I have passed my MSCE, IGCSE, O level, what’s next?

Congratulations to you for passing your MSCE.

Now that you have bagged that MSCE, IGCSE, O level you are wondering, what’s next? They are many options available to you, but for this blog, I will only focus on tertiary education. You qualify to make an application to colleges and universities in Malawi and abroad.

If you are making an application in Malawi, you have both public and private universities that are offering different courses. To apply to a public university, you need to get an application form from the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE). Before you fill the form, please make sure that you have at least six credits passes, a minimum of grade ‘6’ at MSCE or ‘C’ at IGCSE including English obtained in 2015, 2016 or 2017.

The NCHE form provides the programmes available at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR), Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST), Mzuzu University (MZUNI), and University of Malawi (UNIMA). Fill the form with all the relevant details and make sure that you submit the form, before the deadline, to NCHE House, Area 47 Sector 2, Next to Chitukuko Petroda Filling Station, Lilongwe, Malawi. If you are interested in private universities in Malawi, please visit their website, Facebook pages, or physically visit the university to get more information.

Studying abroad is not only limited to those folks who come from rich families. People who come from poor families can also study abroad, if you meet the scholarship and admission requirements. If you would like to study abroad, you will need to decide about the country that you would like to study. If you select a country where there is an education agent in Malawi or an embassy, I will encourage you to visit the agent or the office. Some embassies or agents offer information sessions about studying in their country. For example Education USA.Make sure that you attend those sessions. The information sessions will help you know the admission and scholarship requirements. Most of the sessions are advertised on their Facebook page or website. make sure that you follow those pages.

The information I have provided about assumes that you already have an idea about what you want to study. But what if you don’t know what you want to study? If you are in this situation, know that you are not the only one. I was also in a similar situation in 2005. I had my 18 points in hand but didn’t know what course I wanted to study. All I knew was that I want to go to Chancellor College.

I wish I could ask you questions about your passion, your goals, etc. but I will skip that lecture today. I will invite you to take the MBTI test. The MBTI test is a personality test that will help you to know your personality. Based on the results of the MBTI test, some have gone further to provide suggestions for the career paths that respond to your personality. For example, if the test says you are an ‘ESTJ-a natural leader who works best when you are in charge and enforcing rules,’ then you might consider being a Soldier, judge, police/detective… After doing the test, then you can look at the courses offered locally or internationally to see which ones are likely to allow to be a Soldier, judge, police/detective.

You can take the test here and download the suggested careers here.

The good thing with the MBTI test approach is that it gives you a wide variety of options based on your personality to allow you to fill the 6 choices on NCHE form. So please go ahead and take the test.

There are some of you who have a conflict between what you want to study, and what your parents/guardians want you to study. This is a very common challenge, especially in our country. This is a tricky situation because there are cases where a choice that was pushed by the parents ends up being something that you are passionate about and is linked to your purpose. They have also been cases where the courses pushed by the parents have taken people away from their purpose, passion, and people end up being miserable. If you are in this situation, and your parents provide room for a dialogue, I would encourage you to talk to your parents. Hear their side and make your case. You will be surprised at what you will get from this. If you are from a family where a monologue is the order of the day, then you will have to go with what your parents want. If, after your degree, you are still passionate about what you want to study now, you can enroll in another degree program with your money now. Or you can start working/ get an internship in that area you are passionate about.

One thing that you always must keep at the back of your mind is that even though you have passed your MSCE with such exceptional grades, you still have a lot of things to learn. Therefore, be open to listen and learn. When you humble yourself, you lose nothing, but you gain a lot of wisdom. But if you allow pride to lead you, you will lose nuggets of wisdom and knowledge. The choice is yours

I wish you all the best as you make your applications.