Before college, students should do prep work on career choices

Over the past 10 years, the consumer price index has risen 29 percent, but college prices have risen 79 percent, says Sue Simpson of Career Vision, a career-consulting service in Glen Ellyn.

Simpson spoke recently to students and parents at Naperville's Neuqua Valley High School. Her company works with adults who change careers, as well as students who are choosing one.

Unlike a generation ago, when fewer than half of high school graduates went to college, today a majority do. Career Vision pegs the number of high school graduates who start college at 90 percent, while U.S. News & World Report lists it lower.

At Neuqua, 95 percent go on to college, with 80 percent heading to four-year institutions and 15 percent to two-year colleges.

No matter how you organize or view the numbers, for many people, high school graduation is not the last time they hope to march to "Pomp and Circumstance."

It's a fact of life for high school juniors and seniors that are riddled with angst. The cost of college is climbing steadily, along with the number of applications to most institutions. We're paying more to get in and fighting harder for the privilege.

It now takes the average college student longer than four years to graduate. Ka-ching!

But according to the Department of Education, 30 percent of students leave college after their first year. Almost 50 percent do not graduate. And most of those who leave college-- just my guess on this one -- will not be as financially successful as Harvard's most famous dropout, Bill Gates.

The minimum cost for a college education is $50,000, and private colleges are four times that. The average student debt load upon graduation is $20,000, according to Career Vision.

And inside most seniors' and juniors' heads is an uncomfortable voice telling them they have no idea what the world of work is like, let alone how to find their place in it.

"They have experienced coursework. They have not experienced careers," Simpson said.

A 17- or 18-year-old, understandably, doesn't have much to guide his choice, aside from high school classes and extracurricular activities. Some careers are visible, such as nursing, law, police, doctors, journalists -- but even within those, only a sliver of what's possible within the field is known. Even most adults aren't aware of the tasks that most jobs entail.

"I don't want to work in an office," said one Neuqua Valley junior after Simpson's presentation, wrinkling her nose at the thought of a desk job.

The girl had thought she wanted to be a doctor. A rough ride in a biochemistry course made her think again. But the course and the teacher are not the career.

In most corporate careers, the offices, phones, computers and meetings are just outward trappings. The problem-solving and projects that give a job its heart remain cloaked.

Discovering your aptitudes or innate talents is key to guiding a career choice, which, in turn, guides your choice of major and choice of college.

"Interests change as you mature, but aptitudes stay stable," Simpson said.

"Get a solid plan before spending $100,000 in college," Simpson said, "including self-knowledge and confidence. Identify careers and majors to make a smart college choice."

Try a few Web sites. The O net -- www.onetcenter.org -- is dull but useful. At U.S. News & World Report, the new 2008 college rankings are out, and much of the information and articles are free on the Web site.

The high school guidance departments in Naperville school districts are well-staffed and knowledgeable, with excellent resources, including software such as Career Cruising. Find your way to your high school's college and career center. Use it. Be aware of the need to plan and commit to spend the time.

That's how we should do it. Most of us probably didn't. Instead we wound up with a catch-as-catch-can mixture of trial-and-error, college course exploration, waiting, following the path of least resistance, continuing with our high school extracurriculars and, perhaps at the last minute, cobbling together enough credits to graduate.

Not a great way to spend tens of thousands of dollars.

"Colleges cost so much, parents are understandably anxious," Simpson said. "They're anxious about test prep and test scores.

"They're so focused on (getting their students) into college, and the best colleges, they're missing the point."

That would be the career for which college is meant to prepare.

• Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy is a parent in south Naperville who writes every other Wednesday in Neighbor. Email her at otbfence@hotmail.com.