Important Factors to Consider
Important Factors to Consider
Transcript
It's now time to dig into what you need to think about as you consider attending college, and evaluate your current ideas around it. As you learned in Module Two, Intentional Decision Making, there generally isn't the right decision, but more likely a right decision. Similarly, there is not the right fit college, but perhaps a right fit college.
We want you to start thinking with the most fundamental question-- is higher education, in fact, the best choice for you? We are obviously biased in our opinion on the matter, since we feel higher education is a personally rewarding and professionally effective way to prepare yourself for the career you want. But like your military life, it is a real commitment. It can be a commitment for up to four years, just like your enlistment. Are you personally ready to embark on and invest in higher education?
Why do you want to go to college? Are you academically and mentally prepared to make that transition? Do you have the background to be successful at a four-year college or university, or at a community college? Are there things you need to do first to reinvigorate your academic skills, or maybe discover them for the first time in a focused way?
And do you have the proper mindset to do it? If you are in the right place mentally, you really can overcome a less than ideal school background by presenting a recent track record of success at the college level. You can literally rewrite your academic record with updated performance.
Do you want to go to college, or are there others telling you you should go to college? In my own experience advising veterans about higher education, I have encountered many transitioning service members and veterans who tell me college is in their plan, simply because they have access to financing through their military education benefits. But we really want you to think about whether or not higher education is the right way for you to achieve your goals.
If you're still uncertain about your direction after completing this module, that's OK. Again, it's not that we expect you to know 100% what you want to do for the rest of your life. But you should be sure about what you want to explore. You may well change your mind later, but your conviction and commitment to finding it is important.
What are some of the personal factors that may impact your decision about where to apply? Your life circumstances and personal preferences may narrow down your college choices. The personal factors you need to consider as you develop your list of colleges and universities starts at home.
Transitioning service members and veterans, unlike the typical straight-out-of-high-school college applicant, often have a family. Are you married or single, and does a family play a role in your decision about where to apply? I once worked with a service member who was deciding between a large state university and a prestigious Ivy League institution.
He was accepted to the Ivy League institution, but he didn't want to uproot his family. And upon further research, he realized the specific major program he wanted was just as reputable at the state university as that in the Ivy League institution. Ultimately, he chose the state university, and was incredibly happy with his choice. Another service member's decision was based not on undergraduate rankings, but rather looking for room to grow personally, as well as academically, in being in a location where his wife could have a job.
What about size? You may hope to attend a large public university to branch out and explore the large college community, or perhaps you want to study on the smaller campus of a liberal arts college that might offer access to more individual attention. Size may also factor into the types of veteran-specific resources available on campus.
Another thing to consider is location. Would you be happier in a small town environment or a large city? It is very different to go to college in, say, New York City, versus a rural environment. It is also very different living in California versus Maine.
What environment best suits you? You might think of it this way-- when you were in the military, did you prefer a large installation or a smaller installation? In thinking of class size, did you do better in company-size training or squad-size training?
What about credits? Is it important for you to be able to use your joint services transcript credits or club credits? Not all colleges and universities accept those credits. So you'd need to think about how important those earned credits are to you.
I once worked with a veteran who decided to forgo all of his credits because he felt the best choice for him was to attend a particular small liberal arts college. You may decide you need to get done as quickly as possible, and those credits might enable you to speed up your timeline to graduation. These are serious considerations, but remember, you need to make the best decision for you. Learn from others' experiences, but this decision will ultimately depend on your unique circumstances.
What about that major? Does the institution you're considering have a strong department for the major or classes you envision taking? Are those courses offered only on campus, or are there online options for you that are weighted evenly?
We all have different educational needs, and it's a great thing to understand what works for you. Right now, you're taking an online course. But when it comes to a heavily structured intense course, do you know if that's the best way for you to learn?
We've also provided you with some online resources to help you distill down further what the important factors are to you, where you're flexible and where you can't bend. Take time to use these tools to think about all the factors we've touched upon in this section, so that you can make an informed decision. They will help you to organize all of these considerations, so you don't lose track of what's important to you while you're exploring new areas of interest or concern.
Let's talk career goals. Take a step back and think about what it is you believe you ultimately want to do. What is required to make that happen?
Do you really need to be a finance major to work on Wall Street? What will you actually do with a psychology degree? What do you think you'd like to do right after you graduate from college versus long term? Maybe you just want to translate your military experience into a civilian career, or maybe you want to set out on a completely divergent path from what you did in the military.
You are at a fork in the road. And while it doesn't have to be a permanent choice, and you will certainly discover more about these choices while in college, you do need to have focus and direction. Many of the service members I've worked with have been a little shortsighted in their thinking. Say, for example, you worked as an aircraft mechanic while on duty. It does not necessarily follow that fixing aircraft will easily translate into an engineering degree.
Each circumstance, each person is unique. Some may be able to begin their studies immediately, but others may hit a wall of prerequisites-- calculus, physics, chemistry, and so on. Because what they loved and enjoyed about working on that aircraft is not really what they would be pursuing in an engineering degree.
