someone may open shop right after graduating.

If you’d like to work in a start-up of some sort, or even found one, think about how easy it is to do in your university.

Does your university offer sponsorships or funds for entrepreneurial activity?

Are there start-up incubators in your university?

Do the students at the university seem more career-oriented or do they mostly focus on studies?

In addition to introducing you to start-ups, your fellow students may help you get a foot in the door of larger companies.

For example, if you want to apply for a summer internship to Unilever, it’s always good to check whether someone from your university had a summer internship at Unilever last year.

Because they can give you amazing insight into the application process.

Do this:

Think about your priorities.

Do you want to concentrate on studies or do you want to pursue career opportunities, such as internships?

Then think about the priorities of other students at the university and your department/course.

Do they want to concentrate on studies or are they more career-driven?

It may be that in Oxbridge, studies are number one. Whereas in most business schools, you can find a lot of entrepreneurial activity.

4. Societies and other events at your university

Societies and events are important to your career for two main reasons.

Firstly:

You’ll be more aware of what goes on in the real world of your industry. If you just study medicine at university, you may not hear about 3D printing possibilities or other new medicinal applications.

Plus, you can network with the presenters of these events and be more aware of career opportunities. And if you play your cards right, you may even be offered internships or work that is not advertised elsewhere.

Secondly:

If you participate actively in these events (or are involved in organizing these events), you’ll develop skills and show enthusiasm. Both of which recruiters look for in potential candidates.

Win-win!

Do this:

1. Do a bit of research to the societies at your university. Does it seem like there are interesting, active societies in the university?

For example, if you are into marketing, is there a marketing society at the university? If yes, you could expect them to help you gain skills in the field + organize events that can help you get a career in marketing.

A good place to start is to Google “[university] societies”. For example, “University of Warwick societies”. (You’re quick to realize that there are over 250+ of them at Warwick)

Can’t find anything? Sign up to get your personal Project Access mentor who can tell you the exact situation with societies in your dream university!

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2. Check out other events that are organized in your university.

If you’re into business, does it seem like plenty of business events are organized that you can take a part of?

The university or specific departments, even “academic groups” inside departments, can organize these events.

University of Warwick example:

The university doesn’t organize marketing events. But there is a society that does.
Warwick Business School (a department) seldomly organizes marketing events. But there is an initiative by a marketing professor, through which bi-weekly marketing events are held.
The “Marketing group” (marketing professors) inside Warwick Business School organize almost weekly marketing talks.

So, as you can see, it may require a bit of digging to see exactly what kind of opportunities there are to develop your employability at your university.

But these events are GOLD for getting ahead in careers.

Good places to find event information are the “Events” pages of your university or specific departments.

If in doubt, contact a Project Access mentor who studies in the university – they know best!

5. Alumni network

Imagine for a second that you graduated from University of Warwick and are now working for Google.

A Warwick student sends you a message and asks whether you could share some top tips on how they could get a job at Google.

Would you take 5 minutes to write those tips?

Probably you would.

When you look for career opportunities, alumni of your university can be an incredibly powerful place to look into.

The alumni are usually very willing to help you out. Here are only a few ways how:

Help you with your job application
Share insights about the company, culture, role etc., which help you get an idea of where you actually apply
Invite you to visit the company’s office
Mentoring
If you’re lucky, they may even be in a direct position to offer you an internship or a job

So, definitely one aspect to look at when weighing universities from the careers’ perspective is how good of an alumni network there is.

How do I know how good the alumni network is in a university?

Do this:

1. Google “ alumni network”

You’ll usually find a page that explains the network at that university. For example, whether there are mentoring possibilities, how you can contact the alumni, how many alumni there are in the network…

2. Contact the university

They’ll be happy to explain the alumni network. Especially when you mention you’re a prospective student who weighs your options ;)

3. Project Access mentors

Yep, you guessed it. This is again one of the ways we can help you make a great choice for your university.

With these 5 things in mind, you’ll make a great choice for your university!

You can, of course, make a fine choice without considering the career possibilities before applying.

But it never hurts to be more informed and prepared.

After all, you probably want to be satisfied with all aspects of your university before applying – careers are a major area to consider :)

Are you overwhelmed by the application process?

Do you feel like there are just too many things to consider when applying to universities?

Well, you are in luck.

Project Access gives you a personal mentor who studies in your dream university. They have been through the process so they know answers to all your questions.