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Your best friend is heading for college.
So, in fact, are two-thirds of your
classmates, but maybe not you. You know what’s expected, but
you don’t know if that’s what you want so it’s time to ask
yourself some hard questions – now, “not in twenty
years.”
The first step is to learn more about what
“makes you tick.” What’s your temperament, motivation,
personality? Are you extroverted or introverted? What do you
love to do and, in a perfect world with no impediments,
would you do it for a living? How much money will you need
and how can you finance it? Will your parents support your
plan or would you have to find a way to do it yourself?
Then, decide what you’d want out of a college
education.
You already know the arguments against it –
even former Secretary of Education William J. Bennett
questioned the need for college for all – but remember that
education is “still the most important investment you can
make in yourself.” What’s best for you, when is it
right, and what will work for your personality: two- or
four-year college, Ivy League or state school, tech school
or online university?
And if you get grief for that last one,
remember that “it only matters what you know how to do, not
where you learned it.”
Then again, what if the idea of more
school makes you a little queasy? Morgan says to look
into volunteering or military service, if that’s how you
feel. Check out the Peace Corps, civil servant jobs, an
internship or apprenticeship. Travel, if you can. Or, if
you’ve got the funding, try your hand at entrepreneurship.
Just know that, as long as what you do is not
“stupid or criminal,” this uncertainty is normal. Everything
will work out, “just not right now.”
Your parents obviously want you to go to
college. You’ve been thinking about it, though, and you’re
having second thoughts. Undecided, can help you
understand your options – but if you’re looking for
permission to goof off, look elsewhere.
It’s true that chill-time isn’t a bad thing
and author Genevieve Morgan admits that - but she wants
her readers to further their education. Step-by-step and
through worksheets, she lays out the pros and cons of profs
and classes, but she’s also thought of other
post-high-school ideas that many people ignore.
That includes some things your parents might
not like…
You’ll learn to deal with that here, as well
as other hurdles you might encounter, and I liked that
comprehensiveness. For any student who knows (and needs)
direction like that, finding Undecided is an easy
choice. |
