Introducing FutureLearn Choices: a collection of free courses to bridge the gap between school and university

Neil Harvey, our Head of Marketing, introduces FutureLearn Choices – a collection of free online courses to bridge the gap between school and higher education, and help 16 to 19 year olds choose the right degree, uni or career.

Making your A-level, university or career choices can be one of the most important times of your life. These choices, and the application and interview processes that follow, can be daunting. But you’re not alone – according to the Office for National Statistics, there are around 3 million 16 to 19 year olds in the UK alone, who are making the same tough choices.

Introducing FutureLearn Choices

To help you with these decisions, today we’ve introduced FutureLearn Choices – a collection of free online courses designed to bridge the gap between school and university.

The courses are provided by many top UK universities, run for three to eight weeks during June and July, and can be taken anywhere, anytime on mobile, tablet or PC.

They’re designed to help you make the most of post-exam term time and the start of your summer holidays, so that you’re prepared for and relaxed about the important decisions you’ll need to make in the new academic year.

Try out new subjects and get ready for uni

Because it’s hard to know what university study will be like and understand the wealth of different degree subjects available, many of which you won’t have experienced at school, the courses cover a broad range of areas.

You could use them to:

• Try out new subjects: get a taste of what studying areas such as archaeology, computer science, forensics or robotics will be like; or find out what dentists or doctors, historians or environmental scientists really do all day.

• Get ready for uni: develop the skills you’ll need to get your degree off to a flying start, like critical thinking or developing a research project; gain the numeracy skills required for many subjects and jobs; or master the advanced maths, like calculus or mechanics, that’s needed for science and engineering courses.

Strengthen your UCAS application

Many of our university partners say that completing a FutureLearn course is evidence that applicants are interested in the subject and can learn successfully on their own.

So, if you take a course through FutureLearn Choices, you can use it to show your enthusiasm for a subject in your UCAS personal statement. We also have two courses that will help you write a stand-out UCAS application and ace the interview process.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be running a series of posts with tips on how to get the most out of FutureLearn Choices – when you’re making decisions about uni, writing applications and attending interviews.

In the meantime, you can see all of the FutureLearn Choices courses at www.futurelearn.com/collections/choices. And if you know any 16 to 19 year olds, or their teachers or parents, please do share the courses with them.