When travelers to the ancient city of Delphi in Greece went to the temple there and asked the priests to prophecy the future for them, they were often surprised to encounter the inscription above the temple door: "Know thyself." Without self knowledge, no prophecy could be of much value.

All too often students and families focus their energy on the importance of getting accepted by a particular school and skip over the important questions about yourself, your skills, your values, your personality, and your academic interests. Self-knowledge, "know yourself" - your self assessment process could be the most valuable part of your whole college search process.

Step 1 - Who Am I?

We offer here a set of three self-evaluation exercises that you can do on-line, covering:

• Your Skills
• Your Values
• Your Personality

Start the exercises

Step 2 - What Turns Me On?

Another very important task is the evaluation of your academic interests and how they relate to your career interests. Use the following approach.

Sometimes students have already fixed on an academic interest, and that is fine. For those who are not as certain, you may want to ask your guidance counselor or College Center about the Jackson Interest Inventory Test or the Holland Self Directed Search Test. See if you can take these tests and arrive at some idea of the fields of work for which you have a talent. Next you want to turn to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, and see just what the demand over the next decade will be for workers in the fields that you are interested in. Ask your counselor about on-line interest and preference exercises.

Next set up an evaluation chart for each of the work specialties you have identified: Try to obtain an informational interview with someone in the field in which you plan to work. Ask that person the following questions?

• Working Conditions: What are the hours of work? The environment (clean, safe, dirty dangerous, noisy, quiet)?
• Duties: What are four typical duties you might be expected to carry out in the course of a day?
• People: To what extent does your job involve working with other people? Would you have a chance to be in a group like one of the ones at the party in the Personality exercise in Step 1?
• Education: What special training or certification do you need to get the job you want? To what extent is your undergraduate education going to be a factor in obtaining this job?
• Benefits: What are the salary and benefits associated with this work, including travel, a company car, research facilities, health insurance, retirement benefits and the like?
• Disadvantages: What do you dislike about the work described? Nature of groups, travel? salary, benefits? Would any of these conditions change for the better the longer you worked at the job?
• Personal Qualities: What are the most important personal qualities a person should have to succeed in this job? Do you have them?
• General: Do you have any particular advice for me if I become interested in pursuing this career - contacts I should make - experiences I should seek? What should I major in in college in order to pursue this field of work?

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Step 3 - Putting it all Together

From this point you want to work back toward an academic major. Here you have three choices: The first is to choose an academic major that will prepare you for the field of work which you will enter, such as economics for a business career. Another choice is to pursue what are called the liberal arts and sciences-taking courses across a broad front before selecting a particular major Taking art, science, history and literature before entering the business world is all right as long as you remember to relate these studies to your business interest whenever you can. Another route you may choose is to major in an area not related to the field you plan to enter. That is fine, but make sure that you take sufficient course work to prepare you for the skills you will need in your work. If you plan to become a doctor and want to major in English first, then make sure you do the required chemistry, biology, and physics courses, so that you can pass the MedCAT exams in your senior year in college.

In the end your investigation of your values, your interests, your personality, and your intended major and field of work should lead to an increased level of confidence about your abilities and your direction. This self knowledge will serve as a firm foundation for choosing an appropriate college or university.

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College Center Can Help

At College Center, we will work with you in various ways, to help you get where you want to go:

conduct interest inventory - help you discover what your true interests are and to arrange them in order of priority and discover their implications for your college choice.

values clarification exercise - guide the student through a set of exercises designed to highlight personal values and help the student put them into a perspective that will enhance the college decision making process.

academic interest ranking system - assist student in aligning academic interests with career goals, and in assessing college and university programs.

describe collegiate social environment - using national research data and scholarly discussion of current campus milieu, help students begin to think about social environments where they would feel engaged and secure and happy.

matching interests, personality, and academic profile with colleges- assessment of appropriate college and university choices for further investigation, based on academic and personal data gathered above. Questions to be asked, contact persons, and informational sources to be suggested.

college planning calendar - the development of a detailed college planning calendar tailored to individual and family college expectations and educational resources available.

analysis of student applications and application essays - editorial comment on content, form, and appropriateness of your college essay and supplementary material you may want to submit for evaluation.

guidance for financial planning and applications for financial aid

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