College and Career Counseling

DriveofYourLife.org

is a fun, interactive video game site designed to help middle school students learn more about themselves, careers that might fit their interests, Indiana colleges that have majors leading to those careers, and high school courses and activities that can lead to successful applications at those colleges.  Almost 100,000 students in nearly 1,500 schools and youth organizations use the site each year.

The site allows students to build their own cyber car by answering questions about themselves.  When the questions are completed, the site finds a variety of careers that fit the student’s interests and personality profile.  Students can “drive” their cars, taking exits that lead to more information about selected careers, including videos of a day in the life of individuals in those careers.  Along the way, they must be wary of  “detours” that can distract them from their career goals.

Students can then choose their favorite careers and download a “driver’s permit” that outlines what high school courses and activities would prepare them best for colleges majors leading to those careers.  The permit can lead to more in-depth discussions with teachers, guidance counselors and parents.

Aligned with Indiana’s high school requirements and college/university opportunities, Drive of Your Life is an excellent free tool for schools and youth organizations to use as a stand-alone career tool or to support career initiatives already in place, though it can be used independently by any youth. 

The site includes an educator’s tool which provides a demonstration, tutorial and lesson plans for teachers, as well as reports on students who are using the initiative.  Read what educators are saying about the site.   

For more information about how your school or youth organization can incorporate DriveOfYourLife.org in your curriculum, please contact Kevin Bain, director of the initiative, at 317-915-0589. 

TripToCollege.org

The site offers:

T – Timeline with key steps that students and parents need to take at each grade level to prepare for college.

R – Real Answers with straight answers to frequently asked questions, myths vs. realities, and information about why college is important, what colleges are looking for, and post-high school options providing some of the tradeoffs between employment directly after high school and a variety of higher education alternatives. 

I – Indiana Colleges, a search engine that helps parents find the best Indiana college fit for their children, factoring in a student’s desired major, distance from home, size of campus, etc. 

P – Paying for College, which includes situation-specific financial advice.

IYI has added a Savings Growth Calculator to help parents calculate how much money they should think about saving each month for their child’s education.  Then the site shows ways in which parents and students can obtain the remainder of the money through loans, scholarships, student work, or other methods. 

The site also features an Expected Family Contribution Estimation Tool that allows parents to calculate how much a family will need to contribute for their child’s college education.