5 ways summer schools help you discover your direction

When you’re young and still undecided about what you want your life to look like when you leave school, the pressure to make big decisions about your future can feel overwhelming. On the one hand, it’s great to know that there are so many opportunities out there waiting for you. But on the other, it can feel as though there are too many options competing for your time and money.

One of the biggest challenges many students face as they prepare for university applications is uncertainty about what they want to study and the career they want to pursue long term. If that struggle sounds familiar, a summer school will help you explore potential paths in a focused, supportive environment. Far from being a purely academic experience, a high-quality summer school helps you build confidence and gain the clarity you need to make informed decisions about your future. Let’s look at some of the ways it can do that.

1. It gives you the chance to explore subjects beyond the school curriculum

What if you excel in all your subjects at school, but you don’t love any of them quite enough to study them at degree level? It could be that you just haven’t found the right one yet. At regular school, you’ll be studying the fixed set of subjects demanded by your country’s curriculum, but that’s by no means the limit of your options when it comes to undergraduate study.

At a summer school, you’ll have the freedom to explore subjects you might not have had the opportunity to study before, whether that’s engineering, medicine, law, psychology or even entrepreneurship. It’s a great opportunity to find out whether it’s a subject you want to dive deeper into, and it gives you the chance to try it out in a real academic setting for a flavour of what it would be like at university.

2. It teaches you what university study really feels like

It’s not just the subject itself that a summer school helps you experience more deeply – it’s also the style of learning you can expect from university. At undergraduate level, your learning becomes less about memorising facts (although that’s still important!) and more about thinking deeply around your subject. You’ll attend seminars, contribute to group debates and get stuck into projects of your own, and experiencing this first hand will help you when it comes to deciding on which universities are right for you.

For example, if you value lots of independent study and one-to-one time with tutors, the tutorial system of Oxford and Cambridge Universities would suit you well. A summer school could also help you decide whether or not university is right for you at all. For instance, if you’re torn between going straight into entrepreneurship by starting your own business or going to university to study business first, a business-themed summer school will help you decide.

3. It gives you the chance to gain insight from experts

Summer school tutors have academic or professional experience in their field, making them the perfect people to bounce ideas off. A summer school is your chance to ask them questions about university courses, career routes and the realities of working in different industries.

These conversations can be eye-opening, as you’ll get insider knowledge of what it’s really like to pursue a subject through university and beyond. It could clarify your decision and give you the knowledge you need to make a success of your application – or make you rethink it entirely.

4. It helps you discover strengths you didn’t know you had

Being in a new environment can bring out sides to you that you didn’t know existed, and that’s a good thing! When you’re working with new people from other backgrounds and cultures, and taking part in group projects, presentations and debates with them, you may discover that you have strengths or interests that may not have shown themselves in a traditional classroom setting. Perhaps you’re better at explaining ideas than you thought, or better at thinking creatively? Either way, getting to know yourself better in both academic and social contexts can help you align your future direction with your natural abilities and interests.

5. It gives you other perspectives

At an international summer school, you’ll meet your contemporaries from around the world, and each of them will have different ambitions and perspectives. Hearing about their goals might well inspire you to consider options you hadn’t thought of before, as well as to think more broadly about your own future.

The good news is that at a summer school, you’re not expected to have everything figured out. Instead, you’ll get the space, support and experience to help you understand yourself better and open your mind to new possibilities and passions. Your summer school experience should help you achieve some clarity over where you’re heading – and you never know, it could even end up shaping the direction of your future career.