Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums High School Looking for idea's for teenage career counceling

Not speaking for the OP, I'll just share that some high schools schedule an annual meeting with the student and at least one parent.

I don't understand why our school DOESN'T have such a meeting. We can talk about courses at home, but the counselor has added information, such as "that class requires a free period somewhere for something" or "did you know you can take that early bird or online?" Things that are not in the catalog. And the parent can remind student WHY they can't take it early bird: no transportation, other early responsibilities, etc. I would have liked a conference the year DS was invited to take an invitation-only course, and declined, but I didn't find out about any of it until the next winter.

You would think it would be possible for a general group with a counselor once a year that parents can attend. IMO a meeting with a parent, student, and counselor is not always the best idea.

I'm not sure what kind of school your kid is in, nicolesdad, but certainly around here parents meet with guidance counselors. I know we are lucky to have a good guidance department; they are a huge asset and their services are well-used. There are group informational meetings where general information and timelines are discussed, but parents are encouraged to email and ask to meet whenever questions of concerns arise. These meetings can occur separately from counselor meetings with the student, or all together, often a mix as everyone is busy.

The complexity of choosing courses as well as navigating the testing strategies (SAT subject testing, APs, which tests when, etc), discussing volunteer work choices, out of school opportunities, whatever an individual needs help with- not something most here would leave solely in the lap of their 14 year old kid. The school has them working on college admissions stuff from middle school on, but I think it is a rare student that handles this alone, and as NotherBen notes, lots of kids don't always relate all the relevant details.

(fwiw I've only read the OP, not the replies - sorry if I duplicate!)


This sounds so much like what my ds might do in a meeting with his counselor, yet he has a really strong sense of who he is and what he wants to study!


I still struggle with this but I agree, but not every meeting can be about helping our kids grow in communication skills, sometimes it's best just to keep the meeting moving when there's a different objective


As a former smart student myself, can I just say that I probably would have felt the same way? I really think these career inventories are meant more for kids who are completely at a loss re what they want to do and are perhaps at risk of not going to college. It's clear from what you've said that your ds is a math/science kid. It's not all that unusual at his age or even older to not know *exactly* which math/science career you might want to pursue.


It probably isn't, but it also isn't going to give any one magic answer to any student. Plus a capable student who is interested in math/science is going to be *able* to be a computer scientist, just as they are also *able* to be a biologist or *able* to be an engineer etc - the thing that usually helps students the most in realizing what they are interested in pursuing is either having an inspirational teacher, taking a higher level course that is fun, taking some kind of specifically oriented science camp/experience outside or inside school, or seeing how a certain job works in real life. A survey like this is just going to give generic ideas of what might work.


Which is a perfectly good reason to choose biology - if he takes biology over chem or physics next year, it's not going to put him out of an engineering career forever. It might be better to take biology with a good teacher and get, gasp, a good grade, have a good year, enjoy a teacher who is inspiring, and see how he feels about biology at the end of the year rather than suffer through a year of physics with a boring or difficult teacher. He'll still be able to get into engineering school if he's got the grades and the SAT scores etc. I'm not saying don't take the math/science etc that he needs - just saying that one science course vs another science course at this point isn't going to mean he's stuck.


I think maybe letting him take AP Biology might be one way to go about this - you both have the sense that he'd enjoy engineering/physical sciences. Let him take biology and see how he likes it. If he can take physics at the same time, that's also an idea you might suggest. I'm a physical scientist, and physics in high school was the course that reeled me in because it was where I really saw how science truly explains things. Granted, I didn't grow up in the world of Every Day Math (please ignore my EDM sarcasm lol).


Many don't, but many do. Our ds is headed into engineering, and he comes from a family of engineers. I realize we most likely don't live anywhere near each other, but I was very surprised how many more STEM/engineering courses were offered at schools which I wouldn't have expected to see them at back in the dark ages when I went to college. I'll also add - a significant portion of my graduating class in college (at a great STEM school) was made up of students who'd transferred in after 1-2 years at a different college because they'd entered college not really having a firm idea of what they wanted to major in. It's not all that unusual to not know what is going to inspire you when you're 18. I also have nieces and nephews (as well as friends) who weren't completely certain about career direction starting out in college who went to relatively generic state schools with all sorts of options for study, then as they realized what they were interested in as they went through college, focused on that and did well, they found amazing grad school opportunities in their area of interest.


