Summer Vacation

This is the penultimate (Look it up!) post until Wednesday, September 21. In this post, I will propose a new twist to an old topic. The September "Back to School" theme of "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" will become "How You Should Spend Your Summer Vacation". I'd like to suggest a few things that you should do this summer to help you reach your goals.

1. Define Your Goals
Students in middle school and beyond can use the sites I've written about this past year to help achieve this end. My post of December 14, 2010 lists some good ones where you can find career and interest inventories to help you pinpoint career interests.

2. Investigate Possible Careers
Hopefully, you've used some of the information I've posted to enroll in a summer program that will assist you in this endeavor. www.bls.gov and www.careercornerstone.org are two excellent websites.

3. Investigate Training for Specific Careers
The websites above will help you find out what kind of educational background a specific career requires. You can find out more about these programs and schools at www.collegeboard.com and www.unigo.com.

4. Visit Specific Schools
Actually travel to places where you might enroll after high school. At the very least, use the sites mentioned to find out more about a school. In addition to these and individual college websites, www.campustour.com provides virtual tours of many campuses. www.neighborhoodscout.com gives a wealth of information about the region and city in which a school is located. www.thefire.org gives information as to the school's protection of the individual's Constitutional free speech rights.

5. Determine Entrance Requirements and Prepare for Entrance Exams
Students should be sure they have the proper courses to fulfill entrance requirements. These can be found on the school's website or by looking up the school on www.collegeboard.com. If you need to take a class/classes that you haven't scheduled, you'll have to notify your counselor as soon as possible. Students entering junior year in the fall should spend some time preparing for SAT's. Those entering senior year who haven't taken the SAT should be sure to apply to take the first one to be given on October 1, 2011. Register by September 9, 2011. Go to the College Board site for more information.

6. Begin Your College Application
Hopefully, those students who are entering senior year have done all of the previous things on the list and should spend some time this summer to prepare as much of their college applications as possible, specifically THE DREADED ESSAY! More on that next time!

Sloan Career Cornerstone Center

In searching for links to professional organizations/societies for last week's post, I found a site that is, as the Brits would say, BRILLIANT! Sloan Career Cornerstone Center can be found at www.careercornerstone.org It is a "non-profit resource center for those exploring career paths in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine. The extensive site explores over 185 degree fields and offers detailed education requirements, salary and employment data, precollege ideas, and career planning resources."

All 185 "Degree Fields" are listed alphabetically under that heading. Articles are similar to entries in the Occupational Outlook Handbook , accessible at www.bls.gov, in that they include the following sub-headings: Overview; Preparation; Day In The Life; Earnings; Employment; Career Path Forecast and Professional Organizations. Links are provided for organizations such as the American Board of Medical Specialties, The Society of Actuaries, The American Geological Institute and many others that provide and update content to the Center.

They spotlight and discuss resources for students, counselors, teachers, parents, and graduates. Under the sub-heading "Graduates", they link to job search sites. Unlike the OOH, the site includes the sub-heading highlighted above, "Day In The Life". Contributors in different careers describe a "typical" day on the job and there are profiles of professionals in areas such as biology, engineering specialities and more. The profiles detail the professional's educational background and job description. As an example, Urszula Tajchman is featured under the Profiles of Physicists. Dr. Tajchman is a Fellow in Pediatric Cardiology at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. There's an interesting profile on her which includes, as do all the profiles, her advice to students. There are profiles for a lot of "heavyweights" like Dr. Tajchman. Under the "Healthcare" heading, job titles range from veterinary tech to surgeon. Many of the articles give lists of degree conferring colleges and universities and accredited training programs.

This is another really great site. The information it provides is invaluable and so extensive, it's almost overwhelming. Despite that, it's easy to navigate and understand - and it's FREE! BRILLIANT!