Career Gateway

A Career Planning Program for High School Juniors and Seniors

So many choices, so little time……

As the parent of a high school junior or senior, I am sure that you are experiencing many conflicting emotions. Excitement anticipating your young adult’s increasing independence and opportunity to come into his/her own, sadness about facing an empty nest and the end of this parenting chapter, and possibly most of all, nervousness about equipping your young adult with enough tools and guidance to make a good decision about his/her future.

College or something else? What are some options if your young adult does not think that college will be a good fit – right now or ever?

And if college is the right next step, what might your young adult want to study or major in?

The dilemma that your young adult will face is that students often need to declare a major by the end of their second year of college. For those young adults who enter college with a good idea of what they want to be when they grow up, planning their college curriculum is no big deal.

But for those young adults who are unsure about their future and who are not familiar with the hundreds of career possibilities, figuring out what to choose can feel overwhelming and scary. They will have the opportunity to use their first two years of college to sample fields they might want to consider via general education requirements; that is the good news. However, colleges often offer 100+ majors, and do not always offer clear guidance on how to choose what is right for a particular student.

The price for not deciding well can be high. It is not unusual for college students to finally land on a “right” path after declaring one or two other majors, which can result in needing to fund an additional year of college before graduation to make up the credits required for that field. If your young adult is not able to figure out what he/she wants to do after college, he/she may complete a major without ever intending to work in it after graduation or just not finish college at all.