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Welcome to the College and Career Planning Center
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Welcome to the College and Career Planning Center, or CCPC for short! This online space provides a variety of resources for college and career planning. The CCPC is a place where students can find information on the college and career exploration process and begin planning their life after SAIL.
Career Exploration
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Step 1: Self - Exploration
Where Do I Begin?
- Self-Evaluation.Knowing your interests, values, skills, and personality will increase your odds of finding a career path that works for you holistically.
- What are my interests?
- What are my skills?
- What kinds of things are important to me?
- When do I feel the most successful?
- How do I want to affect the world around me?
FloridaShines.Org is a FREE ONLINE RESOURCE full of great tools to help you identify your skills, interests, and values.
- I know my skills, interests, and values. Now what? How do I figure out which careers would be a good fit for me? After you identify your skills, interests, and values, using resources like FloridaShines, there are many ways to figure out which careers match your qualities. Below are some resources to help you find some potential matches based on your qualities.
O*NET - Career guidance featuring hundreds of occupations.
16personalities - A resource to help better identify which careers may work for you based off of your personality type.
Informational Interviewing / Job Shadowing - A cheat sheet from a local university on how to go about setting up informational interviews and job shadowing.
FloridaShines.Org - Tools to help explore skills, interests, and value in relation to career. Also includes resources regarding financial aid career exploration and college prep.
- Great now you have an idea of some careers that could be a good fit for you. Keep Going! continue to explore your careers of interest to get a better idea of what career you may eventually want to pursue.
- Shadow a professional who is currently in a career you are interested in so you can have an idea of what a typical day would be like if you were to also pursue that career.
- Take high school classes relevant to your interests.
- Explore your interests through participation in related clubs, activities, community organizations, jobs/internships, etc.
- Conduct informational interviews with professionals in the fields you are interested in pursuing to see if that career matches you.
4. Choosing a career that’s right for you…right now. Career exploration is a journey. Most people have anywhere from 2 to 10 different careers in mind when they are your age. Also, most people change careers at least once in their lifetime. Don’t be afraid to have some options for NOW and LATER in your career decisions. Many people who are currently unhappy in their careers ended up there because of the allure of money or because someone told them they should go in a specific direction. Take time to learn about what you want currently and for your future and your chances of having a career you enjoy and helps you meet your goals are much higher.
- Self-Evaluation.Knowing your interests, values, skills, and personality will increase your odds of finding a career path that works for you holistically.
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Step 2: University? Community College? Technical School?
Now that you have done some self-exploration and found some career fields that you can see yourself joining, now its time to think of how you will get there! There are many educational paths you can take that can help you reach your desired goals; does your career of interest require an Associate's Degree from a community college or a Bachelor's Degree from a 4-Year University? Or, can you meet your goals with a certificate from a technical school? Below is a breakdown of the different options for post-secondary education.
Types of Post-Secondary Education
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CERTIFICATES
These are non-degree offerings in technical and vocational fields of study. A certificate generally leads directly to full or part-time employment in an occupational field. Visit the institution of higher education's websites for a complete listing of Degree and Certificate Program offerings. Below are program listings for two institutions in the Tallahassee Area.
Full list of certificate programs offered through Tallahassee Community College: https://www.tcc.fl.edu/academics/programs/
Full List of certificate programs offered through Lively Technical College: https://www.livelytech.com/all-programs/
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ASSOCIATE DEGREE (AA, AS)
Two types of Associate Degree programs are offered through community colleges. In general, the Associate Degree program takes around 2 years to complete. An Associate in Arts Degree (A.A.). Degree is typically viewed as a stepping stone to additional education at a 4-year university. While an Associate in Science Degree (A.S) is typically viewed as a degree that leads directly into the workforce.
Full list of Associate Degree programs offered through Tallahassee Community College: https://www.tcc.fl.edu/academics/programs/
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BACHELOR’S DEGREE (BA, BS)
This requires 4-5 years of study, usually in a university setting. Students typically earn either a Bachelor’s of Arts (B.A) or Bachelors of Science (B.S.) Degrees upon graduation. Due the wide variation in degree offerings within each university, it is best to look at each individual university to explore whether they offer a field you interested in studying at the bachelor’s level.
List of common College and Majors:
https://www.princetonreview.com/college-advice/top-ten-college-majors
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ACT Dates 2022-2023
Volunteer Information
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All volunteer hours MUST be on a Leon County School District: BRIGHT FUTURES RECORD OF VOLUNTEER SERVICE OR WORK HOURS
Please click here for the fillable PDF form. Fillable Bright Futures Form
