Too Early to Plan for College?

As a senior, I have started to finally think about life beyond high school. Becoming an independent young adult is a huge milestone in life for people my age. Along with prom, graduation, my senior trip, and getting recognized for the hard work we put in for the past four years, also comes with planning for college and making a final decision about where I want to go and what I want to do for the rest of my life. The question is; is there such thing as too early to plan for college?

Personally, I believe that planning for your future is the most important thing you can do during school. I wish that I would have been better prepared for choosing a college and a career, and I wish there would have been early planning so I wouldn’t have a lot of crucial decisions on my plate during the most stressful year of my life. I would have liked to learn about how to be smarter financially, how to apply for financial aid, how loans and interest rates work, how to decide between a community college and university depending on the education you need, and more. I just wish there was more guidance for me to ease my stress and worries. I had to figure out a lot for myself, and there is only so much my parents can do. I am still worried about whether or not I really chose the correct college, because it all came on so fast. I went from cruising my way through high school and not having a worry about my future to everything relating to my future and successes being dumped on me in a span of less than a year. Early on planning is so important, and I wish I had been given that opportunity so I had more time to thoughtfully plan out my decisions as well as been given the knowledge to make those decisions.

Some may argue that planning too early may overwhelm students, but it is super overwhelming to plan it all at once. School is supposed to prepare you for the future, that is why we are required to attend. What use would it be to not plan for college for a few years out of the twelve years we attend when that is the most crucial part of our life? College is what gets most people their careers, and if we make the wrong decision we could be in debt for life. I would rather be better prepared and slightly burnt out than being not prepared at all and being at a higher risk of making a bad decision and paying for the repercussions for the rest of my life.

“School” by Krzysztof Pacholak is marked with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.