Career and College Search

1-Job Description: Once you have picked a career that you are interested in, research what the job entails. Meaning if you were to be involved in this occupation on a daily basis what would be some of the tasks that you would be engaged in. What are some of the job responsibilities? Why is this field important to society?

2-Salary: What is the starting salary? What does the average person make in this occupation after a few years? What is the top salary?

3-Advancement: As a person advances in their career they most likely earn a pay raise or higher salary? How can one advance in this field? Do they need more job training? Do they need to earn a higher degree? What would be the benefits for advancing in this field?

4-Job Training:Do you need job training in conjunction with a higher degree? If you do not need to have a college degree to be in this field or advance, what type of job training would you need to receive? Would you have to pay for it or would your job provide the training at no extra cost?

5-Employment/Job Outlook: What industries employ people in this career field?What is the job outlook over the next 10-20 years for this particular field?

6-Colleges: Once you have completed the steps above, research different colleges to discover which ones have a program to support your occupation of choice. Find at least twocolleges or universities that will support your choice.

  • What are the names of these universities and where are they located?
  • How much does it cost to attend these schools each year? For 4 years? Include both resident and non-resident costs. Other Expenses: Cost for room and board; estimated costs for textbooks, food not covered by the meal plan (pizza, McDonalds, etc…) and spending money (gas for car, movie nights, football games, a date, that awesome sweatshirt, etc…)
  • Admission Requirements: Include GPA, High School courses required or recommended, and minimum scores for ACT or SAT. Required admission procedures and costs like application fee, student essay, letters of recommendation, deadline dates, etc.
  • Student Demographics: Average freshman GPA, Graduation rate, Include student profile data and population, male/female ratio, resident/non-resident ratio, undergrad/graduate ratio, student/faculty ratio.
  • What majors could you receive from the university that meets your goal?
  • What extracurricular programs/clubsdoes the school offer that would be of interest to you? Explain why you are interested in them.

7-What courses in high school can you take in order to reach your goal?