Tools and Strategies for College and Career Exploration

Identifying Your Career Goals and Deciding Whether College is the Path for You: As your senior year of high school begins it is time to decide where you will apply to continue your education the following year. This can mean a number of things, from college, to technical school, to apprenticeship. You will need to choose a direction in order to begin the application process which is in-depth, and so you will need to do some career exploration.

Career exploration: this is the investigation of different kinds of jobs and the qualifications you need to do them. You will need to identify the kind of work that will make the most sense for you, and what kind of education it will require.

Interest and Strengths Exploration: This is where you consider what you are interested in and what your strengths are. Perhaps you did well at math in school and enjoyed math projects, this is a clue about what degree and what careers might be right for you. Perhaps you enjoy working with children, and most enjoyed tutoring while you were in high School, this is also a clue. Perhaps you most enjoyed gym and sports, this is also a clue. 

Consider how your interests and strength can translate into a college or technical degree and a career. If you enjoyed babysitting and tutoring, then you may want to consider teaching, childcare, or social work. This would mean looking for degrees at colleges or certificates which will help you access jobs in the teaching, childcare, or social work fields. 

College and Degree Exploration: Based on the jobs which resonate with you, your interests and your strengths, you can look for colleges and degrees which will offer education that relates to these.

Colleges and Universities in the Hudson Valley:

Vocational and Technical Schools in the Hudson Valley Region:

(This are some of the best vocational and technical schools in the area, but there are many more)

Criteria for Choosing a School:

Most students apply to 4-12 schools. This makes it possible to apply to schools in three categories: reach schools, these are the ones which will be the hardest for you to get into, match schools, these are the ones which you line up with well, meaning that your grades and test scores are right in the middle of their accepted student body’s statistics, and safety schools, these are the schools where your acceptance is a sure thing because your scores and grades are comfortably above that of their average admitted student. It is best to have an equal measure of each of these categories. 

Identify what you are looking for from your college experience, such as specific programs and majors, a certain kind of social life, geographic location, price, atmosphere, financial aid, quality of the professors, school and class size, and resources or other elements that make up college life. Also consider the academic quality of each school and its reputations. Identify colleges in each of the three categories; reach, match and safety, that meet all or most of your criteria. 

Visit at least one school from each category, reach, match, and safety, to get a feel for the school to decide whether you can see yourself getting along there. Once you have applied to schools and received your letters of acceptance, you can return to your list of criteria, and consider how these schools compare, while also considering the financial aid package each school has offered you. 

Criteria for choosing a degree or major:

A college major is your chosen area of study, this can fall into two primary categories: Bachelor of Arts, and Bachelor of Science. The purpose of a major is to equip you with advanced skills in a specific area in order to give you in-depth competency in certain subject matter. It is important to be aware of this when you are choosing a major. What is the purpose of college for you? Is it to provide you with the foundation for a career or is it to provide you with an intellectual foundation? Some degrees, such as those in engineering or architecture, translate directly into a profession, while other degrees, such as English and Fine Art degrees, do not.

A Bachelor of Arts degree is one which consists of a liberal arts course of study,  but can also include degrees such as economics, which are somewhere between math and science, and so at some schools result in a B.A. while in other schools result in a B.S.

A Bachelor of Science degree is one which consists of a course of study in math and science but can also include degrees such as economics, which are somewhere between math and science, and so at some schools result in a B.A. while in other schools result in a B.S.

In most schools you will need to declare a major in the second semester of your sophomore year, or by the first semester of your junior year. This allows you to focus on completing all of the specific credits necessary to qualify you for a degree in that major.

What subjects do you most enjoy? What kinds of assignments, books, and lessons do you find yourself most absorbed in? This is a clue as to what subject you enjoy most, and this can be one way to start to narrow down what major you want to pursue. 

What kind of career do you want? What kinds of jobs will resonate with interests, values, and practical needs? Consider what majors have a clear professional outcome.

Keep in mind that it is possible to double major, and that every major also comes with a minor, so there is a way to include both your personal passion and practical plans in your choice of major. 

NEXT:

College Readiness: Application Process and Materials

College Readiness Timeline

Tools and Strategies for College Exploration

The Financial Aid Process