So I’m a junior and trying to figure out all the college stuff! I really don’t know what I want to do, which I know this is where everybody would say not to worry about it yet, but having an idea of what I would like to do would definitely help me narrow it down! I’m a very good student - all A’s since forever, advanced classes, etc. Next year I’m planning to take about the same rigor of courses (3-4 APs) too. I did take my ACT and got a 33 first time and will possibly take it again depending on scholarship opportunities! I’m not sure if I need to take the SAT but I might, any opinions on SAT v. ACT? I’m trying to figure out what I would like to do based on my interests, but I don’t really know what jobs involve those. So as for what I like, I like research (such as looking for the best of something and comparing results), psychology (as in why people think/act/do the things they do), management, and I like to be creative although I’m not that creative/good at thinking up unique ideas. I was thinking of maybe going into marketing, but there’s so many types for every job and I’m so overwhelmed by it all! I want a job that I’ll enjoy (obviously) and will also be stable and still provide a pretty good salary as shallow as that sounds! I’m working on visiting colleges to try and get a feel to see if maybe I’ll just find one where it just fits but there’s not really one that stands out yet. Please help if you can!
My current classes are:
H. Anatomy/Physiology
Study Hall (All Year)
AP Chemistry
AP English and Literature
H. Precalculus
H. Spanish IV
AP Psychology
The ACT is great! Congrats on the high score! I don’t think you need to take the SAT since you already have such a good ACT score, but if you want to try it, go ahead. You never know, you might do better. Definitely study the ACT a little more so you can take it a second time.
Wanting a secure job with a good salary isn’t shallow but you also have to love what you do. It sounds like you need to go to a school with a bunch of academic programs and options so you can experiment and see what you want to do. Business, psychology, or research are all different fields so you need to narrow that down a little more. Your schedule looks good. Possibly do AP Spanish senior year. Have you taken a physics already? If not, you should probably do it senior year.
So here comes the nosy questions lol. What’s your GPA? Where are you in-state at? What can your parents afford? Where would you like to be location-wise?
Thanks! And I’m planning to take either H. Physics or AP Physics next year for sure! GPA weighted is like a 4.4 I believe, and I live in Ohio. Location wise I think I wanna go somewhere along the East coast, but some colleges in California (of course!) are definitely appealing! As for afffordibility, we’re middle class but essentially all options are open, I think they’re assuming I’ll get scholarships too to help out!
I doubt it, actually. First of all, a lot of the things you mentioned are available at lots of colleges. If you select psychology, for example, that’s a major that’s offered at virtually every college and university in the country, so you won’t eliminate much. Many colleges have business/management majors, too.
But with that said, I actually don’t think you should select a college based upon a major unless you are going into a very specialized field (engineering, nursing, hospitality management, athletic training, etc.) Many students change their major, and I feel like the probability of that happening is higher if you already didn’t know what you wanted to do and just picked something to help you narrow your college list. Besides, you aren’t going to college to specialize in a narrow area of study, like a PhD. You will develop breadth and depth; most of your classes actually won’t be in your major department; and you will have a very vibrant life outside of your coursework.
With that said, I think that if you don’t know what you want to major in, you should focus on colleges that have robust academic offerings in a variety of fields and then think about other factors that appeal to you. Do you want large, medium or small? Urban, suburban, rural? Do you want somewhere with a strong liberal arts core curriculum or more of an open curriculum or something in between? Would you like a place where you can go to every D1 football game (and maybe some other sports too!) or are you more interested in discussing philosophy on your dorm floor (or both, which you can get at many colleges!) Do you think you might want to go Greek, and would you want a really big, socially active Greek scene or a smaller one where the Greek students just kind of blend in with the others?
An exercise that might help is to sit down one day and freewrite about what your “ideal” college would look like. Maybe a day in the life (or a week in the life), or just sitting and describing the attributes you’d like for it to have.