Area specific considerations

Liberal Arts and Sciences

These  have long been popular in the United States, and are rapidly gaining popularity in the UK and Europe. So what is a liberal arts and sciences program? This is a program where you can choose from a menu of different subjects, and gain enough credits to graduate. During the 3 to 4 years of your  bachelor’s degree, you will be exposed to many subjects in different areas and by the time you come to the end of your bachelor degree you will know where your true passion lies. You can then specialize during your master’s degree. As just mentioned, there are many liberal arts and science programs offered in the UK and also in the Netherlands.

Joint degrees

This is where you will typically study two subjects, approximately 50% on each. If you still can’t make up your mind between two subjects, then this can be a good solution.

Major and minor

This is where a student takes a degree in a particular subject (the major) and then alongside you will study another subject (the minor). The mix between these two subjects varies, but timewise it’s typically 70: 30 or 80:20.

As you can see there is a great deal of flexibility if you just shop around. All of the above have the advantage of delayed choice. A student of only 17 years old does not need to select the subject in which they are going to specialize, this decision can be delayed until the you are 21 or 22 years old, and then you apply for a master’s degree. By that time you will have been exposed to a lot of new academic ideas and be a mature young adult.

It is worth pointing out that some university subjects will be unavailable because if a student is not taking the requisites combination of IB subjects in school. E.g. If you are not taking chemistry then you can’t apply to biochemistry or medicine.