Key points for choosing a university and department

University preference and promotional days are continuing at full intensity. A very comprehensive promotional fair was held in this regard at the Lütfi Kırdar Congress Center in Istanbul on July 25, 26, and 27. Most of the universities in Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus opened stands at the fair and met with university candidates. I also attended the fair and had the opportunity to meet with candidates at the stand of the university where I work.

Young people are rightfully very excited. They are going to make a decision and will shape their entire lives according to this decision. Therefore, they need to make the most accurate decision. The more accurate the decision, the more enjoyable the rest of their lives will be. Most young candidates are aware of this. However, there are also many who are indecisive about choosing a department and university. Even if they decide which department to choose, they struggle with choosing a university. Or they choose the university but are not sure which department they want to study. Moreover, some young people have not yet decided what kind of work they want to do in the rest of their lives. I have some suggestions for young candidates on these points.

At this decision point, choosing a profession is very important. Our young friends, who are in the spring of their lives, need to decide how they want to live the rest of their lives. But for this, they must first be aware of their own talents, interests, skills, and tastes. We call this self-awareness. Young individuals should ask themselves questions to get to know themselves and analyze their talents, skills, desires, and orientations very well. This inward analysis will enable them to know themselves.

The second stage is deciding on a profession. Department or program preferences will begin to take concrete shape at this point. Candidates should make their department or program choices according to the profession they want to pursue. However, my advice to them at this point is not to get stuck on a single profession. After all, they are taking an exam. They may get the score they expect from this exam, but they may not. Therefore, making preferential plans not only when choosing a profession but perhaps when making decisions in every aspect of life makes things easier. Expanding our area of action and decision-making with a preferential plan in the form of Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C provides an advantage in reaching the goal. At the point of preferential planning, it is important for young candidates to identify their own talents, skills, and orientations very well, that is, to know themselves very well.

A point to consider in choosing a profession is that there can sometimes be a contradiction between the impositions of the social environment and the person's own desires and preferences. Some professions are generally accepted in society and have a traditional prestige. Medicine, engineering, law, etc. However, the business and working world is not limited to these professions. With developing technologies and a diversifying business and working life, many professional fields that are not yet sufficiently accepted in society can often open the door to very important opportunities. Many professional fields shaped by digital technologies are gaining importance in this sense. Therefore, young individuals need to analyze the direction of the world very well when making career choices. Developing technologies, emerging new needs, and the business and professional fields formed accordingly should be followed very closely. For this reason, the youth of today's world should push the boundaries of traditional understanding as much as possible and try to overcome them when making business and career choices.

Success cannot be attributed to certain professions. There is no such thing as a good or bad job. It is not necessary to be a doctor, judge, lawyer, or engineer to be successful in business and working life. There are many different professional fields in various sectors aimed at the need for intermediate staff. Young people can become professionals in a short time by completing associate degree programs at universities. Afterwards, if they wish, they can continue their career studies towards higher goals while working. Vocational schools of universities offer important opportunities for this. Especially young people who do not get the score they expected or aimed for can turn to vocational schools with a quick decision process instead of experiencing disappointment.

Another important point is the choice of university. Most of the time, even if a young individual decides which profession to do and which department to choose, they experience confusion about choosing a university. As far as I have observed, young individuals often make decisions based on the campus conditions of the university when choosing a university. But a university is not just a campus. What makes a university a university is the education it provides, the scientific production it carries out, and the science-oriented contribution it offers to society and humanity. Therefore, when young people decide on a university, they should look at the university's academic staff, curriculum structure, classrooms, laboratory infrastructure, capacity to use technology, international mobility, and social interaction.

A university is an institution that provides science-oriented education and training services. For this, the laboratory infrastructure for conducting research, in addition to the classroom conditions of the university, is very important. Candidates should examine universities from this perspective. In this context, it is very important for them to look at the scientific performance of the university's academic staff. They can perform a scientific performance analysis by examining the resumes of academics. The academic's publications, the number of citations received from publications, and international mobility are important indicators in this regard.

The international mobility of the university is important. In this sense, universities' Erasmus agreements, international protocols, the status of academic staff with international recognition, international collaborations, their status in THE labels, and their place in world rankings are important indicators for understanding the university's international mobility. Young individuals should pay attention to these in their preferences regarding which university. Because we now live in a global world. Whatever job we do, we must definitely take its global context into account. In this sense, choosing a university that will offer us a vision is of great importance.

Another important point in university preference is the university's social interaction performance. When making a university choice, young individuals can understand the number of active clubs at the university, the university's social responsibility projects, and its work towards social contribution from the reflections on the university's web page, or they can get information by visiting the universities and having face-to-face interviews. Because a university is not only an institution that provides education and training services in classrooms, but also an institution that is obliged to train its students socially and culturally.

Young candidates should visit universities if possible, meet with the academic staff, talk to them, and get information. Those who cannot visit universities due to the place they live or the conditions they have should carefully examine the web pages of the universities and analyze the performance level of the university from various aspects. Choosing a profession and department is important, but choosing a university is just as important.

I wish success to all university candidates.