As a senior in high school, we are expected to know a lot about ourselves. We are expected to know where we want to go to college, what we want to major in, what we want our career to be, and if we even want to go to college. It is a lot of stress to place on the shoulders of a 17 year old. We are expected to make decisions that will affect our entire lives at a time when we are most susceptible to making rash and reckless decisions. So how should a stressed out high school student go about looking for a plan for their future? Well here are some tips that may help.

Before you begin your search for a college or a major, you need to have an idea of what type of career you want to have in the future. Many careers do not require a four year degree; sometimes they require trade schools or on hand experience instead. If you have no idea what you want to do in the future, a great way to get some ideas is by taking free online career tests which will give you a list of careers that you may enjoy. ….. Is a great website that you could use for this. If this does not help you, you could apply to college as an undeclared major and try some classes out to see if you can find something that interests you.

Once you have a general idea of the career you wish to have in the future you can research what kind of education is needed for that career. This may mean you need to earn your Masters, Bachelors, AA, or trade school degree. It could also mean no education at all, just an internship to gain hands on experience. Madison Dekker (12) says ¨my parents did not go to college, they went to trade schools and now have successful careers.” If you need to receive a degree then you will need to determine what your major needs to be. If you are hoping to eventually get a Masters degree, you should look into their prerequisites so that your major will meet those requirements and you do not have to take extra classes.

After determining your major you can begin to look for colleges. Not every college offers a program for every major, hence why it is important to determine before choosing a school. There a hundreds of thousands of colleges around the world, but it is easy to narrow down your selection based off of things like location, weather, size, student life, academics, athletics, and of course major. Everyone has different preferences on each of these things so using yours you can create a list of schools that are good options for you. Then once you apply and hear back from the schools you just need to choose the one that best suits you.

By following these steps you should be able to drastically decrease the uncertainty that surrounds a senior’s future. Not only will they help determine what future a student desires, but also what steps are needed to achieve that future. Having a plan will help immensely to lessen the weight placed on a 17 year old´s shoulders. We are expected to know a lot about what we want for our future from a young age, these steps offer a structure that will help alleviate stress and promote success.