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Is it smart to start thinking about college in the 9th grade?

I want to start early to make sure I get a college education.

#college

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Roger’s Answer

My two daughters were thinking about college before they were in elementary school. I am a graduate of the University of Southern California and a big USC Trojan Football fan. My two daughters travelled with me to colleges to see USC football games in Washington, Oregon, California, Utah, and Arizona. On family vacations my kids were in elementary school and middle school and they visited colleges in New York, Washington DC, North Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, and Indiana. These kids had college on their mind when they were 4 years old until it was time to select a college to go to. It's NEVER too early to think about college, plan for college, identify potential colleges, and figure out costs to go to college. They both choose Arizona State University.
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Serge V.’s Answer

It's never too early but don't stress over it. College would come and in the mean time, keep your grades up, participate in groups because that looks great on a college application and enjoy high school. Once you are done with high school, you are officially in the real world.
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Ken’s Answer

It is smart to start getting to know yourself better starting as early as possible to get to know what career might be most suitable for you based upon your personality traits and then talking face to face with people who are doing what you think that you might want to do to see what they do, how they got there, and what advice they might have for you. This may or may not involve college, as many people are very happy and very successful by getting training in the last two years of high school or during a two year training or associate degree program after high school. Here are sites that will help you to see possibilities:


Should You Go To College

https://medium.com/the-mission/high-school-is-over-should-you-go-to-college-b5b6db6f6712

<span style="color: black;">Value of College</span>

https://medium.com/the-mission/the-value-of-the-college-degree-is-crashing-heres-how-to-fix-it-cd7a1e116396

<span style="color: black;">My Biggest Regret: Going to College</span>

https://medium.com/the-mission/my-biggest-regret-in-life-going-to-college-ef2068f179cf

Ken recommends the following next steps:

Getting to know yourself and how your personality traits relate to people involved in various career opportunities is very important in your decision making process. During my many years in Human Resources and College Recruiting, I ran across too many students who had skipped this very important step and ended up in a job situation which for which they were not well suited. Selecting a career area is like buying a pair of shoes. First you have to be properly fitted for the correct size, and then you need to try on and walk in the various shoe options to determine which is fits the best and is most comfortable for you to wear. Following are some important steps which I developed during my career which have been helpful to many .
The first step is to take an interest and aptitude test and have it interpreted by your school counselor to see if you share the personality traits necessary to enter the field. You might want to do this again upon entry into college, as the interpretation might differ slightly due to the course offering of the school. However, do not wait until entering college, as the information from the test will help to determine the courses that you take in high school. Too many students, due to poor planning, end up paying for courses in college which they could have taken for free in high school.
Next, when you have the results of the testing, talk to the person at your high school and college who tracks and works with graduates to arrange to talk to, visit, and possibly shadow people doing what you think that you might want to do, so that you can get know what they are doing and how they got there. Here are some tips: ## http://www.wikihow.com/Network ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/nonawkward-ways-to-start-and-end-networking-conversations ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-questions-to-ask-your-network-besides-can-you-get-me-a-job?ref=carousel-slide-1 ##
Next, when you have the results of the testing, talk to the person at your high school and college who tracks and works with graduates to arrange to talk to, visit, and possibly shadow people doing what you think that you might want to do, so that you can get know what they are doing and how they got there. Here are some tips: ## http://www.wikihow.com/Network ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/nonawkward-ways-to-start-and-end-networking-conversations ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-questions-to-ask-your-network-besides-can-you-get-me-a-job?ref=carousel-slide-1 ##
Next, when you have the results of the testing, talk to the person at your high school and college who tracks and works with graduates to arrange to talk to, visit, and possibly shadow people doing what you think that you might want to do, so that you can get know what they are doing and how they got there. Here are some tips: ## http://www.wikihow.com/Network ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/nonawkward-ways-to-start-and-end-networking-conversations ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-questions-to-ask-your-network-besides-can-you-get-me-a-job?ref=carousel-slide-1 ##
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Noel’s Answer

It's not too early, but don't stress out about it. What is most important is that you focus on becoming well rounded and do things in HS that may align with what you want to do in college. These may be in or out of school. Never forget to build up skills that are not your core so that those don't hold you back. For example, if you are good at math and science and want to be an engineer, don't just focus on the things you are good at because you will need to be good in areas that you may not be keen on. As an example, you will need to be a good communicator and having skills in writing is something that will come in handy both in college and beyond. (PS, it will also help with SAT)
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