Richard G. Beery, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist (PSY 3887)
921 The Alameda
Berkeley, CA 94707
(510) 525-4480
COUNSELING FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS PLANNING TO GO ON FOR
FURTHER EDUCATION OR TRAINING
Questions High School Students Face
During their Junior year in high school, students need to begin to make
vital decisions that may affect their path for a lifetime. For the 50% of
students who go on to college, the questions are many: What type of college
should I try to get into? What are my criteria for deciding? What am I thinking
about majoring in? Do I have any ideas about what I might eventually want
to do with my education, and if so, are they realistic?
And for the remainder of students who don't go on to college, the questions
are even more pressing. In the first place: Where and how do I find a job?
Will it be a good match for me, or just something I'll do to earn money?
Does it leave me any room to grow in responsibilities, as my skill level
and knowledge increase? What about my ability to learn new skills as the
world of work keeps on changing?
The problem, though, is that it is really too early to make firm and lasting
career decisions at this point in life. In the first place, most people
are not finished developing in their interests and personal style by this
age. Secondly, very few know nearly enough about the world of work and the
opportunities that are available. Moreover, that world is changing so quickly
that it's very likely that most of the careers that will predominate in
another ten years don't even exist today.
Nevertheless, the decisions that high school juniors and seniors are asked
to begin making do not wait for their developmental processes to catch up.
By this point, many have already been tracked into either a college preparatory
or a vocational curriculum, so some options may be closed already. For those
in the college track, great sums of money (usually from $50,000 to well
over $100,000, depending on the school) will be required by the time they
complete an undergraduate degree.
Despite the crucial importance of the decisions faced at this juncture,
the college counseling available in high schools usually ranges from mediocre
to abysmal. High school counselors are typically too overwhelmed and under-trained
to come up with the best fit between a student and prospective colleges.
Counselors at private high schools are usually able to devote more time
to their students, but here, too, their resources may be inadequate. Often,
it is the general reputation of a college that is the deciding criterion,
rather than whether that college is the best choice for this student. The
general advice seems to be: Aim high; try to get into the most prestigious
school you can, since it will expand all your options in life. Taking this
advice without considering other factors, however, can cause serious problems
that can plague a student for years to come.
How do you turn down a Harvard?
In my many years counseling students at U.C. Berkeley, I saw the results
of this problem almost daily. Most freshmen admitted to Berkeley had virtually
straight-A averages in high school. Many were valedictorians of their graduating
class. Presented with the chance to attend what is generally considered
the premiere public university in the country, few could resist. In the
private school arena, Harvard, Yale, and the like are similarly difficult
to turn down if a student is admitted.
Yet of the students I saw, one who learned best in a small, interactive
learning environment, for example, might feel alienated and lost in large
freshman lecture classes with over 300 students. Another, whose learning
style was to experiment directly and learn by doing, might feel overwhelmed
in courses that dealt only with abstract theory. Still another, who had
thrived in a small-town or rural atmosphere, could feel friendless and frightened
in the crowded urban ambience of Berkeley. In each of these cases, another
school could have provided a nurturing and enriching environment, but typically
was overlooked simply because of the greater prestige Berkeley enjoyed.
Tragically, many of these students drop out, feeling that they can't cope.
Some flunk out, even though they are academically quite gifted. Overall,
only about 60% of students who enter Berkeley as freshmen graduate from
the school within the following five years, despite the stringent admission
standards. Some who leave do so with their confidence intact. But all too
many consider it a personal failure not to have been able to adjust or do
well. Counseling at the time college decisions are made can prevent severe
mis-matches between student and college, and heighten the chances of academic
success and persistence.
Another issue of concern to students is the employability of a college degree.
Usually, people make the assumption that a four-year college degree is automatically
the best career-related choice for every student who has the aptitude to
complete one. Yet certainly, for example, a degree in sociology does not
earn one entry into the field of sociology (nor, for that matter, does a
Ph.D. necessarily do so). Still, as long as the student is aware of this
fact, the love of learning itself, as well as the knowledge and transferrable
skills to be gained certainly can be reason enough for liberal arts pursuits
such as these.
For those students in technical fields, the employability issue is actually
just as relevant. For example, a student who has always had excellent electronic
ability and hands-on practical experience may consider the only prudent
choice to be an electrical engineering major at the most prestigious university
available. Yet these schools typically emphasize theory, not practice, and
have as their main goal the preparation of students for graduate training.
Thus many such students try unsuccessfully to compete in a highly theoretical
electrical engineering curriculum while engineering tech jobs (hiring students
out of two-year, community college programs) go begging. Alternatively,
a less prestigious, but more pragmatic four-year college may provide not
only a better personal fit, but also greater academic and long-term career
success.
Providing the best match between student and college is a crucially important
issue that can spell the difference between success and growth, on the one
hand, and failure or unhappiness, on the other--even without considering
all of the longer range implications of overall career direction.
Testing can provide exceptionally useful information on the best type of
school, atmosphere, style of instruction, major, and program of study to
meet personal, academic, and career objectives. Sophisticated interpretation
and counseling can lay out this information for discussion that helps enormously
in the process of gaining self-knowledge and making decisions.