Before You Pick a Major, Try This First - with Shellee Howard

How to Pick a College Major & School: Try, Test, and Build a Real Plan

Host Valerie Alston continues her conversation with college-planning expert Shelly Howard about helping students move from a future vision to choosing a major and school. They emphasize building confidence by trying real experiences, shadowing jobs, volunteering, and leadership roles, to discover both what students like and what they don’t, while also gathering stories for applications. They discuss balancing passion with practicality, including return on investment and realistic expectations for careers like professional sports or influencing. Howard outlines key admissions factors: rigorous GPA, aligned test scores, meaningful service, extracurricular depth, leadership, recommendations, and a strong essay, and explains how her “College Ready” village reduces stress by providing a roadmap and support for both students and parents. They close with conversation prompts on who leads the process and what type of college environment fits best.

00:00 Pressure to Decide

00:21 Meet the Hosts

01:22 Vision to Next Steps

03:19 Try It to Know It

06:46 Athletes and Reality Checks

09:26 Passion Versus Paycheck

11:17 Choosing a College

11:40 What Schools Look For

15:13 Beating the Overwhelm

20:51 Car Ride Questions

21:35 Who Leads the Process

23:42 Assessments and Neutral Help

25:55 Campus Fit and Tours

27:35 Wrap Up and Next Week

You can reach Shelley and College Ready Plan on social media here:

Linkedin:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelleehoward/

Facebook:

Shellee Maree Howard 5.3K followers

www.facebook.com/shellee.howard1

College Ready Page 4.8k followers

www.facebook.com/CollegeReadyPlan

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/collegereadyplan/

Youtube: @collegereadyplan

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr_WodPHDfSWEbiPdsRDbyQ

TikTok:

collegereadyplan

https://www.tiktok.com/@collegereadyplan?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

Google: College Ready

Twitter:

https://x.com/GoCollegeReady

Discussion questions:

1. What's something you've always been curious about but haven't tried yet? What would it take to explore it?
2. Think about an experience you've had recently. What did it teach you about what you enjoy or don't enjoy?
3. If you could shadow anyone's job or spend a day learning from someone, who would it be and why?
4. What's one skill (leadership, communication, problem-solving, teamwork, etc.) you want to develop this year, and how could sports help you build it?

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