Two months left to decide the path you take for the rest of your life, no pressure right? Wrong. The stress of the approaching deadline for applications is haunting seniors all over campus.
I think there’s a lot of pressure on us graduating students to figure out what to do right after high school
— senior Hayden Jones
It’s application season and many seniors may be confused and lost. Deciding their future path and career opportunities is a lot of pressure for seventeen and eighteen-year-old students.
Over 80% of students change their major in college,” College and Career Counselor, Jessica Shatwell said, “If you are really stuck and you have no idea what path you want to take or what you’re interested in doing, we have multiple resources for students to start exploring those options like career interest. In finding what career interests you have you might find a similar major, depending on what you want to do.”
Luckily, Paso High understands that most students are unsure what to major in and the importance of college decisions.
One of the many resources provided by PRHS is Career Explorer.
Career Explorer is a set of interactive tests that ask various questions about the tester. After all the questions are answered the program will pick out interests that are displayed and help choose a major that may be of interest.
Four majors that seem to appeal to Bearcats and other students across the country are Business, Health, Social Sciences, and Engineering. According to a study by The National Center for Education Statistics. Business makes up 19% of all degrees, Health 12.6%, Social Sciences 7.9%, and Engineering 6.3%. With these career paths being the most popular, many schools excel with their classes relating to these majors.
Business: Looking to work for a corporation in the future or even start your own company? A business degree may be the key to helping you achieve that goal. Majoring in business allows for many opportunities in the job market. According to Zip Recruiter, the median cost for business major graduates is $65,000 a year.
University of Southern California
Ranked 15 out of all Business Schools in the world, USC Marshall is the Business Department of USC located in Southern California. Marshall School of Business offers real-world scenarios and projects to benefit their students as a result of their ties with corporations around the world. USC also offers programs to benefit those who aspire to pursue accounting, real estate, entertainment, marketing media, and technology.
Health: Many students on campus are hoping to pursue a degree in healthcare after years of being exposed to the CTE program offered at Paso Robles High School. This is the case for senior Hannah Freygang, who claims, “I want to be a flight nurse when I’m older, after being an RN you can get another certification to go on flights and help transport patients to hospitals.” Freygang hopes to go to San Diego State for college.
San Diego State University
Ranked 19 out of over 170 other prestigious schools, San Diego State University’s School of Public Health offers a great program to help students excel in the medical field. SDSU strives to prepare students using multiple different settings and projects to expose students to the unpredictable world of healthcare.
Social Sciences: Social sciences is the study of people and how they interact with other people, society, or institutions. Students interested in social sciences can go into many varying fields, such as sociology, psychology, economics, and political science. All these programs intend to teach students about various aspects of thought and behavior.
UC Berkeley
University of California Berkeley is a highly prestigious university located just outside of San Francisco. Their social sciences division consists of a wide array of departments. This includes Ethnic Studies, Geography, Gender Studies, Linguistics, and more making up a total of fifteen programs. The widely diverse department allows students to dive deep into their psychological interests.
Engineering: Engineers can turn thought into matter as they find ways to create inventions and machinery. If science and math are especially appealing to you throughout your high school career, engineering may be a path of interest for your future. Luckily, one of the best universities for engineering is closer than you may think!
Cal Poly SLO
Just 30 miles from us, Cal Poly SLO has a fantastic program for engineering, ranked sixth on the list of best undergraduate engineering programs according to the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges guidebook. With majors ranging from Computer Science to Aerospace Engineering to Mechanical Engineering, the university is determined to shape the inventors of the future. With such a wide array of majors anyone with an interest in engineering is likely to discover a course that calls them.
