The Importance of College Planning

Posted by on Jun 21, 2011 in Career Counseling | 0 comments

Julie LaCroix works with a student in her Early College Planning workshop

Good college planning starts with selecting a major that is closely aligned with their professional goals. Professional goals? Who cares about professional goals in high school, right? I do.

  • I ran a workshop last weekend with Kerstyn Battenberg, a CdMHS college counselor. We walked 11 students through the process of utilizing career planning software to explore potential careers and select majors. It was amazing to see their lives unfold in front of them!

    Here are some examples:

    • One liked math but didn’t know what to do with it. His choice? Actuary.
    • Another liked working with autistic kids. After exploring job market projections she settled on either Occupational Therapy, Speech Pathologist, or Special Education Teacher.
    • One wanted to do something in journalism, and we explored and selected her perfect college and the major she would enroll in at that school.
    • One loved design and working with people – she wants to explore being a product designer for specific products, and she gained a lot of clarity on her future.
    • One confirmed his love for people and property and explored all sorts of jobs around brokerage and development, crystallizing his dream into a realistic goal

    There are lots of other examples of kids who really got direction last weekend.  As the studies show, with at least one tentative career option, kids are more committed to their academic futures and twice as likely to graduate from college and land a job they are interested in.

    How can I help your student with college planning?


    View Julie LaCroix, M.A. Ed.'s profile on LinkedIn

     Julie LaCroix, M.A.,  has a private practice in Newport Beach, CA,  which serves adults of all ages looking for help with how they got “stuck” in their careers.  Maybe it’s the wrong job, maybe it’s the wrong field altogether.  Or maybe you just don’t know what else is out there.  Her practice is designed to help you, wherever you are in your career journey. She earned a B.A. in Psychology from UCI and an M.A. in Educational Clinical Counseling from Azusa Pacific University.  Email Julie at www.julielacroix.com.