By K.C. Thompson, Ph.D.

Dr. K.C. Thompson, an experienced educational consultant, specializes in empowering high school students and their families on their journey through the college application process. With a focus on comprehensive college counseling and career guidance, Dr. Thompson integrates the Highlands Whole Person Model and the Highlands Ability Battery Aptitude testing program in her services.

Welcome to the second article of an enlightening series where we will delve into how educational consultants can unlock new pathways through the Highlands Ability Battery and Whole Person methodology, blending scientific principles and artistic approaches, to foster authentic excellence and enable students to thrive. Join us as we explore deep into the intricacies of this innovative approach, uncovering its nuances and strategies to cultivate genuine growth and fulfillment in students’ educational journeys. Missed the first article? Link here- (Exploring Multipotentiality Using the Highlands Ability Battery).

High school seniors are often expected to choose a college major when submitting their college applications. Their choices are largely driven by the experiences they have taking classes or from hearing about work experiences of friends and family members. In both instances, students have little idea what the actual work environment will be like. People change careers an average of three to seven times throughout their lives. To make good career choices, students need increased self-awareness of their comparative strengths and the type of work environment in which they thrive. This blog explains the steps high school students can take to help them identify college majors and potentially fulfilling careers.

STEP 1: TAKE THE HIGHLANDS ABILITY BATTERY

The Highlands Ability Battery (HAB) is the gold standard in high school aptitude tests and is available in a convenient online format. This assessment provides students with clarity about their individual strengths and a criteria for making future decisions. Unlike interest inventories such as Strong or Birkman, which are based on a student’s experiences, aptitudes remain stable and do not change over time (JOCRF: Interests vs Aptitudes). Students can take the HAB as early as 9th grade, but most students take it in 10th.

The HAB measures fourteen aptitudes (five driving abilities and nine specialized abilities), three personal style factors (generalist/specialist, introversion/extroversion and time frame orientation), and one skill (vocabulary) (Highlandsco: What’s the Highlands Ability Battery). Students can also get their Holland’s interest inventory codes from the ONET Interest Profiler. The HAB report categorizes their top 50 careers based on these codes so that students can determine which careers are the best match for their interests. After completing the online assessment, each student gets a Highlands Ability Profile like the one below that shows their scores.

Students also learn how their scores on these 14 abilities blend to form Ability Patterns that are consistent with certain careers. There are 69 total Ability Patterns based on the thousands of people who have taken this assessment. Each Ability Pattern includes an explanation and a list of possible careers organized into sub-groups. Each career listed is a hyperlink that can be clicked on, taking the student directly to the Dept. of Labor’s ONET job database. ONET describes the skills and education required, average salary data, and the overall job outlook. Students should see what careers keep popping up for them across the Ability Patterns and let their interests guide them in choosing which careers to investigate.

STEP 2: EVALUATE EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Armed with the increased self-awareness the HAB provides, students can evaluate their extracurricular activities. Some extracurricular activities might need to be dropped if they are no longer serving the student. Other activities might need to be deepened, allowing the student to expand their capacity for leadership and impact. And sometimes, students need to add in an activity that will allow them to explore an area of interest or provide an outlet for underutilized natural abilities.

Create an Activities Resume to Have a Visual

I encourage students to complete an activities resume using one of the six templates found here (College Essay Guy: How to Write a College Essay). It is a powerful and concise visual of where they are putting their energy over time and can be updated as they go. They will also use this resume in their college applications and when they ask their teachers for letters of recommendation.

Learn How Admissions Officers View Extracurricular Activities

In general, student’s activities are evaluated for their depth of involvement, leadership and impact (something that can be quantified). This blog post by CollegeVine gives several helpful examples of how different activities might be viewed by admissions officers (CollegeVine: Breaking Down the 4 Tiers of Extracurricular Activities). Overall, I’ve found that students who are genuine and who care about their communities, fare well in the admissions process.

Eliminate Unhelpful Extracurricular Activities

Although it is helpful to be involved in an activity over a period of years, sometimes students remain involved in activities when their time would be better spent elsewhere.

When to Replace an Extracurricular Activity

• • It feels “time-heavy,” as if you are putting in a lot of effort without much in return.
  • It no longer aligns with career/college major aspirations.
  • Assess if group dynamics are helping you grow or shutting you out.

What to Choose Instead?

• • Identify if driving abilities need an outlet.  Is anything “missing”?
  • Select activities that will serve as tools for college major and career investigation.
  • Give each option an “Enthusiasm Rating.” Is the student excited to start? Interests are the “fuel” that give us energy to learn new things.

Deepen Leadership and Impact in Existing Activities

• • Become a Contributor: In addition to taking on a formal role such as President, all organizations need people to step up and get things done.
  • Assessing Stress Load: Students should feel enthusiastic about what they are involved in. There will always be stressful times but when a student is continually stressed, they are either over-scheduled or doing things that are out of alignment with their natural abilities and interests.

STEP 3: INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEWING

Although extracurricular activities can help students explore potential careers of interest, informational interviewing is the quickest way to truly learn what a career is like. Informational interviews can be as short as 20 minutes and as long as 90 minutes. If a student is interested in a fairly common career, it can be easy to find people to interview who are family friends, neighbors, and members of community Facebook/Nextdoor groups. For more uncommon, specialized jobs, students should utilize LinkedIn or reach out to people they find during an in-depth Google search into that career (e.g., faculty profiles on college websites or specific workplaces).

Tips for Finding Someone to Interview

• • Plan to reach out to about 10-20 people to get one informational interview.
  • Send a professional email introducing yourself and explain your interest in learning more about their career.
  • Attach your activities resume and provide your contact details.

