College Readiness
Are you in high school and considering college? If so, check out this College Prep Checklist! These recommendations will help you break down attainable goals and milestones for each year of high school. Meeting those goals will help you be prepared for college.
Talk about your options and ideas:
Family & friends
Talk to people doing interesting work and ask how they got started.
Teachers & school staff
Ask questions about resources for college readiness and/or advice about exploring potential careers.
Professionals
Interested in becoming a teacher, vet, or dentist? You have opportunities all the time to ask people doing the work how they got started and what advice they have.
Gain experience:
- Do volunteer work.
- Try job shadowing.
- Take relevant electives.
- Work a part-time or summer job (check age requirements)
- Find an internship (a short-term learning experience that takes place at a job site).
Build your network:
Join a club – Student clubs and sports at your school are a great way to start making connections with people who have similar interests.
Online groups – Use social media to find groups and follow orgs and influencers in your field of interest.
Attend events – Look for opportunities to meet others at school events and through community organizations.
Take advantage of everyday opportunities
Listen to enough career stories, and you are sure to hear about people who stumble across opportunities they weren’t even looking for. These incidents of happenstance occur when you talk to others. Ask good questions, tell others about your goals and interests and you just might find out that their uncle is the lead recruiter at your dream organization.
College IS an option
College is a very personal choice. Going or not will depend on a lot of factors including your desired career path.
College is not right for everyone, but there is support and financial aid available if you feel that it is right for you.
Do what you can now to increase options later
- Do as well as you can in class and ask for help when needed
- ACT and SAT scores are needed for college applications
- Retake tests if needed
- Free prep resources available through several organizations:
- Princeton Review
- Khan Academy
- College Board
