Category Archives: careers

admissions, careers, college planning, parenting

Key Questions to Ask Your Student Before College

1 Comment

 

key questions

As a loving parent, aiding your child’s educational development is a priority at all times. Helping them gain the strongest foothold in college is undoubtedly the greatest support you could ever provide. Rather than forcing them, though, it’s imperative that your child gains the motivation and traits needed to do it for themselves. Here are some key questions that will enable you to achieve that goal of pointing them in the right direction. Get this right, and they should gain a far better chance of reaching their potential.

Q: What careers interest you?

A lack of direction is perfectly normal throughout those school years. In truth, it’s probably a good thing that your son or daughter spent this time embracing various aspects of life. However, college is a time to focus on a profession. After all, following a career in the medical industry is far different to becoming a lawyer for example. In today’s climate, many graduates do change their mind upon completion of their degrees. As such, making this choice probably isn’t as crucial as it once was. Nevertheless, studying in the right field will give your child a far better chance of reaching the top. Careful consideration is key.

Q: How will you stand out on your college application?

The competition for college places is higher than ever. Naturally, a better institution results in a better education for your child. So if you want them to receive the best, it’s imperative that they go the extra mile to stand out from the crowd. Whether applying to an ivy league school or another college doesn’t matter. Grades alone won’t be enough, which is why hiring an education consultant could be one of the best steps you ever make. By taking applications to the next level, your son or daughter will be in a far stronger position. In the meantime, it should enable them to place greater focus on their exams and school work too.

Q: How will you supplement your academics?

Education is a great platform for any successful career. However, the volume of graduates means that even a first class degree won’t guarantee a grad role. Therefore, your son or daughter should think about part-time or voluntary roles that can be used to supplement their studies. Let’s face it; the skills gained from those roles will aid their development for the course too. The key is to find the right balance so that it doesn’t stop them from achieving their academic goals. Apart from anything else, this is a great chance for them to create useful connections. With a little bit of luck, this could open up a number of doors later on.

Q: Are you ready to live independently in college?

 The college life isn’t exclusively about education. Gaining the best degree possible should be your child’s priority at all times. But there’s no doubt that their standard of living throughout those college years will have a huge influence on their ability to succeed. So, teaching your child the fundamental skills of cooking, cleaning, and financial management will serve them very well. Without that life knowledge, those struggles will cause negative impacts on their studies. Besides, it’ll allow them to focus on the development of other key skills that are born from spending time at college.

careers

Preparing Your Student for a Medical Career

 

medical careers

Parents want to help their kids do everything they can to achieve their goals in life. And there is no goal more important than getting the career of their dreams. There are a few career paths that children show an interest in from a very early age, including writing, teaching, and veterinary sciences. But there is one job that seems to trump all of these options: becoming a doctor or a nurse. If you have kids, I bet that they will have played doctors and nurses at least once in their childhood! Want to keep that spark of interest alive, and help them on their way to a medical career in the health industry? Here are some ways you can help.

Hard Work Through School And College Pays Off

No matter whether your child is still in junior school or about to head off to college, they need to work hard if they are ever going to achieve their dream job in the healthcare industry. If they don’t make the grade, there is just no way they will get a job with such important responsibilities, such as a doctor or a surgeon. Even nurses need to be highly qualified these days. So, from the day your child starts school right through till they finish college, it is highly important for you to motivate and encourage them to perform to their best abilities.

Choose Medical-Focused Colleges

There are various colleges out there, all of which offer something different. Some of them will be best-suited to those who want to study for a career in health. In fact, there are now many that offer specialist courses online, such as Ultimate Medical Academy – Health and Human Services Degree Online. These are especially useful for students who want to study from the comfort of their own home and don’t have to waste money on expensive accommodation. As well as looking for a college that offers the right kind of courses, you also need to find one that has a good reputation. Looking for work in the health industry is highly competitive, and those with good qualifications from a reputable college will usually do well in their job hunt.

Look For A Work Experience Program

Lots of schools now offer formal work experience programs for their students. It’s a good idea to find out if your child’s school offers one so that you can encourage your child to join. This will give him or her a great chance to get some valuable experience of being in a professional work environment. Once you child is all signed up, they should opt for a position in a hospital or doctor’s surgery so that they can experience the day-to-day life of a health care professional. Your child will find that having some medical or health-related work experience on their resume will be a big benefit later in life!

