The idea of going to college may be intimidating for a future college student. Higher education is an expensive and time consuming commitment, requiring much dedication from a future college student in order to earn a degree. The best advice for students may be to consider some of the following issues and develop a better idea of the “big picture” when it comes to higher education.
1. Figure out why you should or should not go to college.
Students who go to college for the wrong reason are much more likely to drop out before earning a degree than students who determine early on that college is the right option for them. Many high school students see college as their next logical step, without really considering other options like full-time work or a technical program. Figure out what you want to do and what is the best way to achieve it.
2. Set goals for your education.
Too many students begin an education program without any kind of idea about what they want to accomplish. You don’t need to know what you want to do with the rest of your life the minute you start school, but it’s helpful to make a list of goals for your education. What kind of job do you want in the future, or, where do you see yourself geographically? Having major goals in mind during college can make them a greater possibility after graduation.
3. Research financial information to make an informed decision.
College is expensive, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible for students who have limited to no family assistance. It’s important to research your options and consider the cost of schools before applying, but students should not be deterred from applying to expensive schools if that’s where they want to go. Equally important is researching financial aid and scholarship opportunities, which can make attending a pricey school affordable.
4. Develop discipline and time management skills.
In addition to a student’s first experience away from home, college presents a completely new and different learning environment. Many students encounter problems as they attempt to adjust to a college lifestyle; but these problems can be avoided by developing self discipline and advanced time management skills early on.
5. Consider your options.
A four-year ground school is not for everyone and this common misconception does not take into account all the education options that are available to a future college student today. Online schools, technical schools, and community colleges are just a few options that may better serve any particular student. Finding the best education to meet your individual needs is essential to achieve academic and career success.
Alli writes about Online Education for University-bound.com – a resource site for those interested in earning a degree online.
When you attend college, you have a career in planning. College enables you to do something with your life. College is where you get all the knowledge that you need to make something out of yourself and do something with your life. You will find that college is a great investment for the fact that you can do a lot more things afterwards. You will find that even though it is a lot of work, you are on a path to somewhere. You may not think that you have a career in planning, but college is the first step to going somewhere.
The second step to having a career is doing an internship. An internship, in college or out of college, is a great idea because you will be able to get hands on experience in the field. You will be able to get a clue on rather or not this is something that you would like to pursue. If it is something that you would like to do, you will find that you will be more prepared for your first real job in the career field that you have chosen. If you do not like interning then you can always rethink all of the things that you are capable of doing and that you are interested in during.
The third step to having a career in planning is to get comfortable with a company. You will find that if you really want a good career and a happy, stable life, you are going to have to do some time with a company. Your first company you may be with for a few years. Then you may end up getting a better offer or a more important job with someone else, however the time that you spent at the first job will be the reason why you are able to move up in the world.
The fourth step to having a career in planning is to think about the future. It can be years before you get to this step, but you will have to think about where you want to be in the future around retirement. When you get comfortable with a company and you make a commitment to one, you will find that you will then have a need to think about your retirement. This is where you may want to take up some of the benefits that your company offers to you. This could be stock or a retirement fund.
You will always have a career in planning because the demands of living will increase as you go further into your career. At the end of your career, you need to make enough money to last the rest of your life. If you retire at 65, you could have twenty or thirty years more to live, but you need to make sure that you will have enough money so that you can live comfortably. This is why you will always be planning your career options.
Visit Brian’s free website, http://www.CollegeStudentAdmissions.com and receive free college admissions help and learn how to get into your favorite college or university.
It is no secret these days that many of the large corporations are outsourcing their work to countries like India, North Korea and China but have you as a future student taken into consideration how outsourcing might effect your choice of careers because there are areas of employment which will enjoy some protection from outsourcing and other areas which will only be effected in terms of how much damage outsourcing does to the nation’s economy on the whole.
It would be a wise decision to consider that you might not want to have to compete for work with those in countries who have much lower living costs but same education or skills. This means areas of employment that can be readily outsourced which would include anything to do with the software side of computers which basically means if they don’t need to drive over to your house to do the work , it can be outsourced at wages that probably are not going to sound attractive, especially when you may be saying that you were making more than that at your old job before you got your degree.
This is not exclusive to the big corporations either. As an example this writer recently had an idea that needed someone of much higher knowledge to make it come to life. After asking a few very smart friends and co-workers if they could do it or where to get the kind of help needed it was unanimously recommended to try one of the bigger free lance for hire sites which resulted in my getting a very competently completed project for a price much less than expected from someone located in India. Who wouldn’t use that service once aware they could get much more talented people at a much lower prices?
Keep in mind nobody could be found in the states who thought they could do it, so price was really never allowed to be an issue. However it is a safe assumption that it would have cost considerably more because the people asked were expected to be much more expensive than was finally paid, so considering someone with a higher level of skill than them was needed it is without doubt if someone in the states could have done it; the cost would have been more.
Many smaller companies will soon be forced to follow their larger version’s footsteps if they want to stay in competition so don’t think the biggest part of the outsourcing has been endured. The worst might not yet have come.
Careers in the areas of health care, teaching, accounting (due to local tax laws this will be an in-country career) and of course most anything to do with law enforcement or legal matters will stay solvent because you can’t outsource that kind of work. Most any job that requires a special type of skill that must be done in person, will be a safe bet for future employment. What kind of wages those jobs will pay is also a fairly safe risk to stay same or similar to what they are now in respect to the current economy.
It is unlikely you will ever be rich but also unlikely you will ever be extremely poor if you choose a career that requires your personal input in either a physical manner or knowledge of localized information such as legal or tax matters.
Steve Briggs has over a dozen websites devoted to providing links to accredited USA online colleges. Please visit his flagship where online colleges are listed along with their accrediting bodies.
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