Status
Available
Collection
Publication
Zest Books (2014), 256 pages
Description
"This updated and revised edition gives teens a comprehensive overview of the choices available to them after graduating high school, from colleges to workforce, and advice on how to follow each path"--
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
256 p.; 5.5 inches
User reviews
LibraryThing member doggonelaura
undecided is a very helpful book for high school juniors and seniors pondering the “every one off to college” model pushed at them by everyone. It has lots of helpful advice for those feeling they aren’t quite sure they should go straight to college: gap year, work, military, and travel
The book has wonderful lists, anecdotes from various celebrities, and is broken down into readable sections with questions to help a student go from ‘undecided’ to decided. It includes many websites for further investigation about the opportunities suggested as alternatives to going straight to college.
I also have to say, I like the nice white cover and the book’s size. Not too big as to intimidate, but with enough pages to inform adequately.
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options. I think it will also be reassuring to many parents and guidance counselors that one message repeated throughout is, apply and get in, then defer if you aren’t sure. Because I work at a high school (Library Media Tech), I see the push students get to go straight off to college. And for many of them, that is what they should do. But for a lot of students, they haven’t found their passion, or they might be burned out from four years of AP classes—doing something different might just give them direction or re-energize them. The book has wonderful lists, anecdotes from various celebrities, and is broken down into readable sections with questions to help a student go from ‘undecided’ to decided. It includes many websites for further investigation about the opportunities suggested as alternatives to going straight to college.
I also have to say, I like the nice white cover and the book’s size. Not too big as to intimidate, but with enough pages to inform adequately.
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LibraryThing member monicabrandywine
Undecided: Navigating Life and Learning After High School by Genevieve Morgan is not just about pursuing that traditional four-year college degree. Morgan gives a nice overview of all the many options open to today's young people - trade school, gap year, travel, work, military service and more.
For the young person unsure about what to do after graduating high school, or hitting that eighteenth birthday, this book is a good place to start a conversation and begin making a plan.
As a mom of four (two teens; two someday teens) I recommend this book as a resource for young people needing help deciding what do to beyond the high school years.
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For the young person unsure about what to do after graduating high school, or hitting that eighteenth birthday, this book is a good place to start a conversation and begin making a plan.
As a mom of four (two teens; two someday teens) I recommend this book as a resource for young people needing help deciding what do to beyond the high school years.
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LibraryThing member karen813
This is a very handy guide for high school students to help them start to plan life after high school. I really like the format of the book, it is split into sections covering different options for the future; including, higher education, work, service and living. The book lays out different
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options for kids, gives pros and cons and tips on how to follow each path more successfully. The author doesn't attempt to sway the reader towards any particular path, she just gives concise, clear information on each possible choice. I think this is a worthwhile book for anyone trying to make plans for the future. Show Less
LibraryThing member debgill
The book Undecided by Genevieve Morgan is the yellow brick road to success for anyone pondering what course their work life should take. A book I wish I had on hand years ago, but a book that anyone at any stage of their life can use to determine who they really are and what career paths to
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consider. Morgan does this by offering the reader a pathway of tests that determine personality. She outlines exactly what every high school student should be doing to get into the college of their choice. Morgan does not leave out the young adults not attending college; she gives a fresh perspective to military life and working abroad Show Less
LibraryThing member HannahJo
I remember my last year of high school as being a little like falling off a cliff. Most of us at that time had no idea what we wanted to do with the rest of our lives. i would have appreciated a book like undecided to guide me forward.
One of the strengths of this book is that it recognizes that
Each section is both practical and conversational. The chapter on money matters, for example, gives average costs of a variety of educational institutions, as well as a table to calculate a budget. It also discusses the problem of graduating with a heavy debtload, and advises to think about how to finance your education with as little debt as possible, even if it means taking a little longer. I know many people who would have benefitted from this advice in high school.
Undecided is quick and snappy, good for teens who may be feeling overwhelmed by choices and just need a way to frame their thinking about their future.
