Don't label me

Louise Ridley studied English at the University of Warwick, then a Masters in Journalism at Goldsmiths college in her hometown of London. She's recently been faced with the tough decision of whether to stay in or go out and miss X Factor.

Louise wonders whether the proposed 'food labelling' for universities will help prospective students choose, or if it really comes down to good old fashioned intuition.

Apparently, those hefty league tables aren't enough any more. Thanks to Peter Mandelson's plans to revolutionise higher education, we'll soon have bucketloads of new information to analyse when deciding which university is best for us.

The move is part of a 'consumer revolution' in education, reflecting our obsession with value for money. It makes sense: as paying customers, we deserve all the information we can get to make the most informed decision about our futures. In a system modelled on food labelling, courses will soon be tagged with extra statistics, including their drop-out rates and graduates' future earnings. But will this really make the decision any easier?

In my opinion, no. If were deliberating whether to eat a food you've never tried, you'd be silly to base your decision on the nutritional information on the label - the one thing it doesn't tell you is if you're actually going to like it. You'll only find that out by trying it.

It's my belief lashings of statistical information could even stop students from 'trying' universities out - visiting them, checking if their favourite book is on the course, getting friends' recommendations, all the things that give you the answer to the question "can I see myself here?"

"If you're too busy ploughing though the figures, you could miss out on the details that are personal to you."

I'm not suggesting it's a bad thing to have access to information, just that there are things that can't be measured in numbers. If you're too busy ploughing though the figures, you could miss out on the details that are personal to you. For example, I was convinced I wanted to go to a certain university, and overjoyed when I got in. Unusually, it had an 'open weekend' where I stayed in the accommodation I'd been offered, and had an introduction to my subject. That was when I realised it wasn't for me. It could have been a one-off bad evening, but I decided to go to a different university and am confident I made the right decision.

A survey by The Student Room found that just over half of people who dropped out of university did so because they didn't like their course, whereas only 30% said it was because they didn't like uni life. After all, your academic course is the real reason you're there. Personally, I think the solution to making the right choice (and to reducing dropouts) is to go to open days, demand more in-depth introductions to courses, and take every chance to talk to your future tutors before committing.

Think of university as a can of beans, don't rely on the label - open the tin and dig in.

By Louise Ridley

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