The most important choice to make about your post-secondary education, obviously, is in which country you will study. This is a decision that you and your parents will make. Parents have the greatest influence on college decisions so start communicating with them as frequently as possible concerning what their educational goals are for you. If you attend college/university in the U.S., your decision as to a specific major can be postponed for one to two years as you complete general graduation requirements. However, many national systems require the student to declare a major immediately and one is locked into that area of study from the first day on. Regardless of the country in which you choose to study, there are some very important questions you need to ask yourself and try to answer:

What do you want in an education?

Why do you want to go to college?

What have you liked most in high school?

Which subjects have you liked the most? the least?

What is important to you? What do you care most about?

What concerns occupy most of your energy, effort, and thoughts?

What do you want to accomplish in the next 5 years? In the next 10 years?

What kind of person would you like to become?

What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses?

What would you most like to develop about yourself?

What would you most like to change about yourself?

If you had a year to go anywhere and do whatever you wanted, how would you spend that year?

What are your specific academic interests? What subjects do you like?

How do you learn best? Do you like to be involved in class (discussion, questioning, exchanging ideas) or do you prefer listening and taking notes?

What activities do you enjoy most when not buried by homework?

What do you do for relaxation?

What do your parents expect of you? What do you expect of yourself?

Do you have any contemporary or historic heroes or heroines? Who? Why?

If you have not taken the time to seriously answer these questions for yourself, then you are likely not ready to choose a college! Along with answering the above questions for yourself, it is also strongly suggested that you check out some personality and career inventories to get a better idea about yourself.