If you are the parent of a child in middle school, your typical dinner table conversation is probably not going to be about college, but these days, maybe it should be. Many experts say talking about your child’s future should begin sooner rather than later.
“Students should start thinking about careers and colleges as early as middle school just trying to get a sense of what is out there and what interests them,” says Kristin Mesick, a high-school counselor in the Colonie Central School District.
Melissa Taylor, a Capital District mom of four, says she has been talking about colleges and jobs with her kids for years.
HELPFUL RESOURCES
CollegeBoard.org A comprehensive site for ‘all things college’.
BigFuture.CollegeBoard.org A college search engine.
MyRoad.CollegeBoard.org An interest inventory.
Fastweb.com A scholarship search engine.
Your high-school guidance office.
“I began discussing college and career possibilities in middle school maybe even earlier,” she says. “I would encourage my kids to spend a little time investigating possibilities during the summer when they were bored.”
With “college and career readiness” being the latest catchphrase in education, Capital District schools are putting it high on their to-do lists and providing opportunities for students to learn more about their passions and interests as early as possible.
Laural Logan-King, assistant superintendent at Ballston Spa School District and a former guidance counselor says, “We do have a big focus on college and career readiness, and we are pushing it as much as possible.”
By holding middle school events where area professionals come to the school to speak with students about their careers and how they got there, the district is getting students to begin thinking at a very early age about what type of career path they might enjoy, Logan-King says.
“They morph and change throughout the years, but the more aware they are about the jobs out there and introducing them to jobs they may not have heard of before are all very important,” says Logan-King.
Taylor’s daughter, Jenn, a freshman at SUNY Brockport, says she explored multiple career paths from the time she was in middle school, but it wasn’t until she was a senior in high school that she realized what it was that she wanted to do in the future.
“I made this decision through extensive reading and e-mailing professors who were experts in their field of research and could help me answer simple questions. I also took an AP biology course my senior year of high school, which further developed my desire to go into microbial research,” Taylor says.
Getting started
The process of planning for college can be overwhelming for both students and parents, and they may find they don’t know where to begin.
The questions are many: What if I don’t know what I want to do? How do I know what schools offer what I am interested in? How do I know what colleges I can afford? What’s the deal with all these scholarship opportunities do I qualify? What exams do I have to take? This is where high school guidance counselors come in.
From financial aid workshops where experts will help students fill out applications to informal panels where high school alumni will come back and answer questions, area high schools have a wide variety of informational events available.
“Taking advantage of the different evenings that the schools have is really important, because there is just a wealth of information from the people who come in and present on the different topics, and it may help out in the mystery of planning and going to college,” Logan-King says. “If you use Google to find the answers, you can go in all directions it’s better to use school resources.”
Logan-King says counselors typically meet with students regularly to determine they are on track but encourage students to keep in touch on a regular basis.
What if I don’t know what I want to do?
In addition to online interest inventory (What are these? Where are they found?) programs available at school guidance offices, school counselors can offer additional opportunities such as internships or job shadowing programs to help narrow down career possibilities.
“Jenn did a job shadow at the National Weather Service at SUNY Albany because she was considering meteorology. She loved the experience but changed her mind,” Melissa Taylor says.
Mesick says career exploration is a great way to narrow down a student’s interests and taking advantage of high school internship programs such as CEIP (Career Exploration Internship Program) can be very helpful.
“If a student is interested in pharmacy as a major, we can place them in a 54-hour internship in the community where they really get a sense of what it is like to work as a pharmacist, and that can help in terms of their college choice and career choice,” she says. “If you learn you don’t love pharmacy, then you can scratch that off your list and go to some other different areas that you might find interesting.”
What exams do I have to take?
Most colleges require students to take SAT and/or ACT examinations, which are taken in the spring of junior year. Counselors recommend taking the exams in March or May of junior year and then taking them
again in the fall of senior year.
“Colleges can look at all of the scores and choose the highest. They may choose the math section from May if higher than the math section from October for example,” Mesick says.
Practice exams such as the PSAT and PLAN are typically given in the fall of junior year; however some schools, such as the Ballston Spa School District, are offering the PSAT to sophomores too.
“We are exposing the entire school to that college entrance exam experience so that when they do sit down for the ACT or SAT, they are more prepared,” Logan-King says.
Taking the PSAT in junior year can also qualify students for the National Merit Scholarship Program, which is a program offered to the very top students across the country.
Mesick says the PSAT and PLAN are great ways to begin preparing for the SAT and ACT, but students can also find help at qualified online websites.
“The College Board website has some fantastic tools to help students prepare for the SAT. As early as ninth grade you can log on and register for the SAT question of the day” Mesick says.
Mesick says students can also go online and take a practice test to determine which areas they may need help in before taking the SAT.
“Many schools offer SAT prep classes,” she says. “Our school offers a class for juniors and another one in the fall for seniors. If you have the opportunity to take a class in your school, it’s a great idea.”
Although hesitant at first, Taylor took advantage of an evening class offered at her high school.
“Everyone recommended it, and studying on your own for a test that covers every subject is difficult to do,” she says. “Despite not wanting to go in after school hours and study more, it turned out to be incredibly helpful.”
Although it is not necessary to take both the SAT and ACT, counselors recommend taking both as they have different formats, and some schools prefer one over the other.
“I took both the SAT and the ACT. My SAT score was not as good as I had hoped, so I thought that taking the ACT would make a difference. It turns out that I actually did better on the ACT than I did on the SAT,” Taylor says.
Additionally, Mesick says, some top-tier and Ivy-League schools require SAT subject tests which are tests for a particular subject.
“It is so important to become familiar with what your potential colleges will require for standardized tests early on in the game, so you can prepare,” she says.
How do I know which school is right for me?
In junior year, students will need to ask themselves: What do I want out of a college, what location and what cost?
Logan-King recommends using a search engine provided by high-school guidance counselors to narrow down best-fit schools.
“You put your major and geographic area and can drill down from there. Take the major does it have lacrosse, Chinese, etc. then you come up with a group of schools. From there you can further look into the schools,” she says.
Knowing where you are financially is an important deciding factor when choosing a college; however, Logan-King says don’t let that deter you from applying to schools you may want to attend.
“You have to keep your eyes open about the financial component of things, but you don’t know what your package is going to look like until all is said and done,” Logan-King says. “Applying for a school that might be out of reach to begin with, may not be so far out of reach once the package comes into play. “Look at all possibilities and then compare once you get acceptance letters and packages.
