Planning to attend a two or four year college is one thing that is crucial to a high school student but probably the last thing they think about. A teenager does not want to be sitting in their room on a Friday night going over admission requirements and essay topics and degree programs they may or may not want, but its the unfortunate reality that this type of planning has to be done eventually.
The planning for your futures will never end, only progress to a more specified planning process as you get older, but the sooner you start planning for college, the more you can relax and enjoy your time you have left as a high school student and spending that time with family and friends is the most important thing one can do before you head off to the deep unknown we call college.

First, you should sit down and think about what you want to do. Most students do this all the time and their minds will change a million times before they settle, and some don't settle until they are forced to choose a degree program to follow after their second year of college! The first thing to do is to create a list of likes and dislikes about your self. By being honest with your self, you can then narrow down different types of jobs you would want to do by doing this. For example, if the number one thing listed in your dislike column is talking with people then Customer Service should be wiped away from your possible job choices. However, if one should write they like to help people, deal with numbers, and loves the shows ER and Grey's Anatomy then maybe the nursing field is what you should be aiming for!

They other thing that is out there and at your local High schools are the Career Aptitude Test. A student takes this test and based off their personality and the answers to the questions this program places the student into different career field options for the student to consider. It is the same thing as make a like and dislike list but uses computer programmer's ideas and thought and the list you can do and analyze yourself. I do both to use as a comparison then choose from there.

Next thing is research, and NOT the kind that requires you to hit the books, but more along the lines of using the Internet to look up the jobs that you narrowed down that you may be interested in and find out more about what kind of jobs you can get, what you can do in that career and salary information and now a days, job security is a big one. Many young adults don't take that into consideration but TRUST me... you need to. Site that I suggest would be your regular search engines and you will go and type in the career or maybe job requirements and such then based off the information you find, I would then use that information to inquire about what schools you want to go to or attend once you graduate and the degree plans those school offer and choose the schools to apply to based off the requirements that your choice careers fit into.

Once I have this information you can start looking at the schools themselves and see what it takes as far as admission requirements and tests you may need and start getting everything you can get done, well...done! I can tell you as an educator, you will need to be sure you have taken all tests and have scores that will match the college's minimum requirements. Tests such as the SAT, ACT, and College entrance exams (in Texas we have the THEA exam) and have these scores mailed to those prospective schools you intend to apply to. Then be sure sure you apply to the school itself and apply for financial aid. You can search FASFA on the Internet and get a detailed overview on how to apply for financial aid and have your parents close by because they will have to help you on their financial status as well. Next, you can then concentrait on making sure your rank is improving and that as you come to the close of your high school careers, you be sure to keep an eye on the status of your application.

Once you do this, you can hopefully find the career you want, the college you should attend to get the educational background that goes with your career choice and once accepted, enjoy the last of those days with family and friends.

Among this SIMPLE process, there are lists and information out there, checklists that a student can use to help them plan for their futures. Don't be shy either, get out in your community and ask around, talk to others, maybe volunteer at a community event, make an appointment with the counselor at your high school to talk about how the school can help in aiding you in the right direction. Parents can help too...yes they are people with jobs and careers and they brought you into this world, they can help you at least get in an active role in it!

Depending on the school you choose to go to, many young adults are finding that the money saving route is attending a Community College the first couple years then transferring to an University for the last couple of years. That is what I did. Also, many young adults, though they may not even know this, are placed with codes and in different categories through the School Systems, so depending on your status as far as Special Resources, Economically disadvantaged, or even your Career Tech students, there are many scholarships out there now that will be there now years from now and they continue to come up with new ones every year.

Look up scholarship information, from other sources and you will find that maybe there is a scholarships that fits your need perfectly! Example, I got a scholarship for my Military service, for being a single mother,for attending college after the age of 25, and for certain classes I signed up for because I would sing and play a saxophone in their band at my college I attending and it only cost me nothing! In fact, I found and received so many scholarships that once I used what I needed for school tuition's and fees and got all my books, the rest of the money was mine to keep! I used it to pay off bills, pay monthly bills, and saved whatever I had left for the next semester!

So future college attendees: find your niche, figure out what you want to do. If your unsure, take a Career aptitude test, or choose my like dislike method to the approach. Find out which college you want to go to and that have your degree requirements for the career you want o pursue. Then start the application process, do everything step by step per that college's admission requirements and don't leave nothing out, or you will not be accepted. Then go out searching for ways to apply or obtain money to pay for college, and last but not least, try to have fun doing this. This is the time of wonderful opportunity, if you let it slip by, it will be gone forever. I hope that I have shed a bit of light in your initial planning process and showed you a few places to start your future planning!~