Post high school plans
graphics by sam adkins
Life after high school can be stressful, but fear not, fellow students: here are a few options to ease your troubled minds. From college to studying abroad, job applications to military boot camp, these varied post-high school plans have got your back.
The most popular option for high school graduates is, of course, college. The University of Michigan, a popular option for SJHS seniors, received 16,524 applications from the state of Michigan in 2018 alone. Another popular college, Michigan State University, accepted 6,384 Michigan natives into its halls. For students planning on college, be it a two-year college or four-year university, the SJHS guidance office and multiple school-sponsored websites can help you find the degree and career pathway that’s right for you. Such websites include careercrusing.com, collegeboard.com, and xello.com, which were made to help students plan out their futures.
However, Mrs. Tracy Wagner, a guidance counselor at SJHS, believes that college might not be the right fit for every student based on their individual interests.
“If students have no idea what they want to do and they go in [to college], does it make sense to keep paying money…if you don’t know what you want to do?” she said.
“If students have no idea what they want to do and they go in [to college], does it make sense to keep paying money if you don’t know what you want to do?”
The cost of college is very intimidating for some students. Due to financial stability, or lack thereof, many students may choose another, less-popular post-high school plan. These include job apprenticeships, internships, military service, joining the workforce, and the ever-controversial gap year.
The alternative of job apprenticeships and paid/unpaid internships is a very valid option if you choose a profession that doesn’t necessarily require a college degree, such as plumbing or construction. The apprenticeships can help kids get a first-hand experience in their chosen field, which will serve to help or discourage their choices before they even start. These internships can be set up through our school’s guidance office—each counselor is happy to help—who will place each student in a fantastic, hands-on learning experience that fits their interests.
As mentioned on pages 21 and 26 of the Bearing Down, college is quite expensive. If you’ve calculated the costs and figured out that higher education isn’t in the budget, there are more than enough other paths to explore, and one of those is military service. According to Peterson’s Scholarships, in 2017 the ROTC program in the Army (set up to pay for high school graduates’ college education in return for a few years of service) had 25,000 applicants and awarded about 4,000 students full four-year scholarships to colleges of their choice. If being a member of the armed forces seems like something you’d love to do, consider going into the ROTC program for a more advanced position in the forces, less/no college debt, and a secure job after graduation.
The last options that are readily available to students after graduation are joining the workforce or taking a gap year. The latter is also an entirely different article (see page 25), but going straight into the workforce has its perks: financial security after high school, a planned career path, and time to find something you truly love while making money to support yourself in the meantime. Along with those perks, joining the workforce, regardless of the field you choose, has the benefit of immediate independence. You’ll be making your own money, which means financial freedom and the needed real-life experience that your peers in college won’t get for another 4-6 years.
All of these options are available to the students of SJHS, but in the end, each individual has to decide their own life path. If you need help deciding, the teachers, guidance staff, and faculty of SJHS would love to help. Just ask.