Why students don't ask, what are my options?

Being in high school has its own set of rules, and most of them are created by your peers, as you climb the ladder up and high, the rules start to move in a pendulum formation. Each student, from the very beginning as a freshman is not thinking about life after high school, this is the phase where acceptance and blending in is the biggest challenge.

School work sneaks up on you, after your guidance counselor picked courses for you, maybe there was a meeting, maybe not - but you have been assigned courses, and a path is set, since grades in the freshman year don't make much of an impact on your college admissions prospect, events seem to flow you in a certain direction. Pass this stage as a freshman, now you are a sophomore, somewhat sorted, understand the high school life, the study load and sports - and of course, the opposite sex. Time in school, away from home with little to no control of parents is newfound freedom, new and exciting thoughts are born, explored and analyzed. Time on campus, meeting friends, (girlfriend, boyfriend), focus is shifted more towards personal appearances, hanging out after school and trips to the malls, and most if not, all would take part in sports, so more time with friends.

During these hangouts, sport practices, school events, and more - conversation starts developing into future planning, in the freshman year the parent plan was to be an anthropologist, study ancient options and convince their offspring to listen to you (you have experience) but now after constant bombardment of ideas, the new line of action has been chosen. Now focus has shifted towards more money-making fields - this is easy way-out phase. Let's become a sports personality, celebrity of sorts is hopping in your head, planning started, games participation is more important than anything else etc.

This is where if a student is not handled with care, he/she will deviate from their path and enter into deep chaos. High school counselors spend, at max 30-60 minute (affluent and private schools) every semester or per year with a student, in public schools that time gets shrunk to 10 minute per year, though most counselors would always have an open-door policy the sheer number of students they counsel per day is 18.5, and there is not enough time for the counselor to reach a student in need, when needed. Even if there are guidelines available, time becomes an enemy.

This gap is step 1, of where high school students start dropping grades, the thought process gets more jumbled up and a student is on auto-pilot - surviving each day as it comes becomes the new normal. Gap 2 is a derivative of the first step - students are looking for help, but the help they seek is not available - this is where internet comes into play, queries are formulated as - how to improve grade in 5 days, what books to read to get good grades etc.

To fill the resource gap, 1Journey created a machined learned, AI system - to answer student's questions, keep them on track and keep working with them till they have reached safe shore. The junior and senior year are usually light in school load, students have more time to explore other disciplines, and review with parent/guardian, and then find colleges that are more closely aligned with their aspirations. This is gap 3, students want to enter big name schools, but unfortunately grades in 10th grade are not high enough to make their application appealing to the admissions committee. 1Journey, at this stage start showing options, from the top 600 colleges and universities in the US. The whole idea is to talk education with these students, explain to them that college ranked at 200 is still a good option than not going to college at all.

Students get anxious when they have only applied to 4-5 colleges - 1Journey's rule is, apply to 2 colleges much higher than your student's capabilities, two schools closely aligned with students' capabilities and aspiration, where chances of admission are higher than 90%, and 1 or 2 colleges that are called safety schools. Now, a student does have an offer, but gap 4 emerges - financing your education, it could be via family savings, financial aid, student loans, and/or grants etc. but not enough to cover all expenses. 1Journey is in the process of working with different lenders that would give our students education and personal loans (should be operational by end August, mid-September 2023) and address this as a viable option.

1Journey.ai is not just an educational platform, it builds a holistic profile of a student, then it learns a student, builds a persona for the student and the parent, once done that - take them to the next level, where engagement with the counselor is tailored towards end goals.

Each student needs to have a constant voice telling them if they are on the right path, and if that path is leading them towards their stated goals. Each year, at the time of registration as freshman or higher grades, the chaos becomes real - 1Journey steps in and eliminate that chaos by streamlining the whole process with clear actionable deadlines.