Sunday, May 6, 2012

Unknown Career Possibilities (by anon)


I strongly believe that high school doesn't do a good job of preparing our minds to make long term career choices upon entrance to college. Sure, you can go to your guidance counselor to explore different career pathways. But do we ever know of all our different options? Then college rolls around and all of a sudden students are told to choose a major. 
    
At this point I'm thinking I'm deciding the rest of my life in putting one word on my advising report. Little did I know. It took some playing around with classes, two years, and changing my major to feel content with that one word on my AR. So what's my point for all this rambling? I think UW-Whitewater needs to have a 'Career Exploration' class for all incoming freshmen. 
    
In this introductory course, students would explore different career opportunities, take assessments that categorize people into career clusters based on their interests, be explained the different schools /programs at Whitewater, and get any remaining questions answered. Yes, there is the 'New Student Seminar' class, but looking at future career choices isn't part of the curriculum. I think so many students would be interested in taking this new course. Not only would it better educate students on their possibilities, but it would also offer a sense of understanding and direction when beginning the college experience. 
   
It is safe to say students would probably change their major less, because they would understand what they declared and what requirements it entails. Maybe other high schools actually had career counselors that aided in choosing their college focus. My high school didn't, and Im guessing that's the root of my problem. Regardless though, I strongly believe all students could benefit from a course like this. 

-Anon

1 comment:

  1. Good idea, because most Whitewater students want to make a lot of money so they major in business, then discover that their grades are too poor to get into COB then they switch their major to liberal studies or communications just to say that they have a degree. This is followed by unemployment or a rewarding job at Enterprise Auto, Best Buy, or Target, jobs that they could have gotten without college.

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