Thinking About Life After High School
What’s in store for me after graduation?“You shouldn’t wait until after graduation to start thinking about your career path,”warns Virginie Baudelot. Especially since, when making their decision, young people face another unknown: the world of work.
“How should I decide? How can I know which path I’ll really enjoy?”
New Horizons
Virginie, an occupational psychologist, serves asthe “secondary and higher education liaison”at the University of Montpellier. In her view, high school students experience the post-baccalaureate period as a real leap into the unknown.“College? High school students have no idea what that entails! It encompasses many different fields and programs. What they do know are certain parts of the University of Montpellier: an engineering school like Polytech, the College of Sciences or Medicine, or even the IUT.”
Explore the campus
Throughout the year, the university also offers many helpful events. The“High School Students at the University”program helps students envision their future. The idea is to welcome high school students to campus so they can get a taste of the university experience, whether for a full day or a half-day. It’s a chance to discover this new world and overcome their fear of the unknown…
Classes come with their teachers: more and more of them are signing up for this program, launched in 2006 with the Montpellier School District and high schools in the region. The program includes lectures and tutorials, as well as discussions with student volunteers who share their experiences—a particularly popular part of the event.
“We focus mainly on the first year, highlighting the new challenges they’ll face. We provide practical information: student jobs, scholarships, housing.” Above all, the goal is to explain the different academic tracks and types of programs in detail, to help each student find the path that suits them best. But it’s also about challenging certain misconceptions:“We’re not here to sell a fantasy, but to set the record straight: Is college easy because there’s no admissions process? False! Are the job placement rates good? True!”
Taking charge of one's education
In the first semester, 750 students from the school district were able to explore the Triolet campus and immerse themselves in a daily life they had never imagined. In the second semester, 1,500 students are expected. The first major realization is“the need to be independent and organized, to define one’s own path, and to take the initiative oneself,”within a campus perceived as“a small town within the city, with its own cultural, social, community, and athletic life.”
In these sessions designed to help them become full participants in their educational journey, high school students discover a flexible world where it is possible (and sometimes advisable) to change paths along the way.“Changing direction can be a good idea. An internship, a job, a gap year in France or abroad? Why not! In higher education, you build your own path even if it means taking detours; you can even use these experiences to your advantage when applying for a master’s program or for your future career.”
> Questions about your studies? The University Joint Service for Information, Guidance, and Career Placement (SCUIO-IP) guides you through your studies from high school all the way to your first job.