Your guide to discovering your future at Deakin Open Day
Exploring your course and career options is an exciting step toward your future. With the right approach, it can be simple, empowering and even fun. Get ready for Deakin Open Day with this guide to shaping your future – your way.
Top tips for Deakin Open Day
Make sure you attend a range of sessions, covering the breadth of your interests, to ensure you choose the right course. Plan ahead to make sure you don't miss anything.
- Register for updates. We’ll give you tips and tricks on how to make the most of your day. (And you might win a prize!)
- Use the planner to schedule your day. There’s lots on so, from course information sessions to experiences and tours. Many events run more than once to make it easy for you to attend everything.
- Attend as many sessions as you can. You may discover options or courses you hadn’t previously considered. The benefit of Deakin Open Day is that it can open up new possibilities.
- Open Day tours are your opportunity to get insights from people just like you. Discover campus life, learning facilities and our award-winning accommodation as you chat with students about their Deakin experience.
- Take part in some experiences. Discover how you can learn at Deakin, explore the facilities and see the wonderful possibilities.
- The real knowledge comes from talking to staff, students and alumni. Make a list of questions you want answered. There are no silly questions and everyone is there to help you.
- Bring your family and friends. It’s important to have people you trust to talk with as you make such an important decision. And if you overbook, send them to an info session that you can’t make it to.
Open Day is for everyone
Open Day isn't just for school leavers. If you want to talk to someone about postgraduate study or graduate research, come along! It's a great opportunity to explore the research happening in our amazing facilities and discuss financial support and funding opportunities.
Questions you can ask us
Deakin Open Day is the perfect time to get real answers from Deakin staff and students. Whether you're curious about life on campus, course details or career pathways, we're here to help you feel confident about your next step.
Questions for staff
- What’s the difference between two courses?
- What are the work-integrated learning components of the course?
- How flexible is the course? Can you choose electives or change direction easily?
- What are the class sizes and learning styles like?
- What are the assessment tasks like?
- What kinds of careers can this degree lead to?
Questions for students
- What’s the workload like each week?
- What support services are available?
- Have you had internship or work placement opportunities?
- What do you wish you knew before you started?
- Do you feel like your course is preparing you well for a job after uni?
- Where is the best coffee on or near campus?
What else do you want to know? Whether it's a general question about Deakin or something specific to your situation, put it in your list. There will be someone at Open Day who can answer it.
Unlock unbeatable employability at Deakin
Open Day is your chance to talk with lecturers about how we build employability into every course. From work-integrated learning to career support, we focus on your future. That's why we're the #1 Victorian uni for graduate employment.
Questions you can ask your mates!
Thinking about your future career options requires you to think carefully about what you are good at, what you are interested in and how you can reach your career goals with a Deakin degree.
Before Open Day, speak with a variety of people about their experiences. Talk with your teachers, family, friends or sport coaches about what they think you’re good at. They are likely to have some real insights about you that can lead to careers you have never considered. Also speak with people in the industry you are thinking about who can tell you what it is really like to work in the field.
- What do your teachers or career counsellors think you would be good at?
- What do friends see as your strengths and qualities?
- What course and career pathways did people in your social circle take?
- What do their jobs involve? Do they enjoy what they do?
- Have people you know experienced more than one career?
- If they were starting over, would they make the same choices?
Questions you can ask you!
When considering career options, it is always important to consider both your strengths and your interests.
- What interests and excites you?
- What is it that you think you'll be motivated to get out of bed for each morning?
- Does this match with your personal and academic strengths?
- Where do you see yourself in 5, 10 or 20 years?
- What course and career will help you reach your life goals?
While making decisions about what to study in the senior years of high school and at university, reflect on your experiences both at school and in your extracurricular activities outside of school. Aligning your career to your passions is important.
What are your strengths and interests?
Understanding where your strengths and interests align goes a long way to helping you make good choices about your future course and career options. Think about what you're currently studying.
- What have you found positive or negative about each study area? Is there something you excel at?
- Which topics interest you? What classes do you look forward to? Which subjects do you find easy to stay on top of? In which subjects do you procrastinate?
- Do you like group work or do you prefer working independently? What type of career facilitates this?
Are you choosing a course for the right reasons?
It’s common to be influenced by what your parents do or to lean towards a career path simply because you’re strong in a particular subject – like choosing engineering because you’re good at maths or journalism because you enjoy English. While this can be a helpful starting point, it’s only part of the picture. When considering your future, ask yourself:
- Do I understand what the job actually involves day to day?
- Would I enjoy the typical environment and tasks of that career?
- Does this career align with how I like to learn and work – independently or in groups, hands-on or theory-based?
- Can I see myself doing this long term?
A good career fit isn't just about academic ability – it's also about your personality, preferences and what energises you. You might also want to explore a double degree, which lets you combine two interests and open up a broader range of career options.
Keep these thoughts in mind as you talk with Deakin lecturers and students at Deakin Open Day.
