To the Prospective Student: 13 Theses on Career Orientation

Many, scorning nature, choose for themselves the most fashionable and lucrative trade, and are greatly deceived thereby. But if you take from a person the activity that is akin to his nature, then death-torment is his lot. His neighbours then seem odious, conversations repellent; a person reviles his own people and the customs of his country, and murmurs against God. Hryhorii Skovoroda It so happened that I am to speak at a career-guidance event for prospective students of our faculty — the Faculty of Biology of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. Whatever one may say, those who are now planning their future destiny are solving a difficult problem. How can one help them? Here I have set out and attempted to substantiate several theses that may be useful or interesting to future applicants. I emphasise: what is written here does not claim to reflect the official position of the faculty or the university; these are simply the thoughts of a person who has spent more than 25 years at the Faculty of Biology of Kharkiv University, more than 20 of them as a lecturer and researcher, and who is satisfied with the life choices he has made. 1. Prospective students usually choose a university first, and only afterwards receive the information necessary for that choice. The choice of a future specialisation and university is one of the most important — and often highly risky — choices in a person's life. The fact is that in the majority of cases the choice is made under conditions of acute shortage of information about the alternatives being considered. School-leavers first make a decision, and then (if they succeed in gaining admission) immerse themselves in life at the chosen institution and acquire the knowledge they once lacked so badly. And even later, when they finish university and plunge into real life, they gain the practical knowledge they lacked so sorely during their student years. 2. The right choice of specialisation and university is a necessary (though not sufficient) condition for happiness in life. Is it safe to leave the choice of a university to chance? It is dangerous. Those who are unlucky will outnumber the lucky ones. One cannot but agree with H. S. Skovoroda: only the person who engages in the activity that is akin to his nature — that is, the activity that corresponds to the person himself, to his own preferences — will be happy. In order to be happy, a person must derive from work not only material satisfaction but also moral satisfaction: he must feel that he is needed by others, that he is engaged in an important undertaking, that he is acting rightly. Let me return once more to Skovoroda's thought: the school-leaver must find a mode of action so that he will not afterwards have to murmur against a bad country and a worthless people, so that he will not have to explain his failures by the caprice of a deity or the harshness of fate. In my view, it is quite common for our faculty to attract people for whom our faculty is simply not suitable. They lose time and, sooner or later, return to a path more appropriate for them. What is worse is that many of those who would have found themselves here end up somewhere else. Someone advised them to go there, or their parents directed them there, or they were not afraid to take risks in that other place, or it seemed to them that rivers of milk with banks of jelly awaited them there. How much better it would be if such people came to us, to the Faculty of Biology! 3. Maximum awareness among prospective students is beneficial both for them and for strong faculties of strong universities. Thus, I am not calling on everyone to apply to the Faculty of Biology: some need it, others do not. But I am calling on everyone to learn as much as possible about our faculty (and about other faculties and universities that might be of interest). Our faculty will look very creditable in almost any comparison; the more seriously potential applicants approach their choice, the greater the chance that those who come to the faculty will find their place here. Choose not only between V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University and other universities, but also among the faculties of our university. Compare the opportunities offered by the Faculty of Biology with what is offered by the Faculties of Chemistry, Ecology, Radiophysics, and Psychology. For example, clarify the difference between the profile of the Faculty of Biology and the Faculty of Ecology. The ecology you studied at school in the general biology course is represented far more seriously at the Faculty of Biology (there is a great deal of information about it on this site as well). The Faculty of Ecology is concerned not with ecology in the classical sense of the word, but rather with environmental science: the description and monitoring of the quality of the human environment. How do you choose what is more suitable for you personally? Get to know both options better! 4. A great deal of information valuable for prospective students in choosing a faculty and university is available on the Internet. How does one obtain the necessary information? The present time affords far more opportunities for this than the very recent past. An enormous quantity of information is available online, both promotional and simply reflecting the experience of participants in the most varied social processes. Dear prospective students! Do you wish to enrol at a particular university? Find its students in social networks. Observe what occupies their minds, try to understand how they study and how they interact. In addition to such field observations, find those you could trust and address your questions to them directly — you will learn much that is interesting. Social networks host pages of universities, faculties, departments, student self-governance organisations, student scientific societies... And make use of the fact that in many social networks people indicate which university they graduated from. See what they do for a living, and try to understand what kind of people they are. 5. A good education does not necessarily lead to a high salary, yet it is nonetheless compatible with one. We live in an unstable society in a state that cannot persist indefinitely. At present, a trolleybus conductor earns the same salary as a senior research associate (and twice as much as a doctor). To become a conductor one must go and write an application (though I am not entirely sure about the details); to become a senior research associate one must spend many years studying, pursuing science, and defending a dissertation. A conductor may pocket part of the fare collected from passengers; the majority of research associates have no unlawful earnings. Can one conclude from this that conductors are far happier and more successful than researchers? No. And the reason lies in what cannot be measured by salary. A good education transforms people fundamentally. If you think that the purpose of education is to teach you what is needed to earn money, you greatly underestimate it. The purpose of education is to change you, to deepen your understanding of reality, and to make you more complex as a person. 