One of the strengths of this book is that it recognizes that
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there are many choices available to students. It gives space to aptitudes and interests, universities/trade schools/community colleges, work experience, military and service jobs, as well as gap years and travelling abroad. I enjoyed the sidebars with stories of famous people and the route they took to their current position. A wide variety of readers would be able to connect with something in this book.Each section is both practical and conversational. The chapter on money matters, for example, gives average costs of a variety of educational institutions, as well as a table to calculate a budget. It also discusses the problem of graduating with a heavy debtload, and advises to think about how to finance your education with as little debt as possible, even if it means taking a little longer. I know many people who would have benefitted from this advice in high school.
Undecided is quick and snappy, good for teens who may be feeling overwhelmed by choices and just need a way to frame their thinking about their future.
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LibraryThing member laVermeer
UNDECIDED is a great book. It's a handbook for teens trying to figure out what to do after high school, reviewing options beyond attending college/university, such as joining the military, travelling, doing community service, and working full or part time. The author starts by establishing her bona
The author writes like a friend, encouraging the reader to interact with the book and its ideas. The chapters include a number of lists, charts, and inventories readers are asked to complete as part of their decision-making, and the author repeatedly suggests readers communicate with friends, family, school staff, and potential mentors to help with the decision. Given the current unemployment rate of university graduates, the ever-increasing cost of post-secondary education, and the rapidly closing income gap between high school grads and bachelor-degree holders, teens need to talk openly and broadly about their post-high school plans. A book like this is an excellent resource for starting such conversations.
My only caution about this book is that it's directed exclusively at US students. The author's general concepts are not specific to the US, but the programs, the websites, and the policies she refers to are. Since other countries have very different systems, readers outside the United States will have to adapt their resources accordingly.
I'm glad to see a book like this on the market. As a professor, I teach several students every year who don't want to be in university — who are there only to please their parents. These students rarely last past year two, and many bail out at the end of first term. If these students knew about other options, and if families had more candid conversations about post-secondary education, employment, money, and expectations, these students — and our society as a whole — could be much happier.
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fides for offering such advice and then states frankly that going directly from high school into college isn't always a student's best decision. She even admits that not every student should go to college — heresy for the middle class! The author writes like a friend, encouraging the reader to interact with the book and its ideas. The chapters include a number of lists, charts, and inventories readers are asked to complete as part of their decision-making, and the author repeatedly suggests readers communicate with friends, family, school staff, and potential mentors to help with the decision. Given the current unemployment rate of university graduates, the ever-increasing cost of post-secondary education, and the rapidly closing income gap between high school grads and bachelor-degree holders, teens need to talk openly and broadly about their post-high school plans. A book like this is an excellent resource for starting such conversations.
My only caution about this book is that it's directed exclusively at US students. The author's general concepts are not specific to the US, but the programs, the websites, and the policies she refers to are. Since other countries have very different systems, readers outside the United States will have to adapt their resources accordingly.
I'm glad to see a book like this on the market. As a professor, I teach several students every year who don't want to be in university — who are there only to please their parents. These students rarely last past year two, and many bail out at the end of first term. If these students knew about other options, and if families had more candid conversations about post-secondary education, employment, money, and expectations, these students — and our society as a whole — could be much happier.
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LibraryThing member jaelquinn
This book offers lots of options, useful resources and advice. The resources are for people who live in the USA, but the strategies and the attitude and skills are applicable no matter where you live. The resources will change rapidly anyway, so everyone needs to do their own research on the
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specifics. The broad approach, however, is very practical, optimistic and encouraging. Including how to deal with pressure from family and friends. Show Less
LibraryThing member jdr857
It would be unfair to assess Genevieve Morgan's "Undecided" based upon its intended audience; the book is most definitely written for American readers. The information, statistics, and opinions that Morgan offers in the book are aimed at young adults who are living in the continental United States.
“Undecided” was a fairly quick read and there are certainly no aspects of it that left me bewildered or confused; it reads fluently and clearly and it covers a wide range of possibilities for American students to consider as they delve into life beyond high school. The primary flaw of the book, however, is that it offers nothing new whatsoever. In fairness, I am six years above the intended age group, so it could be argued that the information presented in the book is information that I have learned through my college years. However, six years is not terribly long, and I distinctly recall considering my learning styles, personality types, and personal finances with guidance counsellors, teachers, and my parents in my final years of high school.
