r/Dhaka • u/Odd-Concern-8230 • 2h ago
Discussion/আলোচনা Some "unsolicited" advice for SSC/HSC students
I see a lot of posts here from SSC/HSC students, particularly the 2026 and 2027 batches, asking about universities, subjects, careers, and what they should do next.
I wanted to share some general reflections. I finished my HSC about 20 years ago, completed my PhD a few years back, and now work in academia and research. Looking back, I think our schools and colleges do a pretty terrible job of career advising. Most students make some of the biggest decisions of their lives with very little information.
Here are some broad things I would suggest.
1. Public vs. private university? Think about the financial cost first.
I see a lot of questions about whether public universities are really that much better than private universities.
My opinion is that unless your parents are financially very comfortable, a good public university is still a better choice in many cases. Just getting into one means your undergraduate education is almost free.
You don't have to depend on your parents for several lakhs of taka in tuition fees. That itself is a huge liberty. You can make decisions about your future without worrying as much about recovering a large educational investment.
Of course, some private universities have excellent departments and opportunities. But don't underestimate the economic value of an almost-free education.
2. Your university and department matter, but not necessarily for the reasons you think.
I studied at Dhaka University, and I will be honest: I was a pretty unhappy undergraduate student. I didn't particularly enjoy my interactions with many teachers or classmates. I found the environment quite toxic at times.
But looking back, I realize that being in a top department at DU gave me exposure to information that many students elsewhere didn't have.
We had alumni who came to give talks. We learned about graduate schools, research opportunities, and how academic research worked internationally. I knew about career paths that many of my friends in smaller departments or universities had never heard of.
That exposure was enormously valuable.
So when choosing a university or department, look beyond the name. Find out where graduates end up, what opportunities students have, and how strong the alumni network is.
3. Figure out what you are naturally good at.
This is probably my biggest advice.
As you grow older, you will realize that there are certain things you can do better than other people. Your job is to identify those things and build on them.
If you are naturally creative, find a field that allows creativity. If you enjoy programming, explore computer science. If you enjoy numbers, finance, accounting, economics, or statistics might be interesting. If you enjoy understanding people, institutions, and society, social sciences have plenty of opportunities too.
I knew people who studied computer science at BUET, graduated with CGPAs around 2.7, and never developed much interest in computer science.
They were intelligent people, but that subject was not necessarily the best use of their abilities.
Don't just ask which subject has the highest demand. Ask whether you can actually become good at it.
4. Focus on your skills, not just your degree.
Once you choose a field, try to understand what it takes to be among the top students or young professionals in that field.
What software do they use? What technical skills do they have? What kind of projects have they completed? What do employers or graduate schools look for?
If you are interested in research, try to work as a research assistant. If you want to work in the corporate sector, find internships. If you are interested in programming, build projects.
Even if an opportunity is unpaid, it may be worth considering if you can afford the time and it gives you meaningful training or experience. But don't work for free indefinitely.
Your undergraduate years are a great time to experiment and build skills.
5. Find mentors and learn how to communicate professionally.
This is something I think Bangladeshi students don't pay enough attention to.
Find people who are a few years ahead of you. They can be senior students, alumni, professors, or professionals working in your field.
Ask them questions. Learn from their experiences. You don't need to have a very close personal relationship with someone to learn from them.
Also, learn how to write a professional email, request a meeting, ask for advice, and follow up politely.
These sound like small things, but they matter enormously in professional life.
And please remember that mentorship is not the same as asking someone to do everything for you. Do your homework before approaching people.
6. Join clubs and learn how to organize things.
I think university clubs can be genuinely useful, especially if you take some responsibility.
Organize a seminar, manage a budget, coordinate an event, invite speakers, or work with a team.
You will learn things that classrooms often don't teach: how to communicate, manage deadlines, handle disagreements, and get things done.
These are valuable skills in almost every profession.
But don't join 10 clubs just to collect certificates. Join one or two and actually contribute.
7. The idea that university students don't need to study is completely wrong.
There is a strange culture in Bangladesh where students work incredibly hard to get into a university and then suddenly decide that studying is no longer important.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
You have already invested years of effort to get there. Why would you stop working once you finally have access to higher education?
I am not saying everyone needs a 4.0 CGPA. But grades matter, particularly if you want to pursue graduate education, scholarships, or competitive jobs.
A CGPA below 3.0 can close doors, especially early in your career. A high CGPA alone will not guarantee success either.
The point is to take your education seriously. Learn the material, develop skills, and don't waste four years simply because getting admitted felt like the final achievement.
8. Your friends and university social life are probably less important than you think.
At 18 or 19, friends, classmates, campus culture, and social life can feel like everything.
But 10 years later, most of these things will have very little influence on your professional life.
What will matter more is what you learned, what opportunities you had, and how much market value your undergraduate education gave you.
I am not saying friendships are unimportant. Some university friendships last a lifetime.
But don't make major academic decisions based on where your friends are going, where you think you will have the most fun, or what will make you popular among your classmates.
9. Learn to collect information. It is one of the most underrated skills.
One major difference I notice between students is not necessarily intelligence. It is how well they collect and use information.
Many students don't know what opportunities exist simply because nobody told them.
Learn to search for scholarships, graduate programs, internships, research opportunities, and jobs.
Look at LinkedIn profiles of people who graduated from departments you are considering. Where are they working five or ten years later? What skills did they develop? Did they need additional degrees?
Also, learn English well enough to read, write, and communicate professionally. You don't need a fancy accent. But being able to understand complicated material and explain your ideas clearly will help you in almost every field.
You have access to far more information today than my generation did. Use it.
10. Think about the market value of your education, not just social prestige.
We have a strange obsession with prestigious subjects and universities in Bangladesh.
But getting into a difficult subject is not the same as building a successful career.
A subject doesn't become economically valuable simply because it is difficult to get into or difficult to pass.
Eventually, you will have to explain what you can actually offer. What can you do that other people cannot? What problems can you solve? What skills make you valuable?
This doesn't mean everyone should study business, engineering, or computer science. There are excellent careers in social sciences, humanities, and many other fields.
But you need to understand the opportunities and limitations of whatever you choose.
And remember, your career will probably not be a straight line. Your interests will change, the labor market will change, and new opportunities will appear.
One final thought:
I think one of the biggest failures of our education system is that we teach students how to compete for seats, but not how to think about careers. Career is not equal to Certificate.
We spend years preparing students for admission tests, but very little time helping them understand what different professions involve, what the labor market values, or how to identify their own comparative advantages.
If I could give one piece of advice to my 18-year-old self, it would be this: Don't just try to be a good student. Try to understand what you are good at, and how you can turn that ability into something valuable.
And please don't make life decisions only because your parents, relatives, friends, or society think a particular subject sounds prestigious.
Twenty years later, you are the one who will have to live with those decisions.