You want to pursue a bachelor's degree but not sure in what area?

I know people who went to university to get a degree in a field they loved in high school and became extremely disappointed. Some of them quit the studies altogether, some switched to a different degree, and some managed to finish the degree but with a lot of suffering, hoping to get to a degree that would interest them.

Let's face it, there is hardly any correlation between what you learn in high school and what you learn in university. The content is not similar, and the teaching approach is completely different. So what do you do If you know you want to get a bachelor's degree?

One way to think about the situation is to imagine the "classical universities of the old days". They are a bit intimidating, surrounded by huge walls (not literally in this case) and you can't get in through their gates because they are closed. You can only get in after making a big effort and prove that you are worthy of entering their gates, that is, enrolling and getting accepted for the degree!

This perception still exists today, even though it is no longer correct! It is possible to get an idea about what happens inside the academy, without having to enroll first.

How can we do that? Assume that you are contemplating a Computer Science degree, in this post I focus on courses, online and offline. For There are two points here. The first - do you like programming in general? The second - will a bachelor’s degree be beneficial for you?

For the first question - there is no better way than to start doing it. You can take the most practical programming courses on UDEMY, in English. You can also take a course at www.she-codes.org, where you learn in a comfortable setup with other women, in an organization that was established by women and for women.

Will a bachelor’s degree be beneficial for you? Here the solution is to take an introduction course (probably online) in one of the universities - in Israel or abroad, or in Coursera, on in www.campus.gov.il in Hebrew and for free. Look for a course that has received very good reviews - so you will know that if you don't like the course - it's not the course or lecturer – it is you.

This approach is obviously will work for almost any degree. Why Coursera specifically? Because this is a platform that was born in academia, and to this day its approach is more akin to the academic approach than to the pragmatic one. And it's free of charge so you don't need its academic credit.

This is a good way to dip your toes in the water, instead of jumping into the pool (enrolling for a degree) to find out it's empty. This is a way to lower the risk. Instead of enrolling for a degree, wasting at least one semester to understand it's not right for you, you do one or two courses and get a much better perspective in advance.

Why is this possible today? Because the world has changed. It's not just flat, it's also open, and organizations that were once big, rigid, and closed are opening and changing. Besides, there are plenty of new players. In the past there were no courses like these, and the only way to know what's happening in academia was to make the huge effort and enroll in it. Today it's already possible and wise to do it differently.

I think today it is important more than ever to build the right context, the general understanding, and the high level of the world to make decisions. This is a way to build a minimalistic foundation that will help you better understand how to think for yourself and your career. It is logical that this requires some attention and time, especially in an area you do not know at all. To sum up – if you realize that computer science is not for you, but you think biology is? Take intro course at the coursera and continue from there.