In theory I agree with you, but I will be the first to admit I have a bit of a bias about this due to my own interests and career choices. I learned everything *I* need to know about computer science in my engineering school. OTOH, if your child is interested in computer science as a career choice (which I will admit I know really nothing about that's current), I'd suspect there must be schools that are better suited to computer science than others.

What classes is your ds thinking of for next year? What is his counselor recommending? What does he have on the horizon for this summer? Are there any opportunities for local internships or are there any local STEM programs for high school students? Local colleges/universities that offer summer programs for high school kids? My ds (who was probably born with engineering in his genes and has always shown a strong interest in math/science) has been most inspired by programs he's participated in run by our state university. One was a robotics camp, the other was a 3D modeling camp. The key for both that turned him on wasn't the actual camp subject matter, but for the first, he was working in a lab on campus for two weeks with grad students. It was like he'd landed "home" - he loved that experience and that got him very excited and comfortable about someday going to college. The 3D modelling class was, in his words, "BORING".. but there was a new engineering building under construction and the class toured it one afternoon - and heard all about the labs that would go in and heard about the types of things that would be studied there.

Hang in there - it's not easy to be a teen! Lots of expectations from counselors and parents as well as worries about moving on into the adult world all while you're trying to figure out who *you* are.

Best wishes,

polarbear

This is a ONCE in his H.S. career meeting. Sophomore year every student gets a 45 minute conference to plan for the rest of H.S. and to jump start college & after H.S. plans. Parents are invited and encouraged but not required. In junior year all the students get a small GROUP counseling meeting about college plans. (No parents) And fall of senior year all students who need one get a meeting, usually those who are applying to private schools.

Although because we have implemented a 504 this year we have met with her a few other times.

Do you have a maker's group in your area? (I'm guessing you must have?) Here it's something you can participate in on a regular basis - although it's also a mix of personalities and interests and educational background.

One thing I'd look at right away are the universities in your area - do any offer programs for high school students interested in STEM? Our local university has a mentoring program that isn't just summer camps, but goes throughout the year. We also took our ds to a college fair last year (even though he's not ready to apply), and we made a contact at our local university who was willing to help guide him through high school course choices even though he might not ever apply at the university - there really are a lot of people out there who want to encourage kids to study STEM at the university level

polarbear

I have no doubt your right and have only begun this process with my 7th grader. But what I took out of the OP was it wasn't necessarily what the student wanted but what the parent wanted. I've had co-workers calling high schools telling the school to make sure they find their kid so he could be told to go in for extra tutoring. My point is parents should be very involved in their children's education and future ,but sometimes, and I'm just saying this in general they become too involved.

Thanks polarbear. Yes I know that it doesn't really matter what science class he takes next year as long as its one of those three. I want him to take Physics because I think he is more likely to get a better grade in it. Biology involves more short answer writing and that is his weakness. But I'm letting him make this decision because I know it doesn't really matter as long as he enjoys it and gets a good grade. And I know one of the teachers is excellent. Right now AP Biology is his first choice and AP Physics 1 his second. The issue is I know he meets the qualifications for AP Physics (based on math grades) and it's less clear he has good enough grades to get in.

For next year we agreed on a slightly lighter scheduled that many of the top kids. AP Calculus, AP Science (Bio or Physics), English, Spanish 3, Band. Marching Band in the fall & in the spring either a ROP Engineering course or Jazz band, or a PE class.

As I posted last night. DS is probably going to do a CIT program at his wilderness camp. This leave out doing an internship or class this summer. He might still just to one session of the camp & if he does that I could find him a computer science/robotics camp. My son has done robotics camps and other science camps when he was younger.

As for computer science schools, I do have an inside track on what makes good computer science program. (I'm not going to say more than DH & I are both computer scientists.) There are many good CS programs at schools that don't have Engineering programs.

Check your PM box, Bluemagic.