It isn’t as if I attended a top-rated high school (it was one of the lowest rated schools in the district), nor did I have family who incessantly guided me through the transition from high school to college (I was left primarily to my own devices). Rather, I gained the information through brochures, peers, counselors, and teachers, and these sources of information are what makes me think “Undecided” is not a terribly helpful book. Not once did I come across a section and think “I wish I had known that then”; everything that I read was common knowledge as my peers and I spent the final year of high school preparing to make decisions that would impact us for the rest of our lives.
There is one point of defense that I have to make here that correlates with the comment I made in the opening paragraph. It may be that American high schools are very different from Canadian high schools, and the information that we are inundated with in Grade 12 (personality types, learning types, etc.) is not as heavily emphasized to American students. If that is the case, then this book deserves a higher rating than what I have given it. But I have never attended an American high school so I cannot attest to whether this possibility is accurate or not. I have to rate the book based solely upon what I know, and I know that my peers and I were well aware of the information presented in “Undecided” before we were tasked with choosing post-secondary options.
“Undecided” is not an unhelpful book; there are many bits of information that are good to consider when choosing whether or not to attend college. But if a student has picked up this book with the hopes that it will make the tough decisions they are required to make a great deal easier, I think they will be disappointed. In the end, the choices must still come down to the student and his or her family, and “Undecided” offers nothing but the same bits of information that students are already presented with by their parents, teachers, and peers. Use this book to help organize your thoughts, but do not expect brilliant insight that will ensure you make the right choice. I wouldn’t say that students who use this book will be in any better position than students who don’t use it; it presents the same options and information that is presented to students who attend any half decent high school.
3/5
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As a Canadian, much of the information presented to me seemed irrelevant and inapplicable, however, a book which offers advice to its readers must, in some way, be focused on a particular constituent group, and Morgan's is clearly young Americans who are entering the next phase of their lives as they move beyond their high school years. I want to make it clear that in no way does the intended target audience influence my assessment of this book, however it should be made clear to readers that it is aimed primarily at American youths and that individuals living outside of the United States may find particular sections of the book to be unsuitable and extraneous. “Undecided” was a fairly quick read and there are certainly no aspects of it that left me bewildered or confused; it reads fluently and clearly and it covers a wide range of possibilities for American students to consider as they delve into life beyond high school. The primary flaw of the book, however, is that it offers nothing new whatsoever. In fairness, I am six years above the intended age group, so it could be argued that the information presented in the book is information that I have learned through my college years. However, six years is not terribly long, and I distinctly recall considering my learning styles, personality types, and personal finances with guidance counsellors, teachers, and my parents in my final years of high school.
It isn’t as if I attended a top-rated high school (it was one of the lowest rated schools in the district), nor did I have family who incessantly guided me through the transition from high school to college (I was left primarily to my own devices). Rather, I gained the information through brochures, peers, counselors, and teachers, and these sources of information are what makes me think “Undecided” is not a terribly helpful book. Not once did I come across a section and think “I wish I had known that then”; everything that I read was common knowledge as my peers and I spent the final year of high school preparing to make decisions that would impact us for the rest of our lives.
There is one point of defense that I have to make here that correlates with the comment I made in the opening paragraph. It may be that American high schools are very different from Canadian high schools, and the information that we are inundated with in Grade 12 (personality types, learning types, etc.) is not as heavily emphasized to American students. If that is the case, then this book deserves a higher rating than what I have given it. But I have never attended an American high school so I cannot attest to whether this possibility is accurate or not. I have to rate the book based solely upon what I know, and I know that my peers and I were well aware of the information presented in “Undecided” before we were tasked with choosing post-secondary options.
“Undecided” is not an unhelpful book; there are many bits of information that are good to consider when choosing whether or not to attend college. But if a student has picked up this book with the hopes that it will make the tough decisions they are required to make a great deal easier, I think they will be disappointed. In the end, the choices must still come down to the student and his or her family, and “Undecided” offers nothing but the same bits of information that students are already presented with by their parents, teachers, and peers. Use this book to help organize your thoughts, but do not expect brilliant insight that will ensure you make the right choice. I wouldn’t say that students who use this book will be in any better position than students who don’t use it; it presents the same options and information that is presented to students who attend any half decent high school.
3/5
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Pages
256