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THE SECOND 
KEY  TO UNLOCKING 
YOUR DREAMS

  

CHOOSING THE RIGHT SCHOOL

   

Know Your Options When It Comes To Selecting Your Post-Secondary Education Path

  

Making career and education choices has never been easy, especially in today’s marketplace where well over 70 percent of all job openings require some form of post-secondary education. 

Not only will you have to invest in education and training immediately after high school, but as adults you will be required to upgrade your skills and education over the entire course of your working life to take advantage of opportunities in the ever-changing job market.

Whether you are in secondary school, or already well established in a chosen career, the accelerated pace of technological development will demand that you be prepared to learn and acquire new skills readily and continually in order to adapt to the changing workplace.
  
MAIN OPTIONS AVAILABLE TO STUDENTS TODAY

Your Career Planner is a web site that deals with the four main post-secondary education options, namely: university, community college, apprenticeships, and private career colleges. 

At the same time, we recognize that up to 50% of all Grade 12 graduates will decide to go directly into the workplace - some for a short period of time, but some for the rest of their life. We will deal with this matter elsewhere in this web site.

UNIVERSITY

Universities offer various levels of degree programs leading to a Bachelor’s degree (the three or four year undergraduate degree), a Master’s degree, or a Doctorate program. Students find that these degrees, for the most part, are general and broad in nature, designed to help them become good critical thinkers, develop their writing and communication skills and provide them with knowledge in a particular area of study. In Canada we are fortunate to have many world-class universities involved in virtually every type of research. University graduates can go in a multitude of directions with this type of education.

For more information about universities
COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Community colleges provide students with the opportunity to develop the skills that can lead to rewarding careers in business, applied arts, technology, and health sciences. Community colleges offer a variety of full and part-time career-oriented programs for secondary school graduates and for mature students who may not have completed secondary school.

Most community college programs are either diploma programs, (which may be either two or three years in length), or certificate programs (which run one year or less). Some courses of study lead to official certification in skilled trades that are regulated by professional associations. Every Canadian province has its own system of government-run community colleges.

For more information about community colleges

  

APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS

Apprenticeship programs are also becoming more and more popular as the demand increases for workers within the skilled trades. With an apprenticeship a student must find a company that is willing to allow him or her to work while learning a trade. Some classroom instruction is necessary but, for the most part, the student is able to earn some income while learning a skilled trade. After a pre-determined number of apprenticeship years the student is able to qualify for certification within the chosen trade. Today, in Canada, there are many skilled trades suffering from a shortage of qualified workers. Thus apprenticeships can lead to many rewarding careers.

For more information about apprenticeship programs
PRIVATE CAREER COLLEGES

Private career colleges offer students an alternative to the traditional post-secondary school options described above. These colleges provide diplomas equivalent to community colleges, but they still tend to be used more by older mature students, even though they are available to secondary school graduates, and are starting to become more of a "preferred choice" for this age group. 

What you will find is that the private career college has become the "back up" choice for many students who may not have made very wise choices as they left high school.

Private career colleges are also becoming a preferred option for graduates of traditional post-secondary universities and colleges who are looking for an "entry strategy" for their chosen career.

For more information about private career colleges
   

Once You Establish Your Career Goals You Must Select The Education That Will Qualify You For Entry Into Your Career
Once you have established your career goals, your next step is to select an education path that will get you qualified for entry into your chosen career. This is where your guidance councillors become very important. You must make sure that you select the proper courses in secondary school so that you have the credits needed to qualify for entry into a post-secondary school program.

Then, you must do your research to make a list of all of the institutions that offer the diploma programs that you require.

Once you have a complete listing of all of the schools which offer your program, then comes the task of choosing the school you wish to attend. For high school students who establish their career goals by Grade 10 or 11, there is plenty of time to do proper research. In fact, I would suggest that once you narrow your choices down to three or four, you spend time during vacations to visit the campus and have a good look around. Talk to current students to get their feedback on the institution. After all, you may be spending up to four or more years going to school there, to say nothing about spending tens of thousands of dollars to obtain your diploma or degree. It would be nice take a tour of the facility and get a first hand look at the campus before you send in your application.

The selection of  a post-secondary school is a very personal thing. The final decision will depend on a number of factors, not the least of which will be financial.

In any event, the selection of which school to attend will likely be the easiest part of the career planning process. Do your research; visit the campus; talk to current students; take a good look at your financial situation; and you should narrow your choices down to three possible options. It is always advisable to have three options in case your first or second preferred choices are not available.

At the end of this stage, you will have your career goals in place and you will have a good idea of the college or university where you would like to receive your training and education.

 
 
  

Your Career Planner Is A Free Public Education Service Provided by
Robert Kirwan, B.A. (Math), M.A. (Education)
Independent Education & Career Planning Coach
Member of the Ontario College of Teachers
His office is located at 4456 Noel Crescent, Val Therese, Ontario P3P 1S8
Phone: (705) 969-7215