Science, Mathematics and Research· Intermediate level

Science is not one career. These branches lead to different jobs, different daily work and different entry requirements.

Laboratory and medical science means running tests and following protocol exactly. Agriculture and food science means soils, crops, animals, storage and processing. Environment and water means fieldwork, sampling and regulation. Statistics and data means sitting with spreadsheets and code most of the day. Physics and materials leans hardest on mathematics. Geology and earth science leads towards mining, water and construction, which in Ghana is a large employer.

Pick two you would genuinely accept. Write down what attracts you and what you would dislike about each. Being honest about the dislike is the useful part.

Stop comparing schools by reputation. Compare them by what they publish.

In Ghana, check that the institution is accredited before anything else. The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission is the body responsible for accrediting tertiary institutions and programmes, and it is worth confirming a private institution appears on its records. Then read the university's own admissions page for the subject requirements.

In Canada, applications to Ontario universities go through a central application centre, and Ontario colleges through a separate central service. Other provinces run their own central systems. The programme page still holds the real requirements.

Put the two side by side: required subjects, how long it runs, whether there is a placement or a co-op term, what equipment or fieldwork is involved, and what the school says graduates go on to do.

Two systems, two different sums. Learn the one that applies to you.

In Ghana, WASSCE grades from A1 to C6 are normally treated as credits, and most tertiary programmes ask for credits in the core subjects plus a set of relevant electives. Many programmes then work out an aggregate from your best subjects. The number that actually gets you in shifts from year to year with how many people apply, so take it from the institution, never from social media.

In Canada, universities typically look at your final Grade 12 courses at the university-preparation level, including the specific ones the programme names. A programme can also set a separate minimum in mathematics or a science even when your overall average is fine.

Work out your own position honestly. If a required subject is weak, that is the thing to fix this term.

A short investigation shows willingness. A longer one shows you can handle repetition, error and honesty about your own results.

Pick one of these. Repeat an earlier experiment several times and show how much the results vary. Take a free public dataset, such as those published by national statistics offices in Ghana and Canada, clean it and answer one narrow question with a chart. Or run a field observation over six weeks, such as tracking water quality indicators you can see, plant growth, or market prices, with a record of the weather and anything else that changed.

What marks this out as serious work is the limitations section: where your method could have been wrong, what you could not control, and what you would need to do it properly.

Bring three things to your mentor: your two-programme comparison, your grade position, and your longer project.

Ask them which of the two programmes they would pick for the work you say you want, and why. Ask what they would want to see in a candidate at your stage. Ask what part of your project they do not believe.

Then set a term plan with dates: the subject you are raising, the project section you are finishing, and the schools you will contact directly with your unanswered questions.