ON MAKING THAT POSTGRADUATE SWITCH

Kemi (not her real name) walked into our office at Clarity Education Ltd some few years ago, wanting to switch from a first degree in Banking and Finance to Nursing. At first glance, it would have seemed like an uphill task that is doomed to fail but her story was a peculiar one. Many of us had had our career paths mapped out for us since childhood; we were the medics, lawyers and engineers with a pre-determined path through education and into a job. But for many, the journey isn’t as clear-cut.  Some of us just took a second choice course of study during our inexperienced days of seeking admission.

Undergraduate degrees are often broad in scope and when they graduate, students may become interested in a new – potentially unrelated – subject area, leading them to take up postgraduate study in a vastly different field. Most times this desire for change is driven by passion, new likes or unhappiness in current job. Nevertheless, regardless of the reason for pushing for a switch, we want to state clearly that although it is an arduous journey it is not insurmountable.

Now back to the story of Kemi. After 6 solid years of extensive experience in the banking sector, she had to resign to be able to take care of her ailing mother in-law who needed full time attention in the hospital. While going through this process, she reconnected with her childhood passion of showing care. She was commended by the medical practitioners for her dexterity in taking care of her mother in-law and handling the medical tools. They even encouraged her to consider the possibility of a career switch.

It was at this point that Kemi came to Clarity Education Ltd. We engaged her in a Clarity session. Although the process was a long one, we were able to find an elite school in UK that accepted international students into Nursing courses who didn’t possess the first degree. Today Kemi is a practising nurse who graduated from the Department of M.Sc. of Mental Health Nursing, University of the West of Scotland. So that story was to illustrate the fact that making that dream postgraduate study switch is possible.

To navigate your journey and make their transition as smooth as possible we recommend the following: firstly, ask yourself why you want to change to this course. Be brutally honest about your reasoning – there’s no guarantee you will enjoy this new course better than the first one, and there is a lot of time and money at risk if you make the wrong decision.

Secondly, you might need to speak with Career counsellors who will help you to look at the different programmes on offer at multiple institutions and ascertain the kind of content they cover. This is especially essential because not all institutions offer admission to students who do not possess the basic background requirement. The process also differs depending on the institution and varies from programme to programme. Thirdly, after the selection of the school of study, a great place to convince admission officers is through the Statement of Purpose. This is your opportunity to emphasis on any relevant study or work history and talk about the strengths you will bring to the course.

The bright side about this is that you could find out that coming from a different background could really benefit you in ways you never thought of. The experiences and skills gained from your previous field could provide a creative way of approaching issues. For more information on how to proceed, feel free to visit our website clarityeducation.ng to book a free consultation or walk in to any of our offices to speak to our experienced counsellors who would be glad and willing to guide you.