Career Exploration

A Guidance Counselor’s Guide to the College Process Through the Use of TechnologyBy: Krista Shadle-Smith

What Your Counselor Can Do For You:

Scholarship information College searches and

requirements Identifying your skills and

interests College visits Financial aid information SAT and ACT preparation Help in developing a career

plan Application procedures

Scholarships

Scholarships give students FREE money

Sign-up on many sites to browse through available scholarships, such as http://www.scholarship-page.com/

Browse according to your individual characteristics on sites such as: http://fastweb.monster.com/

See your counselor for other scholarship web sites

The College Search Process

Your counselor can help you pinpoint college information.

The sites http://www.princetonreview.com/?popup=no and http://overview.com/colleges/ , allow you to perform a college search according to majors and interest areas.

If you are looking for “value for your buck”, then the site http://www.usnews.com/usnews/rankguide/rghome.htm will be helpful in your college search.

Identify Your Skills and Interests

Through the use of computer technology you can research and explore your skills and interests through the completion of interest and abilities inventories.

The students in our school have access to the “Discover” program, which helps them explore and pinpoint careers and schools that appropriately fit their needs.

Many other inventories are available for free.

CAREER INVENTORIES

•Career inventories are useful for getting to knowyourself better. Studentscan answer questions that will help them to findout what they enjoy andwhat they do well.

College Visits

Students can take off two days from school to visit colleges.

Your counselor can be helpful in setting up an interview with a college admissions counselor.

Guidance counselors are a great help in developing your interview skills prior to college visits.

Financial Aid Informationhttp://www.fafsa.ed.gov/

The FAFSA website is available for students to create and observe account information.

It is necessary for students to apply for financial aid assistance before they start college and throughout their college stay.

SAT and ACT Preparation

Your counselor can provide you with test dates for the SAT or ACT tests.

Booklets are available for test ideas and practice questions.

SAT and ACT scores will be added to your transcripts.

Developing A Career Plan

It is important to develop a career plan to help guide you through your college process.

The site http://www.mapping-your-future.org/ will help guide you through the steps needed to reach your career goal.

Application Procedures

On-line application sites are time savers during the application process.

If you plan to apply to more than one college you can save your application information on sites such as: http://www.applyweb.com/aw?passhe and http://www.commonapp.org/.

Ease The Exploration Process

You and your family should always feel like you can go to your counselor with any questions or frustrations.

The college process requires many steps, but your counselor can help to make this period more manageable.

“Take life by the horns and go after what you want.”

For additional college information visit my website: http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/kshadle14/