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Get to know yourself

Take a conscious look at your interests, abilities and values. The first step in making a good choice is to know yourself.

Your interests are especially important in finding the right degree programme. The following questions can help:

  • What do I enjoy doing?
  • What school subjects do I find interesting? What do I like about them in particular?
  • What do I do in my free time?
  • What activities give me pleasure?
  • What topics do I regularly follow in the media?

A realistic assessment of one’s own abilities is important. But don’t be too critical. You can also trust yourself: with enough motivation, you can foster abilities. The following questions can help you to assess your abilities:

  • What am I good at?
  • What is easy for me at school?
  • What am I good at outside of school?
  • What do I dare to do?
  • What do I regard as my strengths? What do others regard as my strengths?

Values often subconsciously influence the choice of study programme. Take an active look at your personal values, and incorporate them into your decision-making process. The following questions may help you to identify your values:

  • What is important in my life?
  • How important is the question of meaning in a job for me?
  • Do I prefer working alone or in a team?
  • How important is a good pay?
  • Do I require my studies / my profession to be high-status?
  • Do I want to help others?
  • How should my later work-life balance look like?

Discussions with friends and family, or with professional study programme advisors, can help you to better identify your interests, abilities and values.

 


Cantonal vocational, academic and career advice services often deploy psychological tests and tools to determine a person’s interests. For you these can be useful orientation aids, or bases for discussion.


Important: These tests and tools are not magic. They cannot make a decision for you. They can only give you an idea, and are no replacement for professional guidance.

 

On the internet there are numerous online self-assessment tests (OSAs) to identify your study interests. General OSAs can give you guidance and provide inspiration for your selection. However, discipline-specific OSAs can help you to match your idea of a degree programme with reality.

The University of Applied Labour Studies (Germany), the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (Switzerland) and the University of Salzburg (Austria) have jointly developed a external pageGerman-language OSA portal. This gives persons interested in studying, as well as specialists an overview of the the range of OSAs.

Important: OSAs cannot make a decision for you. They only give an idea – and they may present rather strange results once in a while.

Take advantage of the range of public vocational, academic and career advice services in your canton, and seek the advice of specialists in selecting a study programme. These people can help you to

  • consciously determine your interests, abilities and values;
  • get to know yourself better through interest tests and tools;
  • navigate the flood of information;
  • narrow down a selection of degree programmes which come into question;
  • make a decision.

See the external pageresponsible advisory services in the canton where you live.

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