Ensuring your child sets down good, solid foundations for their future is key indeed, especially when it comes to the competitive healthcare industry. Hopefully, the tips in this blog post will help you do just that!

careers

Exploring Alternate Career Paths

 

alternate career paths

Going to college then following it up with a university degree is perhaps the most common way of pursuing a career. However, there are times when your child just doesn’t want to go to college, or perhaps they dislike the lessons they are receiving and want to have something more hands-on. For instance, perhaps they love art and drawing but the school they attend has horrible teachers that don’t give your child the respect and knowledge they deserve.

If your child wants to avoid college, then it’s not the end of the world and there are alternate career paths that could either convince your child to return to study, or to simply take an alternate path in life for them to reach their desired career target.

Going the freelance route

Freelancing doesn’t have a specific age. A freelancer could be as young as 14 or as old as 80. As long as you have the skills to fill your client’s needs, you can make a living and forge a career path. Of course, if they’re fairly young then you may need to supervise them and handle their finances, but it’s a career path that children take if they want to avoid college or take a more direct approach to reaching their goals. Just don’t tunnel your child town a specific path and don’t force them to do something they don’t want to. Freelancers typically don’t need qualifications to get started. Instead, what they need is a shining portfolio with plenty of examples, and this can easily be done through lots of practice. The first few clients that your child works for might request lower prices due to their inexperience, but this is fine because it all leads to a better portfolio.

Learning on the internet

Internet learning has exploded in popularity due to how accessible and cheap internet connections now are. Many teachers all over the world have turned to internet teaching because it’s far more convenient for them to work in the comfort of their own home, and the same applies to students. Most colleges offer a limited selection of courses, and if your child has a specific interest that can’t be met at your local schools, then the only option is to either move home or use an internet service like Find Your Context to look for their desired online course. Studying online is much cheaper than studying at a physical location, it’s more convenient and your child can study in their own time. It’s also a great avenue to advance your career as there are plenty of options to choose from when studying online, you can take up an Online Masters in Learning and Teaching and be able to tailor your learning experience the way you want it to.

Starting a business (or following in your footsteps)

If you have a family business, then perhaps it’s time to introduce your child to it so they can take over the reins when they are old enough. If you don’t, then turning to entrepreneurship is never a bad idea. If your child is showing signs of a creative mind, an undying passion towards something and an analytical mind, then they might just have what it takes to become a success business owner in the future. Start off young, teach them what you know, and help them forge a path to greatness.

careers

Learning New Skills to Improve Your Job Prospects After College

1 Comment

 

 

job prospects

Walking to hell and back seems like a simpler task then landing on a smoking hot new job position that just has been opened. Too many applicants and too few vacancies are the struggle we have to deal with on a day-to-day basis right now.

Applying for a new job demonstrates how survival of the fittest law still works in our modern lives. The person with the best resume, more skills and a better overall appearance gets a bigger paycheck. Sad, but true.

But do you know you can be that person? It’s pretty easy and doesn’t even take too much effort. All of the skills you need are easily gained at home.

That’s right, you’ve heard me. You can master new arts and skills without even leaving your living room. How?

Learn a new language!

The more you know the merrier. This skill is pivotal if you are applying for a position in an international company with offices all over the world. Dozens of services allow you to hire an English teacher online or get access to a tutor in French, German, Spanish or whatever other language.

Get your personal tutor via Preply!

Preply service is getting popular day by day with people striving to hire a professional to learn a foreign language. By allowing the customer to choose a specific person whose methods and working schedule correspond to their own needs, Preply provides the unprecedented level of commodity combined with professionals’ willing to make sure you can speak any language fluently in no times. This can be easily achieved via Skype. A personal tutor will be there for you whenever you need one. Ask all the questions you want, as much of them as you feel like and get answers – clear, precise answers. The two of you will have all the time on the world after all. Access to a native speaker is also a huge plus as you will listen to appropriate pronunciation, vocabulary and what not. In other words – you will learn a totally new language in a heartbeat – is that not an exceptional opportunity to juice up your resume?

Master new, relevant skills

Let’s say you are a programmer. As you graduate from the university you will have certain knowledge of particular languages like Java or PHP. You start looking for a job and all people in your region want coders with skills in Ruby on Rails, Python or Golang. Bummer!

