College Portfolio Project

College Portfolio Project Dear Students, The ACT and SAT are important tests for getting into a great college. But these tests tell you more than just that, they tell you just how far you’ve come since beginning high school, and how much possibility there is for your futures. In this project, you will spend some time examining what jobs interest you, which colleges will help you target those jobs, and you will chart out a 5 year plan for yourself. My hope is that at the end of the next two days, you will gain an insight into what your future holds for you, and that you have a solid plan to get yourself there. The following websites will help you get to this goal: www.collegeboard.org www.act.org http://www.educationplanner.org/students/career-planning/find- careers/careers.shtml https://studentaid.ed.gov/types/grants-scholarships/finding-scholarships

Each section of this project is worth 25 points, so make sure you’re putting in some serious effort! Good luck and happy searching!

Mr. Thompson Section 1:

A. Go to http://www.educationplanner.org/students/career-planning/find- careers/careers.shtml

Use the checklist to find a set of careers that best suit your personal talents and explore some of those options.

Everyone: The fields that currently make the most money and have the best outlook moving into the future include

 Medicine

 Dental Care

 Nursing

 Engineering

 Accounting Girls: Keep an eye out for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (or STEM) fields! There are very few women across STEM jobs and because of that, companies and colleges are looking to attract women to those jobs and majors. Often times you can find some amazing scholarships that will cover the cost of your education in one of those fields. Guys: Keep an eye out for nursing and teaching. While the number is growing, hospitals and schools are looking to attract men to fill these jobs. In the chart below, list the top 4 job choices you’re interested in; then take some time and explore the Internet to find which majors and skills are necessary for each of those jobs. Job Skills & Preferred Majors Time to Reflect:

1. What is the outlook for your job? Is it an industry that is growing?

______

2. Do you already have some off the necessary skills for your job? How do you know? ______

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B. Section 2 Now that you’ve found some jobs that interest you, let’s find some schools that will help you get there. Using www.collegeboard.org and www.act.org, explore possible colleges that will target the skills you need for your jobs. This will require you to do some digging into the websites, but both pages have extensive “College Planning” sections where you can search for schools by the major or career you’re interested in. Pick 3 reach schools that may be more difficult to get into, and pick 3 mid- level schools that you think you can get into with effort, but not too much. Reach Schools Mid-Level Schools 1. 4.

C. Section 3

Great! The easy part is done! As I’m sure you’ve noticed, getting into college is about more than just wanting to go. There are a multitude of factors that go into a successful college admission including…

 GPA

 ACT/SAT Score

 Extra-Curricular Activities

 Volunteer Hours

 Teacher Recommendations

 And more Using the ACT and CollegeBoard websites, fill in the following table for each of your 6 schools: College Name GPA SAT ACT Need clubs Teacher Score Score or sports? Rec? (Yes/No) (Yes/No) Ex) The University of Need 1900 25 or Yes Yes Illinois at Urbana a 3.4 out of higher Champaign 2400 1. 2.

Time to Reflect:

1. Are you on track to meeting these requirements? ______

2. What areas do you think you need to improve in?

______

3. What are some ways you can actually improve in these areas? ______

______

4. Are there any classes you need to take before graduating high school that will help you improve these areas? How can you get into them? ______

______

5. What are some extracurricular activities you are currently involved in? Are there any that you could join to make yourself better rounded for a university application? If you aren’t in any, what are some you could join? ______

______

D. Section 4

Alright, we’ve tackled careers, colleges, and entrance requirements; now we need to tackle a couple more things. The first of which is the biggest hurdle students face when trying to go to college: financial aid. Money isn’t cheap, and the cost of college continues to rise each year. Once again, using the CollegeBoard or ACT websites, find the cost of tuition for each of your 6 universities for the last 3 years. College 2012 2013 2014

Phew. College costs quite a bit of money, huh? Luckily for all of us, there are billions of dollars set aside each year for scholarships that can make your costs much easier to manage. Using Google, the CollegeBoard, and the ACT websites, find 5 scholarships you could apply for and list their requirements.

Scholarship/ Amount($) GPA ACT/SAT Other Organization Score E. Section 5 Almost done! The point of all of this was to make sure you have well laid out plan for your future, so that you can achieve every dream you want! The last step in this process is to set yourself some goals, and to create a timeline for the next 5 years. Label the timeline below and then fill out the goals for High School and College.

What do you want to achieve over the next 5 years? Label the timeline below with your high school graduation, college graduation and any other major events you foresee happening. In the section below, list 5 goals you want to accomplish before graduating High School that will help you achieve a college admission.

1. ______

2. ______

3. ______

4. ______

5. ______

In the section below, list 5 goals you want to accomplish during and before graduating College that will help you achieve your chosen career goal.

1. ______2. ______

3. ______

4. ______

5. ______