College and Career Goals: Up, Up, and Away

about a major. students who haven't found a passion or interest in a subject are

more likely to drop out of college. do you know that? and unfortunately dropouts

don't get a fraction of a degree. sorry Bailey you're a quarter of a BA isn't

going to help you on the job market but it might give some employers a good

chuckle. what's more knowing your major early helps you plan what courses to

take in high school. looking to study engineering well then you'll want to

load up on math and physics computer stuff like that. load it up on English [boy smiles as math books fall from the sky]

courses and you might have a hard time convincing an admissions board that your

deep knowledge of poetry makes you a great bridge builder no matter how good

you are at rhyming. it's also a good idea to get involved in some

extracurricular activities. it shows responsibility and you have a

willingness to work with others which is way better than being irresponsible and

excelling at pushing people into trees. both are qualities colleges tend to

frown upon. you can choose activities related to your college and career goals

like student government or Math League and even ones that are just plain fun.

and if you don't find a club that matches up both your interest well start

your own. why not? that way you get the added bonus of being president even if

it's just president of the Society of people who read Harry Potter while [man smiles while giving presentation]

listening to pop music on full blast. then summer jobs are also a good idea

sure flippin burgers might seem like a drag but summer jobs help you learn soft

skills like customer service effective communication critical

thinking teamwork decision-making and personal grooming among others. they also

teach you how to pour twenty pound bags of frozen fries into a deep fryer

without burning yourself but you might want to leave that off the college

application. you can also get similar skills by volunteering. not only do you

get to help out people around you but also shows colleges and future employers

that you care about your community which usually means you'll care about your

college campus and places of employment in the future. and colleges much prefer [ man collects trash off campus lawn]

that kind of individuals as someone who writes an essay about how

are a genius with a blowtorch usually. you'll also need to do well in a few

tests the two prominent tests required by the colleges for admissions are SAT

scholastic aptitude test and the American College test ACT exam. you may

know them better as I have to wake up at what time and seriously wasn't one test

enough? well different colleges set their own minimum scores for applicants to

achieve before being admitted but regardless of where the bar is you want

to prepare for these tests as early as possible. you wouldn't wait till the day

before big baths test to learn a terms worth of math so why take same risk with

a test that helps determine whether or not you're going to get into college. and

no because I got distracted by You Tube videos on cats not a great excuse. this [man sleeps at desk]

might seem obvious but to get to college you also have to what's it called oh

yeah apply. beginning in the summer after junior year or likely earlier, you should

be filling out applications the college's you're interested in. you can't

just expect that colleges are going to hunt you down like prey, which is

probably for the best actually. we've never been fans of tranquilizer darts

for seniors. and last but not least keep an eye out

for financial aid. unfortunately money doesn't just fall from the sky anymore

and even if it did you'd need to collect a whole lot of it to cover college cost.

we're talking Olympic pools full of money it's like a quarter million

dollars to get to a private school these days. financial aid is offered at federal

level through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. [hand fills out document]

aka FAFSA. and in smaller local scholarships may be awarded by the

Community Foundation or even school organizations. we recommend checking with

your guidance counselor for more details. they might even be able to recommend an

Olympic pool to hold your scholarship bucks. yep. it's a lot of prep work but if

you do it all it'll be much easier way to start your college career. it'll still

be tough on your parents. you are their little baby after all so remember to

pick up the phone every once in a while. [parents excitedly pick up phone]