Luckily sites like Udemy are here for you, these are the cites where you will not only master new skills briefly or through a series of more complex exercises, but you will also get a certification to prove your worth. It’s like getting a degree in machine learning within a week or two. How awesome is that?

These kinds of sites don’t work for programmers alone as they offer various courses starting from sales to marketing or even carpeting. You choose the industry and there will be lessons with certifications for it online!

Enjoy TED talks

TED talks are usually streamed on YouTube and are the events where leading professionals of any given industry highlight some of the most important, up-to-date niche-specific issues paired with provocative, throughout solutions.

Being not just a common educational institution TED talks allow professionals to stay on their toes in the ever-changing digital world of the 21st century.

Google for relevant info

The last but not least, this way is probably the best one at nailing a job interview before even being invited for it. Google up reviews, testimonials as well as stuff on the corporate blog about the company you are interested in. Befriend its workers on Facebook in advance. Ask about how their team works? How do they function?  

After getting the answers you will know who to talk to and what they expect from a candidate. You will also know whether a company is a fitting choice for you as well as your newly buffed stack of skills.

In Conclusion

Now you know it all. You know how to make your job seeking attempts convert better. You know how to master new skills and stay on your toes in an ever-changing digital world. Congratulations!

Now, that all that is done think – do you need that job in the first place or perhaps it is finally time to venture on into the realm of entrepreneurship? You can do that with all your hot new skills.

careers

Medicine Could Be the Cure for Your Student’s Career Confusion

 

If you’re still in high school trying to decide what you should study at college, the answer might be simpler than you think. Instead, of looking at random and weird choices, perhaps you should consider one of the most popular industries in the world: medicine. We think there’s a pretty basic reason why some people are put off studying medicine. They think it means that they either have to become a doctor or a nurse and that’s just not true. There are lots of other job positions in this field. You may all go through the same training, but once you reach the stage of having your full license, your career can take off in any direction that you want. So, you don’t have to keep working with patients if that’s your biggest fear.

Actually, contrary to popular belief doctors don’t even spend that much time with the patients they are treating. You can find out more about that on http://www.forbes.com/sites. On average, doctors will spend roughly ninety seconds with each patient they see on the hospital floor per day. So, if you’re not really a people person, you don’t have to be to become a doctor. You just have to be fascinated by the workings of the human body and have an unquenchable thirst for learning. As a nurse, on the other hand, you may have to work with patients, but you don’t need to know all there is about treatment plans and diagnosis. These are just two of the basic positions you can fill in medicine. There are many others so let’s look at why this could be the perfect career choice for you.

Respect And Authority

A medical degree is easily one of the most respected qualifications you can earn. It’s not a throwaway major like Geography can be or philosophy. This will lead you towards multiple career options and perhaps more importantly, a great deal of respect on the job market. You don’t even have to work in medicine with a medical degree. The skills you learn on a medical course are transferable to other positions. So, you can certainly think about extending your branches, and when you do, you’ll be at the top of the list for employers.

Hate Hospitals?

There’s no need to work in one. As a fully trained health professional, you could run your own practice if you’re willing to invest the time and the money. It won’t be easy, but once you set out a plan and have some capital behind you it can be accomplished. You can then choose the type of care you provide, the payment you want and the staff you hire. Working as a doctor doesn’t have to mean long hours, heavy responsibilities and more when you’re in charge of the programme.

That’s not the only option either. You can also think about working without borders at all. That’s right, as a doctor or nurse you don’t have to be stuck in a building all day. It is possible to join doctors without borders and travel the world helping people. As such a career in medicine can still be just as exciting as a travel blogger and far more rewarding. Have a look at http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/.

Or, how about working in private medicine. If you work hard in school and college, you can get the best grades. You will then be able to move forwards applying for jobs in private practices. Private hospitals aren’t anything like your typical health corporation. Instead, the hours are great, the pay is fantastic, and the facilities are excellent.

Don’t Want To Deal With Death?

You don’t have to, there are plenty of specialties that mean you aren’t working with living patients at all. Instead, you can train to be a pathologist. Here, it’s your responsibility to find out why a patient died. But you can never be responsible for missing something that killed a patient. The tragic fact about medicine is that human error still exists. Eventually, a doctor or nurse will make a mistake that could result in the death of an individual patient. If you want to completely avoid this possibility working in a morgue could be the perfect choice for you.

Hate Blood?

