When college was cheap and few students matriculated, it was common for parents to send their offspring to the halls of higher learning to “find themselves” or “learn how to learn.” I knew of a family who sent their daughter to college to snag a husband.  

Back in the day, when JFK was president, this wasn’t bad advice.  Today, with the fierce competition for a well-paying professional job and the skyrocketing cost of a university degree, that no longer makes sense.” 

You need to know why you are in college.  

Otherwise:  

• You will have a more difficult time getting offers for relevant internships.  

• You will have a more difficult time finding relevant research opportunities.  

• You likely won’t be able to graduate on time because your classes will be mismatched with your degree requirements.  

You are going to need a career plan before you show up at college orientation. High school is the time to do it. You don’t need to answer the question, 

“What do I want to be when I grow up?” 

You do need to be prepared to enter college with a game plan on how this expensive education is going to lead to your first real job, a job that requires a college degree. 

What are some ways students can make the transition to college and then to career as smooth as possible? 

Explore what makes you/your student unique. “Career planning starts with students exploring their unique traits, including their natural abilities, interests, values and personality. That also helps ground the student reality — just because they play forward on the varsity basketball team, it doesn’t mean they can target a career in the NBA. 

Test and try interests. This should be through hands-on, work-based learning opportunities such as paid internships, entrepreneurship education, and apprenticeships. 

Seek out programs that offer college credit to high school students. Anytime you can move these kinds of experiences earlier in the education journey to a time when the risk of failure to try something new is lessened, is a win for students. 

Create a career plan. This step should include crafting a career vision statement. Once students have envisioned what their future might look like, they can tailor their coursework, extracurricular activities and internships “to align with their ‘best-fit’ career path. This targeted approach minimizes the likelihood that the student will need to change majors one or more times, allowing them to graduate on time and enter the workforce sooner. 

Think beyond academics. Students should think about and engage extracurricular activities and networking opportunities relevant to the career or careers in which they’re interested. Interested in sports medicine? Volunteer to work with one of the schools’ athletic teams. Considering event planning? Sign up for committees that plans school dances, awards presentations, talent shows, and other events. Think politics is in your future? Work on student or local municipal elections. 

Activities like these help your student understand what makes them ‘tick’ — what they’re good at, what they enjoy, how they best communicate and learn, and what work environments they prefer. This self-awareness, often overlooked in traditional education, is critical for success along the career path.