From Leaving CertiFiCate to Leaving SChooL a Longitudinal Study ...

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From Leaving Certificate to Leaving School
ters so I always sort of had a fascination with like big families… like
ever since I was small so I had an interest. (Belmore Street, girls’
school, mixed intake)
Other students spoke about having a ‘passion’ for a particular career
such as architecture:
Interviewer: How have you decided which course to pick?
What you are interested in, what you have a passion for. It’s like I
know myself I want to do architecture and I have done for years so.
(Argyle Street, coed school, mixed intake)
Similarly, other students aimed at working in areas where they already
had an interest or a hobby:
I’m sporty and really enjoy it, I’d rather be out and about, kind of
moving and doing stuff.
… I’ve been doing music as a pastime for 10 years so I knew a lot
about it and I enjoy doing it. (Dawson Street, coed school, mixed intake)
One student spoke about their interest in doing a dance course and had
applied to colleges in Ireland and England:
I want to do dancing, I want to do a two year dance course, it’s in
Dublin and I’ll do choreography and I applied for England … I’ve
always been dancing my whole life like so I just want to do dancing.
(Belmore Street, girls’ school, mixed intake)
The decision-making process around what course to apply for is also
clearly outlined by the following student from Park Street, who was basing
his decision on his experience designing buildings and gardens and
his aptitude for Physics and Maths:
I’ve always been kind of good at designing things, good at drawing
things so, I’ve done a few things at home like designed parts of the
house, what to do with the extension, just rough kind of blue prints I
gave to the builders some time before and they said it was perfect …
so I like designing things and building things. (Park Street, boys’
school, mixed intake)