Another almost stereotypical reason why people don’t go into medicine is that they have a fear of blood and guts. But again, a medical career doesn’t have to involve gruesome procedures and cutting open human bodies. Instead, you can work in research. Here, you’re more likely to be handling reports rather than performing surgeries. You might also on occasion run clinical trials, but that still won’t involve medical procedures. Most likely it will be things like testing new drugs and possible physical treatments. But, you can decide what type of clinical trial you are interested in.

Or, you could enter the mental sector of health looking at psychiatric conditions. To do this, you will still need a medical degree, but at some point, during your studies, you will branch off and focus on the mind rather than the body. You can have a look at jobs at https://www.staffnurse.com/jrp-mental-health-nurse or a similar site to find more information about this possibility.

Too Hard

There is the idea that because medicine is one of the most reputable courses, it’s also one of the hardest. This isn’t quite true and will medicine can be tricky it’s more because you’re running a marathon. You have to pace yourself to make sure that you don’t get overwhelmed. This is the true issue people have with the study of health. It’s so vast and there’s so much to learn it can seem impossible. You just have to remember that a lot of people have come before you and a lot will come after you. It’s not an impossible task, it never has been and while it’s true dropout numbers are high, a lot of people do succeed. You shouldn’t just assume it’s not for you because the challenge is too great. All you need is a little determination and a lot of hard work. Then, you will succeed in the medical field. Have a look at http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2012/07/ for more info on what it’s like to be a doctor.

career colleges, careers

Renewable Energy: Red Hot College Majors to Investigate

 

renewable energy

Too many parents complain that their student’s college major is unemployable after graduation. With the cost of college rising, it means families are conscious of the value of higher education and it’s ROI (return on investment). Even though ROI is not the most crucial criteria for choosing a college and a major, it should certainly be a factor in the college choice.

Renewable energy jobs are red hot right now. Whether you’re looking for a hands-on job in the field such as solar installer or a highly educated position such hydrologist, it’s important to create an education road map to make sure you reach your goals.

Renewable energy sources include wind, solar, geothermal, and hydropower, and capturing those resources for energy requires many levels of skill sets: construction crew, technician, project manager, research scientist, mechanical engineer, lawyer, financial expert and beyond. While construction and technician positions may only need trade school or associates degrees, many higher-paying positions will require specialized degrees taking four years or more.

Map your green and renewable energy career with these three detailed resources explaining career opportunities in the solar, renewable energy, and green industries:

Breaking into the Solar Industry – http://www.letsgosolar.com/consumer-education/solar-jobs-careers-certifications/

Renewable Energy Degree Programs – http://www.letsgosolar.com/consumer-education/renewable-energy-degrees/

Green Careers Beyond Solar – http://www.letsgosolar.com/consumer-education/green-careers/

careers

What Are the Career Options for Students with a Law Degree?

 

law degree

When your child goes to college, there may be times when he or she becomes uncertain about their career path.  This is a common predicament, and should not be met with major concern.  After all—choosing what you want to do from nine-to-five for until retirement at eighteen can feel overwhelming.  Sometimes, it is best to open up opportunities to them that they may not have realized in their degree.  If your student is pursuing a law degree but is unsure whether they want to become a lawyer or judge, luckily there are a vast array of career options they may have not considered.  Below are some career options for students with a law degree.

Entrepreneur

A legal education is an excellent platform to enter the world of business.  Whether your child is inspired to jump into a large business investment, or a small business niche, a law degree will give them an advantage that other business owners will not have.  Other business owners will have to hire professionals or spend a lot of time reading up on the subject of business law, tax law, and a host of other local, state, and federal laws to make sure they are staying within their boundaries. Education in law will also sharpen your child’s critical thinking and creativity skills so that your child can navigate through potential obstacles in the future.

Enrolled Agent

If your child has a special interest in tax law or working for the IRS, then becoming an enrolled agent may be the perfect avenue for them.  Certified enrolled agents are granted unlimited rights to represent on behalf of clients before the IRS.  Enrolled agents specialize in tax law and work with clients to resolve or settle tax issues.  To become an enrolled agent, you do not need a college degree.  In the event that your child wants to take a break between undergrad and graduate school, becoming an enrolled agent will utilize their skills while giving them valuable experience.  To become an enrolled agent, your child has two options: work for the IRS for a number of years, or take the enrolled agent exam.  The EA exam takes hours of studying, but your child can aid themselves by pursuing the best EA review courses, which include resource materials and practice exams.

