Helping you guide your child through the college process.
Links to material in or related to this conversation:
Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology
Manufacturing Expo/Careers in Manufacturing (podcast episode)
California University of Pennsylvania
Have a question about Thaddeus Stevens or careers in technical (STEM) fields? Leave a question or comment below, and Warren will answer it for you!
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One of the biggest barriers that students face when choosing a college is answering the question, “What am I going to do with my life?” If they decide to attend college, unless they have answered that question, they risk missing out on the best that college can offer. So, how can you figure out what you’re going to do with your life?
In today’s episode I lay out the details of True North, a program that I offer through personal coaching or as part of the My College Life Coach membership site. True North reverse-engineers the big dilemma of a student’s direction in life by asking three basic questions:
In the program we start from where the student is by defining their Best Me, then create their Best Life, and end with the framework for the Best Career. Their True North is now a set of criteria with which to make a number of very important decisions as they go through life, not the least of which is a.) whether to attend college and b.) which college is the best fit.
Resources mentioned in or related to this episode:
“The Importance of Choosing a Major Before You Attend College” interview
“How Your Values (Should) Influence Your College Choice” blog post
“How Your Values Can Help You Choose a College” podcast
Gallup’s StrengthsQuest assessment
Holy Discontent by Bill Hybels
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Have you heard this advice before: “Just go to college and you’ll figure out what you want to do.” Or once you get into a college, does the college tell you that it’s okay to start school without declaring a major? Today’s conversation with Judy McGuriman is essential if you are planning to attend college but aren’t sure what you’ll study.
Judy shares her son’s experience at Penn State University and covers a wide variety of topics, including
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What happens when you wake up and realize that you’re not where you want to be in life? What if you’ve done everything that you’re “supposed to” and it isn’t that great? You have two options: bury your head in the sand or change and use the experience to help others – you make your mess a message.
Adam Carroll is a nationally recognized speaker in the field of college financing, but he doesn’t work for a bank. He works for students and their families, educating them about how to pay for college without drowning in debt. But he hasn’t always been perfect in this area; he was a “rich college kid” using credit cards and student loans to finance the life he’d been accustomed to when living with his parents.
Fortunately, a friend of his gave him a wake up call, and now Adam spends much of his time sharing that same message with college students today. Take notes as he gives advice to college students based on what he did and what he wishes he would have done, especially the concept of “side hustle” and being entrepreneurial while in college.
Links to resources mentioned in the interview (and related):
Adam’s previous interview on MCLC (014: Strategies for Paying for College)
Adam’s website featuring his two TED talks
Outliers book
Talent Is Overrated book
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Are you interested in a career in business? If so, what if you could “try it on for size” for a week to see if you like it before committing to the major in college? Then you need to check out Pennsylvania Free Enterprise Week!
Kevin Chen takes a break from his classes at UC Berkeley to share his experience at PFEW during the summer before his senior year in high school. Among other things, he learned about a number of key components of business during his time at PFEW:
Resources discussed in the interview:
Pennsylvania Free Enterprise Week
Future Business Leaders of America
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This year more than a million students will graduate from high school in America alone, and most of them know what’s expected of them: go to college, get good grades, and get a job. However, hundreds of thousands of them have no clue what they want to do when they graduate.
From the valedictorian to the least academic, students are asking themselves these questions:
Why do so many of my friends seem to know what they want to do when I don’t?
Should I go to college without a clear career path and risk racking up student loan debt for a degree I don’t enjoy?
If I don’t go to college, am I condemning myself to a life without opportunities?
What if I make the wrong choice and end up in a career I hate?
What the vast majority of high school students need – even before deciding whether or not to attend college – is a vision for what they want out of life. If they don’t have a clear goal to attain, they don’t know if college helps them get it.
That’s what True North does. We work with students – individually or self-guided through The Academy – to help them create a plan for their lives that not only inspires them but empowers them to make it happen. Students graduate from the program with a True North, a guiding set of criteria for making decisions in key areas of their lives: education, career, relationships, and personal growth.
True North is a short-term program, but its effects are felt for decades. Schedule an appointment today for a call with Sam to determine whether this program is a good fit for you.