6. Many graduates of the Faculty of Biology are successful, accomplished individuals. Does what has just been said mean that by choosing the Faculty of Biology, an applicant is choosing a low salary? No. And this is not only because sooner or later, if our country survives and develops, it will begin to value skilled labour more highly. Even in current conditions, many graduates of the faculty prove to be quite successful people. Among them are serious businessmen and managers of large organisations. Graduates of the faculty typically gather somewhere in May or June on every fifth anniversary of their graduation. They meet near the university and then either go to the faculty building or head somewhere — to a cafe, or for instance to the university's biological research station. As time goes on, it becomes clear that people who successfully graduated from the Faculty of Biology have received a good education. The proportion of managers, chief specialists, and highly qualified specialists among them is far greater than the average among people with higher education. What is most interesting is that this holds true both for those who remained in biology and for those who changed their specialisation and moved into medicine or business. Often, after attending such reunions, I feel a certain surge of energy: after all, our work is not in vain! 7. Success will come not to all, but only to those who invest sufficient effort. I think that those who will be applying to the faculty this year will have very serious opportunities open to them. Not all will take advantage of them, but some will manage not to let their chance slip by. Time will pass, and at some reunion it will become clear that the success of those who achieve more than others was determined not so much by family connections or good fortune as by their readiness to make efforts in pursuit of their goal. 8. A sensible school-leaver prepared to work can gain admission to the Faculty of Biology on their own merits. One source of the problems that befall many unsuccessful people consists in a lack of faith in their own abilities. If you listen to idle talk about higher education, you will be told that the efforts of applicants count for nothing, that everything is decided by bribes and connections. Does this picture mean that obtaining the desired education is impossible and that one should give up in advance? At present, the key factor for your admission is how well you perform in the independent external assessment examinations. Unfortunately, in explaining the necessity of these examinations, it is often said that they are designed to combat corruption in university admissions. Please do not think that the faculty has no interest in knowledgeable and properly motivated students! Perform as well as you possibly can in the independent external assessment. And furthermore, earn additional advantages by participating in the faculty and national olympiads and by preparing research projects. 9. Do not be in a hurry to give up if you are not enrolled in the first round of admissions. If you wish to enrol at a particular university but were not admitted immediately, do not be hasty in giving up. Someone who calmly awaits the opportunity to realise their plans may prevail over a hasty competitor. The day will come when you submit your certificates to the universities of your choice — possibly not just one, but several. All admissions committees will identify the number of applicants corresponding to the number of state-funded places. If you are included in the first intake — excellent; if not — do not be in a hurry to be discouraged. Not all of those who have a sufficient score will submit their enrolment documents. Once it becomes clear how many people have not submitted documents, the admissions committee will notify the next applicants in line. In previous years, situations arose where applicants wishing to enter our faculty but not included in the first intake took their documents to some other university. A few days later they received a call from our admissions committee informing them that they could bring their documents to us, but by then they could no longer retrieve their documents from the other places to which they had hastily transferred. If you wish to gain admission — perform as well as you can in the examinations, earn additional points, and if necessary wait almost until the end of the period allotted for enrolment! 10. Corruption may hinder quality study at a university, but this danger can be avoided. You have certainly heard about bribery at universities. The mass media regularly publish calculations of how much the bribes that unfortunate students must pay each examination session cost. Alas, it appears to be true that at many universities it is necessary to pay bribes. If you wish to obtain a quality education, do not accept such conditions. Education obtained through bribery is not merely economically disadvantageous — it is simply ineffective. What is to be done? Apply only to institutions where it is possible to study honestly, and resist in every way the temptation to resolve your problems dishonestly. I do not consider our faculty ideal, but I know that in comparison with its alternatives it stands up well. Regrettably, even here one occasionally encounters lamentable instances of deviation from the rules of honest conduct. But what matters is that these shortcomings do not constitute a system; moreover, genuine efforts are made to resist manifestations of corruption within our faculty. Unfortunately, some students wish to avoid effort and pay money; alas, this is sometimes accommodated. But when such cases become known, both the faculty staff and its leadership make considerable efforts to rectify the situation. There are no circumstances at the faculty in which a student cannot receive what is rightfully theirs without resorting to bribery. Situations of injustice can be challenged. If something unlawful is demanded of a student, he can contest such a demand, obtain justice, and suffer no harm in doing so. Corruption is a cancerous tumour of education (and not only of education), but a healthy organism is not one in which degenerate cells never arise, but one in which immune mechanisms prevent them from developing. Despite all difficulties, our