Real Estate Agent

The arena of real estate is once again becoming an appealing choice for those looking for a lucrative career.  With the real estate market on the rise, more young people are entering the job market in this field.  There is a required exam to gain a licensure, but your child will already have the advantage of understanding law practices, which will give them the knowledge to stay within legal boundaries of real estate.  The analytical skills they will gain will also help them analyze the housing market and how to gauge pricing with both buyers and sellers.

Non-Profit Manager

Your child might have a passion for a fulfilling job related to human rights, saving the environment, immigration, or other venture.  In this circumstance, your child might be thrilled to know that they can work for a non-profit.  As an attorney, your child can gain a leadership position to help the non-profit direct through legalities.

Politics

If your child is pursuing a law degree, they likely have a mind for debate.  He or she may love debating you at the dinner table—much to the chagrin of your family. Help them channel their passions into a life in politics.  A deep knowledge of law and history, coupled with critical thinking and creative problem solving, will give them the understanding they need to enter politics.  Many of our presidents including one of our most acclaimed, Abraham Lincoln, had law degrees.

If your child is pursuing a law degree, help them peruse the variety of career options available.

careers

What Can Your Student Do With an Accounting Degree?

 

accounting degree

As a parent, it is natural to want the best for your child now and into adulthood.  You might be wondering which career path might suit him or her based on their strengths in school and life right now.  Some parents can tell from an early age whether or not their child would be successful in science, arts, or humanities.  There are others, still, who excel in mathematics and have not yet found a career choice.  If your child is older, you may find that he or she already has developed some skills in managing money.  

Perhaps he helps with the family budget or she already detailed out her moving expenses for the move to college.  This student can find success in a number of careers with this talent, and one of the most rewarding comes in the form of accounting. A degree in accounting ensures that your child is on the path to becoming financially successful in life. Despite having a seemingly narrow career path, there are actually a wide variety of jobs that this degree can apply to.  Here are just a few paths your child can take with an accounting degree:

Accounting

This is the most obvious choice, but certainly not to be overlooked.  An accountant is someone who prepares and analyzes financial records.  If your child has exceptional organizational skills, then he or she will be excellent at maintaining account books and keeping them up to date.  As an accountant, he or she can look forward to a high chance of job stability because accountants are always in demand.  In fact, he or she can look forward to gaining entry at every level of education from associate’s, master’s, and beyond!  Regardless, your child will have to gain a certificate called a CPA.  To earn his CPA, he will likely have to dedicate hundreds of hours to study, as it is a very difficult exam to pass.  However, with the help of CPA study materials, this is still achievable and well worth the effort. Achieving this distinction could see your child earning six figures very early on in their accounting career, so it’s definitely something to encourage.

Controller

Controllers are in charge of the accounting department in various organizations. They work above accountants and must manage where the money is going and making doubly sure that the department and company is accurately complying with tax laws.  A controller is also called a Chief Accounting Officer.  If your child is naturally ambitious, a natural responsible leader, he or she could ultimately become a controller.

Financial Analyst

A financial analyst is someone who makes recommendations to their employer based on macroeconomic and microeconomic research.  These people are natural visionaries who have the forethought to find patterns in data and develop a strategy that they can advise to their employer.  If your son or daughter is particularly good at analyzing, strategizing, and asserting this prediction with confidence, this may be the perfect career for them.  As you can see, a financial analyst strategizing more based on the big picture—such as national or global economic systems—while accounting may be more specific. Financial analysts can often find work in securities firms or investment banks like W Partners.

Tax Attorney

If your child has expressed an interest in law or has a capacity for debate, he or she can use their accounting degree to become a tax attorney.  In order to pursue this course, she will likely go on to law school and become a specialist in tax policies and liability as it relates to all matters of property and transactions.  As opposed to the above careers, a tax attorney will often work in a law firm.  A common specialty is in IRS issues.  He or she may likely represent a client during an audit and organize settlements.  A tax attorney often works with a public accountant, so it is possible that—if your child becomes an accountant—that he or she may choose to work at a law firm as well.

