College and Career Resources

 Career Exploration Resources (link to the District Career Tech Ed page: https://www.a2schools.org/Page/9157) 

 Career exploration should include a variety of interest inventories (Naviance is a great place to start) to see what ‘groups’ of careers may fit with your likes. You should then research different careers within those groups.

Keep your options open! There is a huge increase in high wage skilled trades as well as careers that include an apprenticeship or certificate and/or 2-year degree. Explore these options immediately out of HS and then look at continuing your education in the future.

What about the Military? They have phenomenal options for on the job training and paying for college! Not ready for the world of work or college- what about a Gap Year program?

Ultimately, you have to find what is going to BEST FIT YOU!

• Going Pro: https://www.going-pro.com/ 
• Naviance: www.clever.com and login with your Google login. 
• Michigan Top 50 jobs: https://milmi.org/Research/category/michigans-hot-50-jobs 
• O-Net Online: www.onetonline.org
• Pathfinder: www.pathfinder.mitalent.org
• My Next Move: www.mynextmove.org
• Apprenticeships: www.dol.gov/apprenticeship
• Military: www.careersinthemilitary.com
• GAP year: https://www.goabroad.com/articles/gap-year/best-gap-year-programs
  https://thinkingbeyondborders.org/choosing-gap-year-program-2019/

College Search Resources

As part of the college search process, students should look at a variety of resources as well. Many search engines let you start broad and narrow it down.

1. Start with a list of items you are looking for in a college (call it a pro/con list)
   1. Big/small
   2. Rural/urban
   3. Specific programs
   4. On-campus resources
   5. Opportunities available
2. Create a spreadsheet to track info about each school
3. Utilize a variety of search engines with your specific requirements
4. Visit colleges on your list
5. Narrow it down to 8-10 colleges. We suggest that if you have more than 10, continue to refine your search. Research each college to eliminate ones that do not fit your requirements.

Naviance- since you will be requesting transcripts via this site, start here with the College Super Match! www.clever.com and login with your Google info.
Big Futures (college board): https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-search
Peterson’s College Search: https://www.petersons.com/college-search.aspx
Cappex: https://www.cappex.com/colleges
My College Options: https://www.mycollegeoptions.org/CollegeSearch
FastWeb (also a great scholarship search tool): https://www.fastweb.com/college-search