Careers --- overview

Students should be encouraged to think seriously about and investigate their career path from the start of Year 11 at the latest . Subject choice at Year 11 can be critical as some courses require certain subjects to be studied (pre-requisites): these can be found via the VTAC site or contacting the institution directly (see VTAC under ENTER). The courses offered at New Generation College keep practically every door open except for areas such as music and the visual and performing arts: students should check carefully beforehand.

VCE study can be a hard grind. Long experience has taught us that students are better motivated to do well if they have a planned career path in mind. Much is to be gained if students investigate possible career paths as they establish a reason for their studies.

Another reason for this investigation is that it takes time and students have to choose courses mid-way through Year 12 (see Tertiary Selection). Students are ill-advised to think that they can change once at university as this is more difficult in practice than it may appear. Students are required to pick at least eight courses and thus need to have more than a superficial understanding of what they want to study. The VTAC Guide lists courses in particular areas and students need to investigate the possibilities carefully. For example, if one looks under Accounting the list for Monash University alone lists nine options and Victoria University lists ten options. There are nineteen institutions offering accounting courses. There are two pages of small print listing Business courses. So simply saying “Accounting” or “Business” as a career path is well short of what has to be done. Students must know exactly what type of course they prefer and then at what university. Better students should consider double degrees: twice as much investigation is required. Students should not ignore the less well known universities as they investigate courses: finding the most suitable course requires exploration. Visiting or at least contacting the institutions is very useful: Open Days provide that option but visits can be arranged at other times too.