Regardless of which path your child chooses, your son of daughter will have to prove to be disciplined and dedicated to go this route.  Even those with a natural aptitude for this form of thought will have to work hard.  However, if she is will to go through the trials and study for years, she can become successful in using her accounting degree.

career colleges, careers

Fascinating Career Paths to Discuss with your Student

1 Comment

career paths

As a parent, you want your child to succeed in life. There is nothing strange or unusual about that. But how can you actually make it happen? For a start, it’s important to recognize that your child’s career is not something for you to decide on. You can support them and offer ideas during their education. But, ultimately, it’s something that they are going to have to work out for themselves. However, you should talk to them and be there to discuss options every step of the way.

They will need someone to share ideas with, so shouldn’t be completely out of the loop. As a parent with more experience of the world of work than your child, you could present some ideas. Make the career ideas you suggest appealing in some way. Show them things that could get them excited about their future career. You might not come up with anything that they end up doing. But you could inspire them or give them an idea that they pick up and run with. So, here are some ideas for career paths that are interesting. Discuss them with your son or daughter.

Stenographer

Stenography is a form of shorthand typing. It’s used to take down information rapidly when needed. It’s the kind of job, therefore, that requires a skilled individual. If your child gets the right training, this could be a good option for them in their career. It is used in a few different contexts. Court stenographers are used to take down everything that is said in the courtroom during a hearing. And they are also used to create live TV subtitles as well. It’s a job that’s a little unconventional, and that’s why it could appeal to your child. You can learn more about shorthand typing at http://shorthandshorthandshorthand.com/Speedbuilding.htm.

Dentistry

There are plenty of great career paths on offer in the world of medicine. But why limit yourself to the conventional options? Yes, being a doctor or a nurse or a surgeon might be prestigious.But dentistry can be just as interesting. As long as you don’t have a problem with poking around in people’s mouths all day, it could be the ideal job for your son or daughter. It’s very well paid, and dentists are always needed. It’s a legitimate medical field, but it’s one that many people don’t consider as a career option. If you ask me, that’s a mistake.

Film and Video Editing

These days, we are more reliant on films and videos than ever before. There is more of this kind of content around than in the past, and someone has to edit it together. Whenever you watch anything, there is an editing process behind it. Cutting together clips can be about telling a story or delivering information. But there is more behind that than you might think. It takes skills to deliver a narrative or a pile of information in a way that is interesting and captivating for the viewer. Many young people have a flair for it because they are used to working on computers.

International Diplomacy

Have you ever wanted to be the guy that strikes trade deals and does business with other countries? Those are just some of the things that international diplomats do. If you have an interest in world affairs and want to be a part of it, then you could do a course in international relations. You can find course details at sites like http://www.withmydegree.org/can-international-studies-degree/. It takes ambition and determination to get to the top in that world. And you have to start at the very bottom if you’re going to have any chance of making it all the way. However, it could be worth it in the end.

Land Surveying

Before civil engineering and building projects go ahead, the land has to be assessed. This is where the land surveyor comes in. These are professionals that are responsible for taking data and making a judgement. It requires a skillful understanding of numbers, as well as an ability to interpret complex data. On top of all that, land surveyors have to be able to negotiate and communicate with lots of other people. So, having people skills is important too. It can be an interesting and financially rewarding job, though.

Architect

We are not going to stop needing buildings anytime soon. And there are few jobs more rewarding them designing buildings that actually get built. This is exactly what architects do. They are the ones responsible for shaping the skyline and creating the buildings where we live and work. There will always be demand for people who are skilled in this sector. It requires a level of creativity, as well as a solid understanding engineering concepts. It’s certainly not easy to break into, but it is something worth introducing to your son or daughter.

Forensics

Anyone who has watched a cop show or a serial killer movie in the last decade or so will know a bit about forensics. You don’t have to understand it inside out to know that it’s very important when it comes to catching criminals. It’s work that has to be carried out by competent professionals, however. So, if your son or daughter enjoys science but doesn’t know which part of it to focus on, maybe forensics could be the best option. It allows them to put their skills to good use. Forensic scientists are always in demand, and the job pays well too.