So here, in this Career Goals Module, we've provided you with resources to help you explore what's happening in certain industries, and how to find careers that tie into your skill set, or pivot you into a new, maybe unfamiliar, direction. We'll also give you a few more things to think about.
We want you to start thinking with the most fundamental question-- is higher education, in fact, the best choice for you? We are obviously biased in our opinion on the matter, since we feel higher education is a personally rewarding and professionally effective way to prepare yourself for the career you want. But like your military life, it is a real commitment. It can be a commitment for up to four years, just like your enlistment. Are you personally ready to embark on and invest in higher education?
Why do you want to go to college? Are you academically and mentally prepared to make that transition? Do you have the background to be successful at a four-year college or university, or at a community college? Are there things you need to do first to reinvigorate your academic skills, or maybe discover them for the first time in a focused way?
And do you have the proper mindset to do it? If you are in the right place mentally, you really can overcome a less than ideal school background by presenting a recent track record of success at the college level. You can literally rewrite your academic record with updated performance.
Do you want to go to college, or are there others telling you you should go to college? In my own experience advising veterans about higher education, I have encountered many transitioning service members and veterans who tell me college is in their plan, simply because they have access to financing through their military education benefits. But we really want you to think about whether or not higher education is the right way for you to achieve your goals.
If you're still uncertain about your direction after completing this module, that's OK. Again, it's not that we expect you to know 100% what you want to do for the rest of your life. But you should be sure about what you want to explore. You may well change your mind later, but your conviction and commitment to finding it is important.
What are some of the personal factors that may impact your decision about where to apply? Your life circumstances and personal preferences may narrow down your college choices. The personal factors you need to consider as you develop your list of colleges and universities starts at home.
Transitioning service members and veterans, unlike the typical straight-out-of-high-school college applicant, often have a family. Are you married or single, and does a family play a role in your decision about where to apply? I once worked with a service member who was deciding between a large state university and a prestigious Ivy League institution.
He was accepted to the Ivy League institution, but he didn't want to uproot his family. And upon further research, he realized the specific major program he wanted was just as reputable at the state university as that in the Ivy League institution. Ultimately, he chose the state university, and was incredibly happy with his choice. Another service member's decision was based not on undergraduate rankings, but rather looking for room to grow personally, as well as academically, in being in a location where his wife could have a job.
What about size? You may hope to attend a large public university to branch out and explore the large college community, or perhaps you want to study on the smaller campus of a liberal arts college that might offer access to more individual attention. Size may also factor into the types of veteran-specific resources available on campus.
Another thing to consider is location. Would you be happier in a small town environment or a large city? It is very different to go to college in, say, New York City, versus a rural environment. It is also very different living in California versus Maine.
What environment best suits you? You might think of it this way-- when you were in the military, did you prefer a large installation or a smaller installation? In thinking of class size, did you do better in company-size training or squad-size training?
What about credits? Is it important for you to be able to use your joint services transcript credits or club credits? Not all colleges and universities accept those credits. So you'd need to think about how important those earned credits are to you.
I once worked with a veteran who decided to forgo all of his credits because he felt the best choice for him was to attend a particular small liberal arts college. You may decide you need to get done as quickly as possible, and those credits might enable you to speed up your timeline to graduation. These are serious considerations, but remember, you need to make the best decision for you. Learn from others' experiences, but this decision will ultimately depend on your unique circumstances.
What about that major? Does the institution you're considering have a strong department for the major or classes you envision taking? Are those courses offered only on campus, or are there online options for you that are weighted evenly?
We all have different educational needs, and it's a great thing to understand what works for you. Right now, you're taking an online course. But when it comes to a heavily structured intense course, do you know if that's the best way for you to learn?
We've also provided you with some online resources to help you distill down further what the important factors are to you, where you're flexible and where you can't bend. Take time to use these tools to think about all the factors we've touched upon in this section, so that you can make an informed decision. They will help you to organize all of these considerations, so you don't lose track of what's important to you while you're exploring new areas of interest or concern.
Let's talk career goals. Take a step back and think about what it is you believe you ultimately want to do. What is required to make that happen?
Do you really need to be a finance major to work on Wall Street? What will you actually do with a psychology degree? What do you think you'd like to do right after you graduate from college versus long term? Maybe you just want to translate your military experience into a civilian career, or maybe you want to set out on a completely divergent path from what you did in the military.
You are at a fork in the road. And while it doesn't have to be a permanent choice, and you will certainly discover more about these choices while in college, you do need to have focus and direction. Many of the service members I've worked with have been a little shortsighted in their thinking. Say, for example, you worked as an aircraft mechanic while on duty. It does not necessarily follow that fixing aircraft will easily translate into an engineering degree.
Each circumstance, each person is unique. Some may be able to begin their studies immediately, but others may hit a wall of prerequisites-- calculus, physics, chemistry, and so on. Because what they loved and enjoyed about working on that aircraft is not really what they would be pursuing in an engineering degree.
So here, in this Career Goals Module, we've provided you with resources to help you explore what's happening in certain industries, and how to find careers that tie into your skill set, or pivot you into a new, maybe unfamiliar, direction. We'll also give you a few more things to think about.