Education & Course Selection

What the framework is

Choosing a university, college or course means weighing things that pull in different directions. The cheapest option may not teach best, and the best course may be in the wrong city. This template ranks your options against the criteria that matter to you, each with its own weight.

What the result looks like

When it earns its place

Use it when you have two to six real options: universities, courses, degrees, or a gap year against starting now. It works for a student alone, or for a family deciding together. The template starts with five criteria; rename them to fit. For example:

• Cost: fees, living costs and any funding you can get.
• Teaching quality: how the course is taught and assessed.
• Location: distance from home, the city, what life there is like.
• Career prospects: where graduates of that course end up.
• Course content: the modules, and whether they excite you.

The usual trap is letting one criterion, often a league table position, decide everything without anyone saying so.

How to run it with a group

1. Add your options and rename the criteria to fit.
2. Decide how much each criterion should count before you judge the options.
3. Compare the options two at a time on each criterion, and pick the better one each time.
4. If others are involved, send them the link. Participants do not need an account to respond.
5. Read the overall ranking, then the ranking per criterion. If a parent and a student weight cost very differently, that's the conversation to have.

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