Dear SPASH Senior,

I’ve been thinking a lot about what to do after high school. How important is college? Should I be thinking about it even though I am only a junior?

— Anonymous

Hey Anon, thanks for asking! A lot of us are really worried about college and what we should be doing right now for our careers, it’s a big thing, and these large goals can be rather mortifying. There’s two-years, four-years, apprenticeships, and a million other options! How can we as students sift through them all? And when should we start seriously considering college?

Right now, Anon. It’s never too early to think about your college experience. I’m not saying make a plan, or choose a path, or to apply for anything, but understanding your options sooner than later will put you a step ahead of the other students. There are two local colleges here in Stevens Point with plenty of amazing options, Mid-State Technical College and the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point. 

Mid-State has low tuition and book prices, so if you’re worried about pinching pennies, it’s best to look to them and see if they have any options that interest you. Their website, along with all others mentioned in this article, are linked for your convenience at the end of this article.

UWSP also has amazing options, and being local definitely helps with the cost as well. UWSP is a four-year, and Mid-State has a wide range of degree options. You don’t have to stay local, though, if there’s a college you think is neat, check out their website!

 There are plenty of financial options available right here in Point, if money is a problem. Jill Nemeth in the career center here at SPASH had some helpful opinions, and in regards to scholarship opportunities, she claims “Apply to as many as you qualify for. If you only fill out 1 application, you only have 1 chance. SPASH specifically has less than 10 scholarship options, but locally there are hundreds available to look for.”

Remember anon, we are all still young. None of us truly know what we are going to do yet, and that’s okay! An article titled “What Percentage of Students Change Majors?” from withfrank.org stated on average, 80% of students change college majors at least once. I’ve linked multiple career tests at the end to give ideas! (Don’t worry, anon, the links are labelled). Right now is the time for us to explore, there are plenty of cool, in demand jobs mentioned again by Jill, like health care and mechanics. If there’s something you want to explore, go to the career center, that’s what it’s there for!

The most important thing to take away from this anon, is to remember that you have time. College isn’t needed, there are plenty of successful people without college degrees, like CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg, who, in a speech congratulating the Harvard graduates of 2017, admitted to being a dropout from Harvard, saying “you accomplished something I never could”. This entire experience is for you, and if you’re worried about not being happy, or not having enough money, flip to the next page, because there are more options available than I have words for.

Thanks for writing, anon.

— The Spash Senior

UWSP Website 

MSTC Website 

WTC Career test 

Open Colleges Career Test 

Truity Career Test