Education is about keeping doors open. That is why universities have certain minimum expectations for students to fulfill from grades 9-12. These may include 4 years of English, 4 years of math through calculus, 3-4 years of a foreign language, 3-4 years of, at least, 2 lab sciences and so on and so forth. A student who decides to cut out science at the end of grade 10, will be cutting herself off from certain fields such as cognitive science or psychology. A grade 12 student who suddenly decides to apply to a selective undergraduate business program, such as Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania, but has only taken IB Math SL (standard level) at school, might have limited his options by not having taken IB HL (higher level) Math.
It is important for students to discuss with us their potential course options alongside majors and careers they are considering as well as giving us an idea what countries they are targeting for university admission. The requirements for applying to UK universities (which are, in most cases, direct entry programs) will be very different from those for applying to US universities, where students can apply as undecided and later make up their mind about their major. In the US, students can spend the first two years exploring a variety of courses and faculties and are usually required to formally declare a major at the end of their second year. Even then, they can still change their mind. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. With certain fields such as business, architecture, nursing, engineering etc. the programs could be direct entry. In other words, the student will be sending in their university application having to specify they want to study one of these fields and often, they will have to write specific essays on the subject of why they want to study the field (for example, engineering) and what makes them a good candidate for the program. For the of you who have not yet firmed up a choice regarding a major or even an area of focus, the best thing is to pick the more rigorous course if you are able to do well in a higher level one. Options abound and there are many fields out there that you might not have heard about and many more you might not have been able to experience in high school. These may include the likes of cybersecurity or bioinformatics. Always remember that education is about keeping doors open so don’t limit your post-secondary options by suddenly deciding you will never need math in your adult life (this, by the way, is a myth!).
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