Choosing a University and a Major

Education: "Going forward from cocksure ignorance into thoughtful uncertainty."

I’m in China for a term teaching Meat Science at the Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, and I’m finding we have a lot to learn from the Chinese: particularly how not to prepare people for University! 

On Choosing a University: the feeling here is that if you don’t get into the best University your life is basically over; you are a failure.  I always tried to stress in Canada that a University degree just gets you an interview; it doesn’t really matter how good (or bad) the University and your GPA are, if you have the degree you get the interview, then it’s up to you.  If you became an interesting, knowledgeable, curious person at University (i.e. if you interview well) you have a good chance of getting the job.  I never met an employer (outside educational institutions!) who cared what a potential employee’s GPA was, or which University they attended; they were just interested in the employee’s level of interest. So the simple advice is: take an interest in your courses and be curious about the discipline.  Don’t worry specifically about your marks, but make sure you pass.

On Choosing a Major: never think about employment opportunities, think only about what you find interesting.  If you find a discipline (or a course) interesting you’ll be good at it, and if you’re good at it you’ll succeed.  It’s really not very complicated!

Mick A. Price, Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science at the University of Alberta, and award-winning 3M National Teaching Fellow.

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