Tips for Arranging the Meeting

• • Many informational interviews happen over Zoom or Google Meet.
  • If meeting in person, ask the interviewee where they’d prefer to meet (e.g., a local coffee shop or their office).

After the Interview

• • Send a follow-up email thanking each person for their time.
  • If there was a good rapport and you want to learn more, ask if they would be open to job shadowing.
  • These connections can sometimes lead to summer internships.

STEP 4: SUMMER EXPERIENCES

Summer provides an excellent time for students to explore career pathways and deepen their experiences in one or more careers of interest. It is also a time to build skills and take classes that will prepare younger students for future opportunities.

8th to 10th Grade Students might:

• • Attend one- or two-week introductory camps to explore careers of interest.
  • Pick up an extra class (e.g., foreign language or math) to accelerate their pace by the time they graduate.
  • Build skills: e.g., computer programming classes such as JAVA or learning MATLAB.
  • “Work Backwards” – look ahead to summer programs students might love to attend the summer after 11th grade and find out what skills and experiences they will need. Students can do this through the application website itself or by looking at LinkedIn profiles of current high school seniors or college students to get an idea of what they did to get accepted.
  • Fill a local need by creating a small business or working (pet sitting, tutoring etc.)

For younger students, each summer builds on the next both in terms of providing them with information about interests as well as building skills that will prepare them for future opportunities.

11th Grade Students:

Summer after junior year remains a crucial time for students to have a powerful experience in the form of a summer internship, research experience or volunteer position they can write about in their personal statement, supplemental essays and activity list. Many students seek out extended experiences lasting anywhere from 3 to 10 weeks or more. Acceptance rates at these programs can be less than 5%. Like a college list, it is smart to apply to multiple programs with various levels of selectivity to preserve options. However, it is also important to keep in mind that selective summer programs are not a student’s only option. Students have had good luck finding their own summer internships and research experiences by:

• • Networking through social media (LinkedIn, Nextdoor, Facebook community groups).
  • Identifying mentors through Chamber of Commerce lists or Rotary.
  • Identifying jobs or internships through online job search engines (e.g. Indeed).
  • Conducting independent research or literature reviews and publishing the results. Robert Malkin from Duke University has written a detailed book about how high school students can find research labs to intern in over the summer. (A GUIDE TO ACADEMIC RESEARCH FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS: Finding and Managing Your Lab Experience)

The key to finding these opportunities is imagination and persistence. All of my students who have been enthusiastic about a particular career have found meaningful ways to engage both during the school year and over the summer.

Students who come back from a summer program and have ruled out a particular career path are just as fortunate, if not more so, than the students who have a good experience. Utilizing the results of their HAB, students have a systematic way of exploring additional careers that they have the natural abilities to do and might be interested in. I’ve had students pivot at the end of summer before senior year and still do a fall internship in a new area and get into top colleges for that new major.

STEP 5: FORMING A PERSONAL VISION

As students go through the process of investigating careers and college majors, they should periodically look over the eight factors of the Highlands Whole Person Model (Highlandsco: Whole Person Model). The eight factors are: abilities, skills, interests, personal style, family, values, goals and the career development cycle (for students this is the transition to college, but it tends to happen every 7-10 years for adults).

When all of these factors are in balance, students live their lives from the “inside out” rather than the “outside in.” They learn how to create goals based on their values and engage in long-range planning.

When the college admissions process is approached from the perspective of the whole person, it becomes a vehicle for helping students learn how to live from a place of increased self-awareness and integration. Students not only gain admission to best fit colleges; they also have the ability to take their “whole self” into account when making decisions. This inner-directed, long-range perspective is called having a Personal Vision, and it gives students the clarity to make course corrections throughout their life so they can maintain a sense of meaning and purpose in all that they do.

A Personalized Strategic Approach…

 The high school years are a critical time for students to explore potential career paths and prepare for college with confidence and clarity. Through the Highlands Ability Battery and personalized mentorship, I empower students to make informed decisions that align with their natural strengths and aspirations. From exploring careers and maximizing extracurricular experiences to crafting compelling college applications and essays, I provide expert guidance to help students navigate this journey with clarity and intention.

Ready to take the next step? Contact me today to schedule a consultation and start shaping a future that reflects your full potential.

As a Highlands Consultant and the founder of College Wayfinders Educational Consulting, Dr. K.C. Thompson is dedicated to helping students and adults uncover their natural talents and find environments that align with their unique strengths.

A respected member of IECA, PNACAC, and SACC, K.C. brings a wealth of expertise to her practice. K.C.’s commitment to staying at the forefront of college admissions trends is evident in her frequent campus tours, conference attendance, and, participation in professional development workshops.

Her approach is deeply rooted in authenticity, prioritizing self-awareness and personal growth for her students. Her students start companies, create apps, volunteer and publish original research. She specializes in working with neurodiverse, LGBTQ+ and high achieving students and her students are accepted to colleges ranging from Washington State University to MIT.

With a Ph.D. in Cognitive Studies in Education from the University of Pittsburgh and a UCLA College Counseling Certificate with distinction, K.C. boasts a strong academic background. Her tenure as an educational consultant with the College Board and evaluation consultant with Apex Academy honed her skills in curriculum development, assessment refinement, and program enhancement. Notable accolades, including the National Council for Geographic Education First Place Dissertation Award and the Laura Fruchs Award for Excellence in Teaching, underscore her dedication to excellence in education.

Through her multifaceted experiences and unwavering dedication, Dr. K.C. Thompson continues to make a profound impact on the lives of students, guiding them towards fulfilling academic and personal journeys.

College Wayfinders Educational Consulting
Email: kc@collegewayfinders.com
Website: www.collegewayfinders.com