faculty remains healthy — make use of this! 11. The educational process at the Faculty of Biology is organised fairly; prospective students can verify this for themselves. How to convince you that a student's assessment depends on his efforts and achievements, and not on extraneous factors? For the author of this text, the easiest approach is to cite his own courses, the results of which are reflected on this website. I teach two general courses: vertebrate zoology in the second year and general ecology in the third year. If you are interested — see how the process works. At the beginning of the course, students learn the rules of engagement (for zoology here, and for ecology here), structured so as to encourage them to work as effectively as possible during the semester. As the work progresses, students earn their grades; many do so successfully. Learning outcomes are published on the website: for vertebrate zoology here, and for ecology here. See how grades are earned. Believe me, even if an insufficiently deserved C occasionally appears among them, there are no undeserved As. Of course, I am not referring to the fine line between an A and a B; after all, both of these grades are the result of serious effort on the part of the students. What matters is that without such effort — and effort that leads to success, not effort wasted in vain — an A cannot be earned. 12. Participation in research work is an integral part of quality education. The strength of our faculty lies in its serious engagement of students in research work. I doubt that any university of biological-medical profile, not only in Kharkiv but throughout eastern Ukraine, offers students such opportunities for scholarly self-realisation as ours. Once again, it is easiest for me to explain the situation using the example of students who work together with me. In 2011, together with students I participated in 5 articles published in and submitted for publication to journals included on the Higher Attestation Commission of Ukraine list (i.e., journals in which publications are recognised as scholarly publications by specialisation for dissertation defences). Some of the joint works with students (and of course not only the works with students) are posted here (unfortunately, not everything has been posted yet). In recent years, a considerable number of student research papers have been submitted to our student scientific conference based on the results of educational and research work carried out during the second-year field practice at our biological research station. There are many zoological and botanical studies among them. Students genuinely participate in international conferences and become involved in international scientific collaboration. 13. For those admitted to the Faculty of Biology, it is important to choose the specialisation, department, and research topic most appropriate for them. This issue is very important, but since it has turned out to be thirteenth in order, I shall not rush you to make the choice right now. Upon enrolling at the Faculty of Biology, you may join groups formally belonging to the specialisation of general biology, which encompasses the Departments of Botany and Plant Ecology, Zoology and Animal Ecology, Mycology and Phytopathology, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, and Plant Physiology and Microbiology; to the specialisation of genetics (Department of Genetics and Cytology); to the specialisation of biochemistry (Department of Biochemistry); and to the specialisation of physiology (Department of Human and Animal Physiology). But the genuine choice will have to be made at the end of the second year, before the third. And even that choice will not be final. In the third and fourth years, while obtaining the qualification of bachelor, you will study at particular departments and attend elective courses characteristic of your specialisation. And only after the fourth year, when you proceed to a master's programme, will you make your final choice of specialisation. The choice of department is a very important choice. Each department has several working research groups that differ from one another in many significant respects. I advise you to choose a research group only after you have formed your own impression of it. You will truly be able to do this only after enrolling at the Faculty of Biology and becoming acquainted with the lecturers and students. Without going into detail, I will note that I am glad to work in the Department of Zoology. Our department can take pride in its scholarly achievements and in the opportunities available for high-quality work. In 2012, our department alone is simultaneously carrying out two state-funded research topics. All three international research projects that received funding as a result of a competition jointly conducted by Ukraine and other countries are being carried out at our department. Studying at our department makes sense for genuinely strong and goal-oriented students (although, of course, people of varying levels graduate from it). It is possible to collaborate with our department while studying at other departments. I take pride in the fact that for two consecutive years students who studied the diversity of the hybridogenetic complex of green frogs with me placed second in the all-Ukrainian competition of student research papers (and I was their academic supervisor). In 2010 this was Dmytro Dedukh, then a fourth-year student of the Department of Genetics and Cytology; in 2011 — Anastasiia Bondarieva, a third-year student of the Department of Biochemistry. But there is much more to say... Apply to the Faculty of Biology — you will see everything for yourself. It remains for me to note that information valuable for future applicants is available on the faculty page and, in particular, in the presentation dedicated to our faculty. The Admissions section of the university website may be useful to you, and in particular the description of the admission rules adopted there. Do not hesitate to ask questions. You are not the only ones interested in entering a good university; the faculty and the university also strive to attract good students who understand what they need from their education. Do you disagree with something? Do you wish to find something out? You may express your opinion or ask your question in the comments to this page (to do so you will need to register). One more thing. If you know any classmates, graduates, or acquaintances to whom these reflections might seem interesting — please send them the link to this text. If there are people in your circle for whom this might be useful — please like the link to this page in your social network. Thank you in advance! I sincerely wish you to make the right choice.