If you haven't read the first part of the guide, we recommend reading it before continuing further on the article. It can be found in the Great Big Simplified Guide to College Part 1.
As always, please email the Central Tribune if you have any feedback. We welcome your point of view and please enjoy!
Is College For Me And What Are The Alternatives?
Part 1.2
What are my interests?
At this point, hopefully, you’ll have figured out some of the things you enjoy doing. Maybe it’s cooking, building things, helping others, or you really enjoy coding. You’ll also have hopefully realized that there are some things you may not enjoy. Using those, you can try to see what careers you might be interested in, or what majors you would work towards in college.
How do I learn about careers and what they require?
A large factor in whether you want to attend college is whether the career you're interested in requires it. Now, how do you find the careers you're interested in? While it may have issues, the program the school is using for PLP requirements, Naviance, has job quizzes (think BuzzFeed quizzes) which can be a good way to figure out which careers you might be interested in. You can ask friends and family who may have great opinions and ideas for careers.
Google is also a great resource to see what jobs entail, what their requirements are, and what they pay. You can also see what common paths are, for instance, or what other people in that career have done.
Some jobs might need a certification, others an associate degree, or some an apprenticeship. If there is a career that you have a strong interest in, you can even try to shadow a person in that career. While this might not be possible for every career (see astronaut or President careers), it can be a great way to learn a lot about a career relatively quickly.
Shadowing is something that can be done in a single day: you'll follow a person on that job through their day, and see what they do. To do so, find a business/organization near you with the career you're interested in and email a person who works in that career to see if you can shadow them for a day. Through your connections, you might even be able to land further opportunities in the future.
What are common alternatives to a four-year college?
There are many great paths after high school that don't include the standard (and not for everyone) four-year college plan. These typically can fall into the following several categories:
First, there are other options for continued education, such as through community college, a certification program, or a trade school. These can be wonderful for learning valuable, hands-on skills without having to go to a 4-year college.
Second, another great way to learn on-the-job skills is through an apprenticeship (which is paid) or internship (depends).
Third, you can enter one of the branches of the military, landing yourself a career or saving for college. This can be a major commitment and is not for everyone, but can be a good option. Fourth, you could enter the workforce directly after graduating. Fifth, other options which some people do include taking a gap year or volunteering.
Ultimately, it is dependent on your own situation, but remember, there's something for everyone.
Please check back in next week for Part 2, which will cover how to find the right college and program for you!