Post-Secondary Options
The Many Post-Secondary Options for High School Students
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So, you’ve just finished high school, or you’ve just gotten your GED, and you are wondering, “what do I do next”? Maybe you’ve taken a gap year, and you think that it’s time to get serious about the rest of your life. Or perhaps it has been a little bit longer than that.
Well, you’ve come to the right place. Today, we are going to talk about some options for what to do next. What can you achieve? What’s ahead of you?
Let’s discuss post-secondary options for high school students.
A class of students graduating
image courtesy of Unsplash: @autthaporn
Many of these options will require a high school diploma or a GED, but some do not. So, just make sure to check your local prerequisites for any post-secondary options you might be interested in.
Often our families and friends have expectations of us that don’t necessarily feel authentic. Instead, we want to weigh out our options. Maybe your parents have been telling you to become a doctor since you were a child. Perhaps your friends keep insisting you become a stand-up comedian, but you have terrible stage fright. It is frustrating when other people have a specific picture of the rest of your life. Especially when you don’t feel the same way. If this is you, stick around because we will discuss a few options to pivot to find what suits you.
If you are intimidated by the long hours of studying you have ahead of you, check out my study planner. It has a ton of helpful resources, and it’s FREE.
Post-secondary is intimidating, especially for those who took a gap year. Or, maybe you had to take a few years off to work or just live life.
I found myself in this situation. I had settled into a job after the birth of my son. It was just the two of us, so I didn’t have the option of throwing caution to the wind and pursuing my education. I had to work and bring money in.
I remember making the decision to go back to University. I could not stomach my job anymore, and I needed something different. I needed my life to change.
I went back to University, and I learned so much about myself and the world. I discovered what I truly wanted out of life.
Despite having a clear plan of what I wanted to accomplish when I enrolled, it came out looking like something I had never expected. I had worked in healthcare for 17 years, so I thought it would be logical to continue in the medical field. I applied and got accepted into a pre-med program.
As I studied the different subjects, something happened. I fell in love with physics and then cheated on it with Calculus. I nearly changed my degree several times between courses that I was interested in and honours programs that I had been offered. I was exposed to subjects I had not previously known that were more relatable and exciting than I had initially thought. I just fell in love with them.
University is the most traditional of the post-secondary options for high school students. It is a great place to discover your passion or new interests. You are forced for the first couple of years to take courses in a variety of different faculties.
You might discover that you love something that you hadn’t expected.
You may even get invites, as I did, to join faculties or honours program outside of your own when you do well in a course.
In University, you are going to need some solid study skills and strategies. My study planner has a tracker that can help you plan out how you will cover and review a topic spanning the entire semester. Switching up study activities and methods is the best way to create solid mental associations. This intricate web will help you with ease and speed of recall during test time.
So, what about College?
Colleges often help you train for a specific type of job. Some programs can take as little as a few months, while others might take years. You can often take some credits in college and then transfer them to University if you find something that you love and want to take it further.
Some Colleges will even help you to find a job after you graduate by sending you to internships. These are sometimes paid, but often, they are not.
Unfortunately, colleges are not always cheaper than universities. Still, sometimes they are easier to get into or have more flexible schedules. If you are juggling a full-time job or a family, they may provide options that Universities or Trade Schools do not.
If you are intimidated about University, you can always try taking a few College classes and then decide if academia is the right path for you. But maybe just check out prices in your area and see if it is really more cost-effective. There may not be much of a difference in price if you only enroll in one or two classes at your local University.
Tools belonging to a tradesperson.
image courtesy of Unsplash: @neonbrand
Trade School is also a fantastic option that is so often overlooked. When people consider post-secondary options after high school, this choice might be skipped over.
Sometimes these classes will run out of the local College or University. But sometimes, they are based out of the specific unions for that trade. So, you might have a particular school for the plumber’s union, or the electrician union and so on.
Trades are always in demand. They are never going to go away. It is not like one-day indoor plumbing and lighting will suddenly become unpopular. They also make a ton of money with the higher levels.
Trade School will comparatively take less time than University. This is because you get paid as an apprentice while working your seals. You will go to classes for a time, then work to apply those skills in the field. This might be a nice reprieve from someone that does not want to sit in a classroom for the next four years or more.
Both Trade School and College will also require effective study strategies and effective time management. Tracking how confident you are with each concept introduced will help you know where to focus your study efforts. My study planner also has a confidence tracker to track how comfortable you are with certain concepts and how you have progressed in your understanding and proficiency in them.
A woman entrepreneur works on her tablet.
image courtesy of unsplash: @surface
Next up is entrepreneurship and freelance.
I grouped these together because either way, you are your own boss. It takes a ton of hustle and hunger to really build your brand, build your company, and build your client base.
At the end of the day, there is nothing like not having to answer to anyone. But this is a grind for real. It is hard, and you must be extremely disciplined. You do not necessarily need to have a ton of money for a start-up, but you do need to get out there.
Networking is critical if you want to pursue either of these options. Often, you will never know who will connect you to your next lead or be able to offer you that next opportunity. You also don’t necessarily need to start with a fantastic idea or invention. But you do need to learn from your mistakes.
Listen to customer feedback. Your customers are going to give you the most valuable feedback to improve your offerings. Following what they are telling you is not necessarily something to get insulted or upset about. Take their information as valid and use it to offer a better service than your competitors. Too often, we get stuck in our own vision of what we want to sell that we forget to ask if anyone wants it.
Download Now: How to Start a Business Checklist
I have received a lot of feedback and support along my own entrepreneurial journey. I have also had many people reach out to me to ask how I have managed to grow and launch this company. If you want to be an entrepreneur, check out this site, where I break down the entire start-up journey. I have many articles and resources available.
If you have reached this point and you still don’t know exactly what you want to do. I do have a workbook called the Goal Setting Passion Planner. It will take you on a journey of self-discovery and help you flesh out some goals or some dreams that you might not know you had.
If you found this article helpful, check out 5 things I learned in University that had nothing to do with my degree. You might find it really helpful.
Don’t think that just because you chose one path, that you can’t still merge ideas or do something exciting. There are so many post-secondary options for high school students out there. Even more so online!
Use your degree in a non-traditional way. Or, maybe while pursuing one degree will make you realize how much you love something else.
If you are about the embark on the study struggle, don’t forget to pick up my study planner. It is full of useful resources like the study tracker with more than study activities that let you track how you study each concept over the entire semester. That will help ensure that you understand all facets of a theory and get as comfortable and as confident as possible before exam time.
In it, you will find:
Study session planners to help you plan how you will spend each study session,
Q&A planner to create your own practice quizzes,
Even the confidence tracker.
I cannot understate how valuable it is.
If you have any questions, please email me, or leave a comment below.
Until next time, I hope you have an amazing adventure.
I would like to be transparent so that there are no misunderstandings. As an affiliate, I may earn a small commission from any products linked in this post. This is not a sponsored post, and I was not asked to recommend these products. These are products that I genuinely love and wanted to share with my audience.