Art Restoration

If your son or daughter has a flair for art, they could use this to their advantage when they are trying to find a career path. Art restoration is one of the most important activities out there at the moment. You can’t underestimate how key it is. If we want our art heritage to be around forever, it needs to be restored and maintained. To be involved in art in an active way doesn’t have to be about creating your own works of art. Bringing old works of art back to their former glory is just as important. So, this could be something to suggest to your art-obsessed child.

admissions, careers, websites

How to Help Your Student Prepare for College

 

Part of my goal here is to help parents find the tools they need to prepare for college. In today’s post, I’m featuring a free site that helps your student choose a career and find the right college fit.

prepare for college

As a parent, you most certainly think about your child’s future. You may see them as an engineer, a teacher, or a doctor. You may picture them at your alma mater, or being the first in your family to attend college. Maybe you just hope they find a passion and pursue it. Whatever you hope, you want what is best for your child and to support them in achieving their goals.

If you read parenting blogs, books, or articles, you know family support impacts a student’s academic success and transition to college, career, etc. You also likely know that the earlier students set goals and start preparing for life after school, their chances of reaching those goals are increased. Preparing for college as a freshman looks different than as a junior, but it is just as important for both students to connect their work today to the outcomes of their future tomorrow.

When students plan for the future early-on, they are more likely to enroll in rigorous courses, sign up for appropriate electives, become involved in extracurriculars, and consider their overall academic performance more seriously. More importantly, they learn the expectations of their goals, such as a necessary GPA, test-scores, course-load, leadership experiences, etc. By understanding these expectations early, students are empowered to take action over many years, rather than finding out it is too late, as a senior applying to schools.

While you may know what your child should do, it is not always clear how to help your child do it. With your best intentions in hand, you may ask ‘Where do I start?’ or ‘What resources are available?’

There are many resources that help with college searches, including the College Board, College Search, College View, and Princeton Review. However, there has never been a resource that combines all of the different aspects of college and career planning into one platform, and certainly not for free. As a result, we are excited to introduce you to Overgrad.

Overgrad is a completely free platform, which helps students and parents plan for life after high school. Students discover different careers and colleges that match their interests and abilities, and then receive personalized feedback, highlighting areas of improvement throughout high school. For example, you may wonder ‘Is my son’s GPA currently on track to gain admission to his ideal college?” or  “Is my daughter taking the appropriate classes to be prepared for an engineering program?” Overgrad is a tool that will answer these questions.

Other specific features:

How can Overgrad help you and your student?? 

  1. Explore Careers and Colleges

Thinking about the future is often daunting, and when it comes to choosing colleges and careers, students might not be sure where to start.

To help solve this issue, have your student take the Overgrad Career Interest Survey. Overgrad uses this survey to generate a list of possible careers aligned to your student’s indicated interests. Students can retake this survey as many time as they like, as we know interests change. This survey however, is merely a starting point. Students can also search over 1,000 other opportunities on the Overgrad “Careers” tab using filters such as “projected job growth, industry type, salary, etc.”

Students are also matched with colleges in a similar way. Overgrad uses your student’s current academic progress (GPA, test scores, courses) to match them with universities that are currently on their level. Students can use other filters such as type of university, location, graduation rates, etc. to narrow down their college list.  We also will allow them to view a unique profile for each college to to learn more before choosing their top schools.

  1. Choose the right classes

It is important to pay attention to your child’s class schedule to ensure they are meeting their high school’s graduation requirements and the basic admission requirements for colleges. In addition, colleges often take into consideration the rigor/difficulty level (honors, AP, etc.) of students’ schedules. Overgrad helps, by tracking what classes your student is taking and comparing their current courses to the expectations of the colleges on their list. If a college expects a more rigorous course load, you and your child will know.

  1. Take Action

Once your child has found the best career and college matches, they add these goals to their personal “My Future” page by clicking “follow”. Their My Future page shows all their future college and career goals, as well as helps students track their progress towards meeting them. Additionally, students will see both their strengths and areas they might want to improve to increase their admissions chances for each college on their list. In the example below, Angelica is able to use the colored graduation caps to see how her GPA, test scores, and courses compare to each of her top schools admissions requirements. As students improve overtime, they can actively monitor their progress, and even see a college they are interested in change from a “reach” school to a “match”.

Interested in exploring Overgrad? 

Overgrad is accessible on any device—including laptops, phones, tablets, and PC’s and is absolutely free!

To start using our resources simply visit overgrad.com to create an account with your student.

We also offer Overgrad as a free resource to any school so feel free to talk to your school principal and/or guidance counselor if you would like to see Overgrad provided as a resource for all students.

If you have any additional questions along the way, feel free to email erin@overgrad.com.