Choosing a subject and a career direction

You do not need a 40-year plan at 16. You need a sensible next step that keeps good doors open, based on what you enjoy, what you are good at and what real courses and jobs actually involve.

Start with you, not with a job title

• List three school subjects you would happily study for another three or four years, and three you would drop tomorrow. That list is real data about you.
• Try a free interest test. The US Department of Labor's O*NET Interest Profiler groups interests into six types: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising and Conventional. Its short version has 60 questions and its mini version has 30.
• Treat any quiz result as a starting point for research, not a verdict. If it says 'Investigative and Social', look at careers that mix both, such as health, psychology or teaching science.
• Notice the activities that make you lose track of time: building things, explaining things, organising events, debating, drawing, coding. Those are clues to the kind of work you might enjoy.
• Ask two adults who know you well, such as a teacher and a relative, what strengths they see in you. Others often spot patterns you miss.

Keep options open if you are unsure

• The Russell Group's Informed Choices guide says your post-16 subject choices strongly affect your chances of getting into university, especially at Russell Group universities.
• If you do not yet know what degree you want, Informed Choices advises choosing A levels (or equivalent qualifications) that keep as many options open as possible.
• Check required subjects early. Some degrees list specific school subjects as essential; find the entry requirements on two or three university course pages for any degree you are considering.
• Doing IB, American high school or a national curriculum instead? The same rule applies: read real entry requirements for your target courses and check your subject choices against them.

Connect subjects to jobs

• Prospects publishes 'What can I do with my degree?' guides for more than 100 degree subjects, from accounting and finance to zoology.
• Each guide separates 'jobs directly related to your degree' from 'jobs where your degree would be useful'. For computer science, for example, it lists roles such as software engineer and cyber security analyst as directly related, and business analyst as useful.
• That second list is important: many degrees lead to a wide range of jobs, so your subject choice is rarely a lifelong trap.
• Some careers, such as medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, architecture or law in some countries, do need a specific degree or professional route. Check the official route for your target country before you choose.

Check the evidence on courses

• For UK courses, Discover Uni describes itself as the official source of data, information and guidance about higher education across the UK. It shows, for each course, student satisfaction from the National Student Survey, continuation (how many students are still studying a year after starting) and what graduates were doing and earning 15 months after finishing.
• Compare at least three courses in the same subject. A course with similar entry grades may have very different satisfaction or graduate outcomes.
• Read the module list for each year. Two courses with the same title, such as 'Business Management', can feel completely different in practice.
• Look at how the course is assessed (exams, coursework, group projects) and whether it offers a placement year or a year abroad.

Test your ideas in real life

• Talk to someone doing the job. A 15-minute informational chat with a family friend, alumni or a professional on a networking site can tell you more than hours of reading. The CVs, Applications and Interviews module explains how.
• Try a taster: a free online course, a summer school, a competition, a club, volunteering or a short work placement.
• Keep a simple 'career ideas' note on your phone with three columns: the idea, what you have learned about it, and your current interest level from 1 to 5. Update it every term.
• Changing your mind is normal and healthy. Each test that rules something out is useful progress.