To often people experience too much stress over a long period of time. When this happens and nothing is done about it, your body will begin to feel the affects by leaving you feeling exhausted, burned out, ill or very depressed. You can also begin to have anxiety attacks or even panic attacks.

Stress can interfere with your friendships and daily activities. For students it can make you less productive at school, create problems at home with your family and even lead to serious health problems immediately or later in life.

Talk to your parents or see your school guidance counselor if you have any concerns regarding stress.

Let’s start by getting the cold, hard truth out in the open: Less than 40 percent of students who plan to go to college actually earn a two or four year degree within 10 years of graduating from high school (Rosenbaum, 2001).  Do you know what it takes to succeed in college?

The simple answer is that if you take difficult classes, do all of your homework, and get good grades in high school, you will be ready.

GRADES MATTER 
Your high school grade point average is a great predictor of whether or not you will earn a college degree.  Take a look at the chart (below).  Less than 14 percent of students with C average or lower in high school earned a two or four year college degree.  Even worse, 52 percent of college students who had a C average (or lower) in high school didn’t earn even one college credit!  What are they doing while they are “in college”?  They are spending time and money on remedial classes that repeat high school work and earn no college credit.

The following represents a percentage of 12th grade students who say they are going to college who have actually earned a two or four-year degree 10 years after high school:
• 63.9% of students with an A average in high school get an A.A. degree or higher
• 37.1% of students with a B average in high school get an A.A. degree or higher
• 13.9% of students with a C average in high school get an A.A. degree or higher

HOMEWORK MATTERS
Homework might seem like a waste of time, but it teaches you content, time-management, and discipline- all of which you’ll need in college.  Forty-four percent of high school seniors do less than three hours of homework in a week; only 14 percent of seniors do more than 10 hours.  Interestingly enough, homework time strongly predicts college success.  Over half the students who do more than 10 hours of homework a week will get a four-year college degree; only about 16 percent of those doing less than three hours of homework a week will earn a bachelor’s degree.

MATH COURSES MATTER
The further you go in math in high school, the better your chances of earning a college degree. Completing Algebra II (or a higher course) is a huge help in earning a college degree.  And if you really want a bachelor’s degree, you better go as high as you can in math while you’re still in high school.

Even if you don’t go to college, your high school grade point average is still important because it predicts future income.  High-school grades do not predict income right after high school, but they do strongly predict long-term income.  If you don’t go to college, an increase of one letter grade (from C to B) in your high school grade-point average typically predicts an increase in income by 13 percent by age 28!  So even if you don’t go to college, improving your high school grades from Cs to Bs improves the chances that you will be able to support a family.

Sources: James Rosenbaum (2001) Beyond College for All; Clifford Adelman (1999) Answers in the Toolbox

Today, let’s continue our look into the decision making process by having you ask and answer questions involving your work values, personality, and dreams.  You will notice that in most of the questions I ask you, I have made sure to include your current school.  I want you to answer these questions for how the present and future affects your thoughts.

ASK YOURSELF…

Work Values
• What satisfactions do I seek in a career or at school?
• In what ways must I be challenged and rewarded on the job or at school?
• In what type of school or work environment would I be happy?

Personality
• What personal qualities do I possess that will help me on the job or at my current school?
• How will my personal style influence my career choice?
• How will I get along with my supervisor, co-workers, classmates and teachers?

Dreams
• If I could do anything, what would it be?
• What do I feel passionate about?
• What makes me feel energized or connected?

Welcome to Counselor’s Corner, a new interactive tool that the Elk Grove Unified School District has launched. Counselor’s Corner is a weekly blog written by the district’s expert counselors. Through the blog, we will provide students and parents with information for various academic, college/career, and social activities. Each of these topics will provide readers with information to help them clarify their interests, goals, and plan for the future. Blog readers will be able to post moderated comments for the EGUSD counseling staff.

The student will be groomed to take initiative, rather than responding to pressures and reminders from educators and parents.  Some topics will include “A-G” course taking, time management and study skills improvements, decision making, career information, college planning, and college admissions tests. 

Finally, this blog will offer parents tips on how they can best support their child.  If you have questions about Counselor’s Corner, please leave a comment or call 916-686-7732.