Adam Goldwater did his own digging to find out about horticulture courses

Adam Goldwater has been growing vegetables since he was small, and took over the family vegetable garden while still at school. So when he started to think about a career, “The first thing that came into my mind was horticulture – that was all I wanted to do.”

While Adam didn't hear a lot about horticulture study and career options at school, he was able to get much of the information he needed online.  

Finding out which universities offered the degree he wanted

“I found out horticulture was at Lincoln and Massey University, and I decided Massey. It’s a bit closer to home and also my dad did vet science down there.

“It was really a choice between a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Applied Science. It was a kind of hard choice because I quite enjoyed science, but I also wanted to do the business side of things as well."

Reading about other people working in horticulture helped Adam decide on courses

“I looked at the Career Services website. That was quite useful, especially when I was trying to decide between the two degrees.

“I like the profiles on different people and different jobs, and seeing what they do. It helped – looking at what sort of jobs there were out there, and what those people had done.”

“In the end I decided to do applied science, because I’d get some science as well as management and business.”

Adam has now finished his degree, and moved on to do Honours. After he finishes he wants to work with kiwifruit, and he also has plans for his spare time. It will be no surprise to his family that his dream is to have a section big enough to grow all his own fruit and vegetables.

Read about how scholarships helped Adam's path through university